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Newly diagnosed and ignorant

Posted , 7 users are following.

chris23193
chris23193

Hi. I was recently diagnosed with a bone infection to my pubic bone following prostate surgery (which I had 3 months ago). They also found a bladder infection and I already knew the surgery gave me prostatitis. At this stage they are doing more investigations so I've had a blood test and X-ray (had previously had an MRI which showed up the infections. They want to put a camera up my urethra to look at the bladder infection - which at the time I met the consultant seemed the worst part of the whole deal. I've since visited Dr Google and I'm not greatly encouraged by what I think I've found out but I wanted to find out some more from the experts (hence this posting). Is it likely I can still be treated with antibiotics? My only symptoms are local pain in the bone and mild nausea. Over the 3 months I have had periods of extreme fever and shaking etc but these episodes were always treated as uti and I completed 5 week long courses of different antibiotics. Any suggestions about what's likely to be ahead for me would be much appreciated

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • elizabeth41115
    elizabeth41115 chris23193

    Posted

    Hi there Chris 23193,

    The sooner it is diagnosed and treated the better your outcome. Mine was not diagnosed for a while and it was that time that had the devastating effects on me. The disease had spread up to my shin bone. My mum and dad went private and it was then diagnosed.

    So that's why I say you need this diagnosis and start on a course of very strong penicillin and antibiotics, otherwise it will have a tendency to spread. Ostio eats the bone marrow and messes with nerve endings. You need a second opinion if nothing happens regarding diagnosis and treatment. You need to be treated for it ASAP.

    I hope this has helped you in some way.

    Regards x

    • chris23193
      chris23193 elizabeth41115

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. I hope you haven't suffered long term effects. I am in the hands of the NHS doctors who have diagnosed but won't start treatment until they know the type of bug etc. I have had a couple of tests but no timetable for the treatment to start or what the treatment will be. I've probably had the bone infection for at least 10 weeks already as my op was 3 months ago and I've had an infection of some sort ever since. So I appreciate that i need quick treatment but I have to wait to get it. I am assuming that even if I went private I would have to go through this investigation phase.
    • elizabeth41115
      elizabeth41115 chris23193

      Posted

      Hi,

      I had this when I was 6, and it has had life changing effects on me. I really hope you get this sorted sooner rither than later.

  • osteomyelitisarmboy
    osteomyelitisarmboy chris23193

    Posted

    In my experience the anti biotics can stop the symptoms whilst you're on them, but the infection can return and usually does. I was cured through a long treatment of anti biotics and a bone debridement which wasn't too unpleasant. Hope this helps mate, Mike
    • osteomyelitisarmboy
      osteomyelitisarmboy chris23193

      Posted

      Yeah i've been good ever since. They can cure it if diagnosed quick enough i assume they'll do a bone biopsy and see what type of infection it is then they can give you the right anti biotics. Dont worry too much it can be cured
  • daniel95667
    daniel95667 chris23193

    Posted

    The key to treating osteomyelitis is prompt treatment. Mean time to discovery of the infection is 1 month (this was me exactly). Now I ask. Were any of your bones pierced during this surgery (or any time). For the bone to get infected it must be pierced (like with a bullet or knife, or a screw from an orthopedic procedure, I got it (cervical osteomyelitis) during surgery. Usually the Doc's start treating osteomyelitis very agressively, even before a firm diagnosis is made. You do not mention any blood born infection so I am staying with the "has you bone been pierced in some way" question.
    • xxthisismelxx
      xxthisismelxx daniel95667

      Posted

      It took almost 6 months for my doctors to finale find a diagnosis. I started having mid-back pain, and it just became worse as time passed. Finally an Xray was taken, then an MRI, then a bone biopsy (FYI my OM is thoracic, holy sh!t that was so painful, maxed out on meds)

      Long story short, had a PICC line for 8 weeks, oh yeah - ps- They never figured out what strain of bacteria or which bug is what infected me. Never figured out how I even got the damn infection!!!

      If you want to know more, you can read my previous replies ;-)

  • carlgt1
    carlgt1 chris23193

    Posted

    this is probably late - but have you seen x-rays (normal radiogrphs) or MRIs?  A regular x-ray takes awhile for osteomyelitis to show up (there would be 30-40% of bone/marrow damage), but once identified subsequent x-rays could show progressive damage.  The best treatment is an antibiotic targetted to the pathogen (bacteria) in a biopsy of the bone.  I made it through 6 weeks of a minor antibiotic regimen and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and it seems to have cleared up the osteomyelitis in my foot due to a diabetic foot infection.  I hope all goes well with you.  Osteomyelitis really seems to be a "crap shoot" with some docs wanting to immediately resection or remove bone etc; some going for more "friendlier" approaches such as long-term antibiotics, HBOT etc.  I had to fight for the latter as the first doctor immediately wanted to chop off 1/3rd of my foot and I'm glad I fought as the wounds are all healed up and the infectious disease doc says the OM is all gone or at least in remission.
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