What should I know about cellulitis?

This is new to me. Sunday afternoon I developed chills, and a general achiness. Monday that felt a little better but a red patch appeared on my right shin.  The patch grew by Tuesday morning and hurt to touch.  I went to the walk in clinic, she diagnosed it as cellulitis, gave me antibiotics and instructions for care and cleaning.  They also had a ultrasound to check for clots, and said if it didn't start to clear up in a few days come back for bloodwork.  I figured I was good and once I felt a little better could go back to work.  My girlfriend is panicking because poorly treated cellulitis lead to an infection that her father died from at 52, I'm almost that old.  It's ugly, and stings a lot, but how worried should I be about it killing me?  I am really never sick beyond the occasional sinus infection so this is new to me 

I've had bouts of cellulitis, even above that age.  I was given a couple of prescription antiseptic washes to use, but nothing major.  I don't recall being given an antibiotic.  It pretty much cleared up in a week or two.  I didn't get any general symptoms other than the rash.

Good luck!

Thanks that's what I was hoping. 

People go septic from cellulitis when they don't realize it's happening, chose to use some backwoods remedy that won't work, or just chiefly ignore it until they are on deaths door.

You should be fine with the prescribed broad spectrum abx. If the redness and swelling don't really change or it grows, you need a more through  workup.

My wife worked as a wound care nurse for quite some time, and most of her cases were diabetes-related cellulitis.  Her response to this would always be that as long as you are SERIOUSLY taking care of it, and getting quick medical attention as needed, it isn't serious.  It's when you have other complications- neglect, morbid obesity, diabetes, poor hygiene, or other vascular circulation issues, that things can become serious, or in your girlfriend's dad's case, deadly. 

Listen to your doctors, keep it clean, don't be stupid, and you'll be good to go in a few weeks.  It should react quickly to treatment, so if you don't see improvement within 2-3 days, a call to your dr should be made. Good luck!

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

The people that get into trouble with cellulitis are the ones that have had symptoms for weeks-months and have not sought treatment. The infection travels into their bloodstream, and they develop sepsis. Sepsis is bad, Mkay?

Folks that notice something is wrong and seek prompt treatment rarely suffer complications. Follow Doc's instructions, take the full course of antibiotics, and keep an eye on it; you'll be fine.

Kiddo just got a script for Cephalexin for her second bout this summer. 
 

It is no big deal. Just make sure it's clearing up - it should visibility improve within a day of the antibiotics and be pretty much gone by day 2 or 3 - and not growing, spreading, or painful.  And obviously finish the full course of antibiotics. 
 

If it isn't clearing up and improving quickly on the antibiotics, go back in. 

Thanks. I'm obese but don't have any other issues like diabetes, and never had trouble healing before. It was odd how quickly it came on and I don't remember get cut or anything.  Good to know it probably won't kill me, though that would be a good reason to get out of going to work.  

I jammed a Russian Olive thorn into just below my right knee cap once. By the next morning, my knee had swelled up and looked like there was a football under my skin. I had to crawl out of my house and to the car to drive to the hospital sitting sideways on the car seat with my right leg on the seat and using my left leg to push the pedals. 

The 80 year old doctor joked that if these where still the good old days, he would have had to amputate my leg just above the knee. He than brought out the biggest glass syringe I have ever seen and without any warning, jabbed it a couple of inches into my knee just below the knee cap looking for fluid build-up in the joint.

My jaw dropped to the floor with pain and I can't believe I didn't reflexively kick him with all of my might which would have been right in his groin. A shot of penicillin in my butt and a bunch of antibiotic pills later I was good as new. 

Edit: The Dr said I had Cellulitis.

Cellulitis is a symptom, not a diagnosis.  While it's absolutely necessary to treat the symptom, that can be very different than treating the cause.

I am not a doctor, but this is a pet peeve of mine.

In reply to Karacticus :

Thinking about it I probably scraped it Saturday doing yard work, I usually do without issue. 

I got cellulitis in 1995 and was sick enough that Mrs. Stealth yanked me into the ER. I don't remember much, but I remember the ER Dr. saying, "This is something we want to jump on." He prescribed intravenous antibiotics every 8 hours for (I think) a week. I did the first two doses at the hospital and by the following afternoon – of course I got sick on a Friday – a nursing service was set up for house calls. IV antibiotics were followed by heavy-duty pills for a while.

I got better, and then a couple of months later it came back: another round of the pills.

Take it seriously.

