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blue_lotus13As I mentioned in a private entry, I have a sty. It's getting a bit better, but it looks yucky and it still hurts. Knowing what it is makes me worry about it less.
I did a little research and discovered that a sty can actually be a manifestation of staphyloccocus bacteria. Readers of this website may remember that I had a reoccuring problem with staphyloccocus. I contracted a staph infection before I went to Mongolia. I got a boil on my hip. During my time in Mongolia, I had re-occuring boils, which I did not treat with antibiotics. This was due to my own ignorance, and because health care in Mongolia was abysmal. I did take antibiotics once, but they may even have been fake antibiotics, because there are a lot of fake drugs in Mongolia which look like antibiotics but really do nothing. The boils I got in Mongolia were terrible. At one point, I had a huge boil on my ass which made it difficult to walk. When I got this boil, I was on a cross country trip in a country with no roads. I was bouncing up and down in a jeep, and once, I even saw stars due to the pain from my boil. Upon my return to Canada, my mother figured out what I had, and I started several rounds of antibiotics. During the following year, I contracted 2 urinary tract infections, which I'd never had before. This meant more antibiotics. Now I have a sty. I think that allowing the staph to remain in my body for a year was extremely damaging and now I'm more susceptible to any bacteria that floats around. Moving to a new environment and dealing with the stress of moving has caused me to be susceptible to bacteria again. I guess I'll just have to be extra aware of this, be very aware about exposing myself to bacteria, and avoid developing countries for at least another year. It's sort of a depressing realization, but at the same time, it's very uplifting to have isolated and identified the issue.
I did a little research and discovered that a sty can actually be a manifestation of staphyloccocus bacteria. Readers of this website may remember that I had a reoccuring problem with staphyloccocus. I contracted a staph infection before I went to Mongolia. I got a boil on my hip. During my time in Mongolia, I had re-occuring boils, which I did not treat with antibiotics. This was due to my own ignorance, and because health care in Mongolia was abysmal. I did take antibiotics once, but they may even have been fake antibiotics, because there are a lot of fake drugs in Mongolia which look like antibiotics but really do nothing. The boils I got in Mongolia were terrible. At one point, I had a huge boil on my ass which made it difficult to walk. When I got this boil, I was on a cross country trip in a country with no roads. I was bouncing up and down in a jeep, and once, I even saw stars due to the pain from my boil. Upon my return to Canada, my mother figured out what I had, and I started several rounds of antibiotics. During the following year, I contracted 2 urinary tract infections, which I'd never had before. This meant more antibiotics. Now I have a sty. I think that allowing the staph to remain in my body for a year was extremely damaging and now I'm more susceptible to any bacteria that floats around. Moving to a new environment and dealing with the stress of moving has caused me to be susceptible to bacteria again. I guess I'll just have to be extra aware of this, be very aware about exposing myself to bacteria, and avoid developing countries for at least another year. It's sort of a depressing realization, but at the same time, it's very uplifting to have isolated and identified the issue.
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Date: 2004-11-29 11:37 am (UTC)You poor dear. Too many anti-bios in your system altogether I'd say. We'll have to work on building your immune system back up.
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Date: 2004-11-29 04:55 pm (UTC)staph bacteria is *everywhere*. it's just ubiquitous. it's on everything and in everyone, but it's not a problem unless your resistances are down (like if you're stressed from travelling) or you've picked up a drug-resistant strain. if you had picked up a drug-resistant Staph strain in Mongolia, you'd probably be dead.
people get stys ALL the time. my dad gets them a couple times a year, since he has allergies and ends up rubbing his eyes too much. i had one a while ago. they suck, but they're not a sign of some systemic problem, just a sign that you probably rubbed your eyes too much without washing your hands. just keep those warm compresses on it (use a CLEAN washcloth or sterile gauze, fresh each time) and try not to touch your eye even though it's probably all you want to do.
i'm sorry if this sounds medical or hard-assed, i just feel badly that you're so worried about the issue. don't worry about it! that will just make your immune system have to work harder! you cannot be aware of your bacterial exposure, since bacteria is coating every person and surface you're ever going to touch unless you're in a sterile field. try to build up your immune system if you can. Astragalus (sm?) is good for this, as is water, exercize, and being happy. take care of yourself :)
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Date: 2004-11-29 05:20 pm (UTC)ps- I'm allergic to sulfa drugs, which is probably why they didn't give them to me.