Sinus infection, throat infection, impetigo and Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang

Long stretches between posts - but last week, my son broke out with impetigo around his mouth.  I have been battling little blemishes here and there with everything from the turtle's UV light to neosporin - keeping it at bay.  But last Saturday it kind of swept around his mouth making a red blotchiness around his chin, near the corner of his mouth, and even by his nose.   I was lucky enough to have a scheduled call with our herbalist/immunologist and I sent her photos and we spoke about it.  She recommended that we use an herb mixture that she had given us for baths to reduce eczema, make it into a paste and put it on his face where the rash was.   We did that, plus used another herbal cream - from local TCM - and in 3 days it was gone.  I am thrilled.  I will continue the regimen for another couple weeks, possibly month.

I wish I could share the remedies - but the bath remedy is called - "Herbal Bath Additive" and comes in 10G silver packets - and the cream only has a small green sticker on it.

I myself have been battling a sinus infection / sore throat / cough for about a month.  I finally went to doctor - she swabbed my nose and throat - so we'll see what that results in.  In the meantime, I have desperately netied and snorted everything and anything to quell the pain:

apple cider vinegar diluted - burned like hell.  Couldn't say that I did it enough to see any benefits.

silver -  Flooded sinuses by leaning head over couch and frankly think that spread infection to ears because my ears then became engulfed in pain

hydrogen peroxide - flooded sinuses by kneeling on ground and placing forehead to floor while spraying solution of saline with 1/10th hydrogen peroxide until it bubbled out other nostril.  painful.  but in the end I am concerned that what is ailing me is MRSA again, and hydrogen peroxide has been found in studies to not be effective against MRSA - so I stopped.  My concern is that I was killing less pathogenic bacteria and leaving more room for whatever is pathogenic to grow.

oil of oregano - burns like hell too - and I just did side to side neti for a couple seconds then resisted blowing for about a minute.  This I think is helping.  I did it 3x today.

I've been gargling with Listerine and even entertained the notion of neti-ing it.

Internally, I started taking colloidal silver - 1 tsp, 5x a day.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

In conversation with the herbalist, I requested Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang, which I mentioned here.  She thought that made sense.  It will arrive Tuesday.  I will take 10 pills 2x a day, and my son will take half of that.  She said it is an 800 year old recipe that is mild, designed to assist digestion, strengthen immune system, and assist in clearing pathogens.  I am hoping that this remedy will help me clear the MRSA internally for good - and also protect my son.  We will need to take the herbs for 2 months or so.

MRSA follow up - Listerine, Silver, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Kampo

I haven't posted in awhile.  But, I am happy to report that I remain relatively smooth faced.  The only thing that remains of my encounter with MRSA are red blotches along my cheeks - splotchy red areas that really look - well - like I had a disease.  For the most part they stay pretty constant - covering pretty much the entire right side and part of the left.  I did notice a flare up when I took a supplement that contained zinc.  Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I've read that MRSA sequesters zinc before your own body can.   So more zinc can mean more and stronger MRSA - and no one wants that.

About 2 days into the supplement, my face started to tingle/itch more than usual and a red blotch about the size of dime reappeared on my right cheek.  I stopped the supplement,  squeezed off the little white part, and slathered on staphaseptic ( a must have in arsenal of MRSA fighting weapons).  

 The next day I awoke and it was about 80% less red.  

So some interesting things I've added to my MRSA fighting arsenal:

Listerine - found to kill MRSA after 30 seconds.  I wonder what element - or is it combo.  Interesting though, Listerine has thymol in it - from thyme oil. 

Staphaseptic - picked it up at CVS. 

Manuka Oil - mentioned it before.  But even after being off antibiotics for a couple weeks, I still had the remains of 2 small boils.  Probably around the size of peas.  I put manuka oil on them every morning and night and they finally shrunk down to almost zero.  I really do think it was the manuka oil, because prior to that I was using microsyn which did not have an effect on them.  Microsyn worked best for me when there was open wound type access.  Manuka oil seems penetrated the skin because both of the bumps we're under closed skin.

Hyperbaric Oxygen - this is something that I am just beginning to explore.  Mild HBOT brought down the redness of my face after only 1 treatment.  But this redness according to the ID is inflammation - some sort of rosacea or ezcema thing.  We'll see what derm says - I see her in about 2 weeks.  Hyperbaric is on my list of things to return to once I get over this sinus thing I am battling.  I am not sure if I'll return to the place we first got the treatment, because I do believe that is where myself and mom got sick.  Also, I may try a metal chamber with 100% oxygen.  Not sure, but I'll definitely share that experience.

Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang (in TCM) or Hochu-ekki-to (in Kampo Medicine) - this is an herbal formula that in this small - not even really study - in Japan, was given to 5 MRSA infected 70-something plus people.   They we're after treatment - found to be MRSA-negative with resolution of all infections.  I will definitely be consulting my herbalist for this formula - which is listed in the article.

Silver - This is one thing that I am not totally sold on - or rather, I remain skeptical.  But this is an interesting anecdote of its use as a systemic antibiotic.  A 12 year old boy with Cystic Fibrosis - and severe lung disease is successfully, measurably treated by his parents with colloidal silver that they found online.  There are many things to love about this story - like that the parents we're successful.  Also, they mention that the child was weaned off antibiotics and asthma meds, and still sustained his improvement.  Although, when he briefly discontinued the silver, he had a relapse.  Very interesting.  I hope he continues to do well.