Took my husband to the doctor yesterday..Thought he had another outbreak of gout in his elbow, was really red,swollen and hot to the touch, usually what he gets with gout. When we got to the doctor I hadn't noticed before but the redness spread down across his whole forearm. Doctor says this definitely isn't just gout, he developed a skin infection, cellulitis on top of it. Gave him an antibiotic called Batrim, has to take 4 a day for 14 days. Says it it starts spreading upwards from his elbow up to come back asap.
What causes cellulitis? He has some really dry skin patches on his elbow that have really spread since this came on. The doctor kept asking if he had fallen or injured himself and he said no, he hasn't.
Is there anything else he can be doing to help fight the infection along with the antibiotics? He is sick with an upper respiratory infection on top of that. He says since he's been taking the antibiotics he's been coughing more and stuff if finally starting to come out of his lungs. Probably the antibiotics killing that off as well I told him.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. We are closely monitoring it and if it looks like hes not getting better in a couple of days he's going back to the doctor.
Thanks!
What causes cellulitis? He has some really dry skin patches on his elbow that have really spread since this came on. The doctor kept asking if he had fallen or injured himself and he said no, he hasn't.
Is there anything else he can be doing to help fight the infection along with the antibiotics? He is sick with an upper respiratory infection on top of that. He says since he's been taking the antibiotics he's been coughing more and stuff if finally starting to come out of his lungs. Probably the antibiotics killing that off as well I told him.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. We are closely monitoring it and if it looks like hes not getting better in a couple of days he's going back to the doctor.
Thanks!