I picked up cellulitis from my skin doctor a few years ago after she whittled some cancer from my forearm.  I was mid-40s and otherwise healthy.  It started as pea-sized wound where the rogue skin was removed, then a day later it was surrounded by a slightly raised, red area the size of a baseball.  I didn't read all the other responses, but apparently it can be a big deal especially if it becomes systemic.  I'd never heard of it, but my wife had (thankfully) and took it seriously after I pointed to my arm and said ,"Is that normal?".  I generally address my healthcare, as I do car maintenance, with either "I can ignore that" or "that'll probably go away eventually".  Cellulitis apparently doesn't fix itself and can be lethal.  Antibiotics fixed mine.

I woke up Thursday morning looking worse instead of better, followed the docs instructions and went to the er, where I have been ever since.  I've been given a couple rounds of IV antibiotics and will probably be here another day or two.  Of course as a T Mobile customer I have no cell service so I'm at the mercy of the hospital WiFi to connect with the outside world occasionally. 

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

Glad you went in, very sorry you had to. My FIL just had a very similar situation in June/July, again with cellulitis - as Karakticus said, the cellulitis was a symptom, in this case of Staph. He was in the hospital for a week or so, but he's only allowed on about 2 antibiotics because the rest try to kill him. 

For comparison, my daughters cellulitis - going on right now - cleared up within 12 hours of being on the antibiotic (3 doses). So it not clearing up quickly is alarming. 
 

As for the crappy cell reception, there is a good chance that isn't a T-mobile problem, but a hospital problem. I've had the same thing at 3 different hospitals with AT&T. My theory is that most rooms have metal in the walls to block x-rays, but I have no idea if there is any truth to that. I know when my wife worked at one of the aforementioned hospitals, this was the reason they were still using pagers in 2018. 

Not to mention the typical wireless data usage at a hospital, where everyone is trying to stay distractedfrom the 'hurry up and wait' environment, makes connectivity pretty challenging. 

I wish you a speedy recovery, and hope you're back to feeling better.  I'm sure they drew up labs  for you- did they figure out what the actual root bacteria was?  Just morbidly curious is all. 

Sorry man that sucks. I did a 4 day stint on IV antibiotics a few years ago for diverticulitis, it is a boring time. I'm glad you were smart enough to get to the ER and get the help you needed. 
Wishing you a speedy recovery. 

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

I have had it once. It was after having my wisdom teeth pulled and I ended up with cellulitis in my neck. Two days of IV antibiotics as an outpatient and they admitted me to the local hospital. I was in for 3 days receiving continuous antibiotics before it cleared up enough for them to send me home. I took oral antibiotics for another couple of weeks. 

All in it wasn't a fun experience. 

Hope you are feeling better fast. 

I hope for the best for you. I have had cellulitis that put me in the hospital before. I had a tiny cut on my hand that I did not think twice about. Woke up one morning and I couldn't move any of my fingers and I was in tremendous pain. It was in my right hand. Drove my manual transmission car to work with just my left hand, told my boss I had to go to the doctor. Went to urgent care and they immediately sent me to the ER. After IV's and antibiotics orally I was good to go after a couple days. 

I'm still here. I probably will be for a couple more days.  The spot is slowly clearing up, the pain not so much.  Phone service isn't much better, I've never had good service in this area.  The nurse laughed and guessed what carrier I have.  My girlfriend is on verizon and has no problem here. On the bright side the hospital and staff have been really good and I'm getting caught up on all the tv I haven't been watching. 

Glad you're slowly getting better, sounds like the antibiotics are finally getting ahead of the infection!

Yeah cell service in hospitals is a challenge... I don't think every part of the building is shielded, just places that use a lot of rads like radiology, OR and cath lab.  There's just so much mass of cabling, air/vacuum lines, etc., multiple wifi networks and lots of other stuff I dont know about.

Both places I work now have put in repeaters for Verizon and a few other carriers so you can actually get calls if your office happens to be under the cath lab and hundreds of feet from a window.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

The steel studded walls don't help either.

I mentioned this to my wife and she recalled a case study she reviewed of man that presented with a serious infection that was traced back to wood mulch.  So, it is plausible your scrape from yard work was the cause.  Sorry to hear it took a turn and hopefully you're improving now.

MayoClinic.org: Cellulitis

I had to look it up. 

Cellulitis is caused when bacteria, most commonly streptococcus and staphylococcus, enter through a crack or break in the skin. The incidence of a more serious staphylococcus infection called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasing.

Cellulitis can occur anywhere on the body, but the most common location is the lower leg. Bacteria are most likely to enter broken, dry, flaky or swollen skin, such as through a recent surgical site, cuts, puncture wounds, ulcers, athlete's foot or dermatitis.