endocarditis

[willgatu]

anyone esle on here ever had endocarditis or anything like that due to IV drug use? i spent 3 months in the hospital had open heart surgery and pneumonia so bad they had to remove half my right lung i had MRSA (bloodstream) has anyone esle on here ever had anything like this?

 

[Missykins]

What exactly did you inject? A pill? Dirty needle, spoon, cotton, or technique that was not aseptic?

http://www.ijcasereportsandimages.c...03-2011-estrada/ijcri-00503201155-estrada.pdf

http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/...id=1&usestrictdates=yes&resourcetype=HWCIT&ct

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20610059

These links are about MRSA in IV-drug users, who have a significantly higher colonization with MRSA than non-users.

 

[EllenCherryCharles]

I tend to be a a hypochondriac but I am new to this and having a hard time getting anwers to my questions. I was an IV heroin drug user for maybe two years, never experienced any serious health problems. Aside from the occasional relapse, I spent a year thoroughly clean but in the past months have had a few relapses. Not enough to get me to the point of being sick, but I am concerned about the risks of endocarditis. What are the earliest symptoms? I consider myself a safe user - always use clean rigs but as a female my veins are always harder to find. My heart seemed to be abnormally beating after shooting up earlier today. It's calmed down now after some xanax but should I be concerned? I have always been of the belief that using any kind of downer slows your heart rate, so I was alarmed by my accelerated one. Am I over reacting? Can anyone give me more information about the symptoms of endocarditis? Please help! Thanks

Also, since I am new to this I have no idea how to post a new thread so I am replying to this one.

 

[opi1sodopey]

I am going through, some infection stuff right now as well. Will actually find out tomorrow how bad the infection is. It started with an injection site abcess, it was horrible and had to have it drained tonight. At least they gave me a bunch of Hydro 10's to take home, goes great on top of my methadone dose. Seriously, endocarditis is not a joke. Back in 2010 I had to have am aortic valve replacement surgery, because I was not being sterile and kept getting small infections, I would get antibiotics and get rid of the infection. What I did not realize is that every time that infection was going to my heart and calcifying on the valve/ Eventually, my aortic valve nearly failed. Be careful and try to be sterile.

 

[jeeves]

I tend to be a a hypochondriac but I am new to this and having a hard time getting anwers to my questions. I was an IV heroin drug user for maybe two years, never experienced any serious health problems. Aside from the occasional relapse, I spent a year thoroughly clean but in the past months have had a few relapses. Not enough to get me to the point of being sick, but I am concerned about the risks of endocarditis. What are the earliest symptoms? I consider myself a safe user - always use clean rigs but as a female my veins are always harder to find. My heart seemed to be abnormally beating after shooting up earlier today. It's calmed down now after some xanax but should I be concerned? I have always been of the belief that using any kind of downer slows your heart rate, so I was alarmed by my accelerated one. Am I over reacting? Can anyone give me more information about the symptoms of endocarditis? Please help! Thanks

Also, since I am new to this I have no idea how to post a new thread so I am replying to this one.

If you have endocarditis you will experience a diversification of symptoms. One of the most common symptoms is a unusual heart murmur, such as the one you described. This one symptom alone should not warrant too much concern on your part. If you have endocarditis you will also be running a high fever and have tender swollen lymph nodes. If you have any pain on your left side, below your rib cage that should concern you. That would generally mean your spleen is fighting off a severe infection. Do you have any reddish, painful bumps on your hands or feet? Those could be osler nodes which are indicative infectious endocarditis.