YIKES!

Sorry to here that.

HMMMmmmm.

I had one of these around this last Christmas...

Started small like a spider bite on my belt line. Does anyone remember what it was?

MRSA and it really was nasty before it was gone.

MRSA is bad and getting worse it seems. A buddy of mine has it and can't get a necessary shoulder surgery until its cleared and it doesn't want to go away.

I think we can blame the over prescribing of antibiotics on that and other related issues getting "worse"...

My doctor has told me that for strep throat antibiotics don't make it heal but maybe a day or two before if you just let your "body" handle it. Of coarse if it doesn't handle it properly you can get pneumonia so that's their fear... better handle it prevent something a little worse and then however many years later and people can barely fight strep themselves.

Unfortunately, your body may appear to have handled it, but years later you can run into complications.

From http://www.mayoclinic.com :

I don't see anyplace where it says "years later"... it says if left untreated it can sometimes cause complications. It doesn't say if untreated yet "got better" in the years it may cause more serious problems.

Did I miss that part?

Actually, I think that poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis strikes on the order of months later.

BTW, most "strep" infections are viral. That's the concern with giving antiobiotics too early. That, and really pushy demanding parents.

So there was a hole in my ear after it cleared up / swelling went down... but it's covered in "white soft scab" now.. and appears to be healing. Let's hope

Thanks for all the advice and info guys and gals.

I know that from previous education. It doesn't state that in the MayoClinic quote I posted.

My kids MD actually has 2 strep test kits in the office - one responds in like 2 minutes, but only checks for some types, then he has one that takes 12-24 hours. He doesn't prescribe unless you fail one of them