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Am I crazy for being concerned ??
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: Dec 6, 2022 | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for the reply ! I think the reason it says "rare" is because it says "rare staphylococcus aureus negative coagulase" which from what I've seen is a type of that bacteria that typically lives on one's skin and is harmless but if somehow gotten into the body, can be dangerous and cause infection since it doesn't belong there. Now I'm not really sure my family doctor understood those results. She told me that bacteria is not dangerous. She also acted as if it saying "negative" means everything's fine ? She said "well the test came up negative for staphylococcus aureus". When actually it's just a different kind of staphylococcus aureus. On the test it literally even has a chart of what antibiotics would work best and what would be more resistant.
I do have some hope because I have an annual check up with my hematologist on Nov. 14 and she is one of the only doctors I have that I feel like actually listens. My mom goes to her and tested her B12 for her since my family doctor told her "it wasn't necessary". Turned out she was extremely low in vitamin B12 yet my family doctor didn't think it was necessary to check even though we have a family history of low B12. If you ask my hematologist to do a test though, she says "well it never hurts to check". Hope she will give me her opinion on all this and possibly order some tests that my other doctors won't.
Thanks again for the reply and I will update if I find anything out. x
Replies to "Thank you for the reply ! I think the reason it says "rare" is because it..."
Honestly, the more you share about your doctors, the less it sounds like they take you seriously (or even know what they are talking about). Please don't ever ignore your gut feeling. You've also done enough research to know this isn't normal, and a doctor who spends 10 minutes with you will never be informed enough to actually think through your case. As others have said, we have to do our own research these days and PUSH to find a doctor who will actually listen. I wish you all the best!
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Hi, I read about your concerns, and I agree it is a bad feeling not to know exactly what is going on. There is another, less alarming possibility, for the finding of staff in the synovial fluid in your knee is contamination in the doctor's office. By that I mean, it was contaminated by the bacteria on your skin as or after it was drawn.
When your doctor says the test came up negative, she means for any S. aureus - it will all show up on the test, then it is further cultured to determine the exact strain. This means you don't have active staph now.
You are reporting your blood test results - keep in mind that with an autoimmune or inflammatory condition of any sort, the counts ebb and flow - go up and down based on what is going on in your body. The fact that you needed your knee drained & a steroid injection tells me (a non-medical person, but with a long medical history) that you had some extraordinary inflammatory process going on already. It is not uncommon to have inflammation show up as a variety of unpleasant symptoms, especially increased body aches, fever, etc.
In reading all of your posts, I can see that this incident has given you a great deal of anxiety. And you diagnosis of lupus and RA is no picnic either. It stinks that this is happening to you at a young age, so you need to start thinking about how you will manage for the long term.
The key with chronic conditions like yours is to realize you are going to have periods of feeling bad as disease progresses, and adjustments to medication, diet and lifestyle will always need to be made. Perhaps you can arrange to talk with someone about how all of this is affecting you mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Maybe you can get some help developing coping skills for dealing with flares and setbacks?
Sue