I was very tired after a long car trip. I had a moderate temperature. I visited a doctor who said that I was very sick with an infection, but that she wasn't sure what it was. That evening, my temperature was high, so I took two aspirin and went to the emergency room. They kept me and started antibiotics for pneumonia. On the second day of my stay, my arm was swollen and red. They immediately recognized cellulitis and added another antibiotic. In two days, I was released with a prescription for oral antibiotics. I had to make one more doctor's visit, where I was given another round of medications, but that took care of it.

When I first got cellulitis, my initial symptoms were redness and swelling in my left ankle and the outer side of my leg. It has now spread up my leg and my foot is so swollen that I can't walk on it. Now, it's starting on the other leg in the same place.

My symptoms of cellulitis were extreme swelling over my eye and cheek. I also had boil-like and cyst-like pimples.

I was breaking off dead limbs off of a natural wood bin evergreen I have in my yard during the cold February month when I accidentally got one of the hard limbs stuck in my right hand. Pulled it out & I started bleeding some, washed it and put a large bandage on it. I did not think anything of it until later that night - it was throbbing so I took the bandage off. Swelling, redness & a tightening of the skin was forming. I waited two days before I went to the doctor & he said it was definitely infected & had started in the lymph nodes, cellulitis. Now, after a tetanus, and two strong antibiotics shots and an antibiotic 4 times per day (for 10 days), the swelling has went down some. I will never wait to see a healthcare provider anymore if this happens again. This stuff is painful!

I've been diagnosed with cellulitis two times; once last year in July on my left leg side of knee. This was very painful made me limp and got to the point of where I couldn't stand to bend my leg. I finally decided to go to the hospital when the redness spread down to the middle of my shin. It started as a pimple and then progressed into a huge lump with redness, and very hot to the touch. And when I would press on it nothing would come out but watery fluid. However it would leave an indent in my skin. You could clearly tell that there was pus underneath that wouldn't come out. They squeezed it and bandaged it at the hospital.

I returned from a trip to Mexico with a few mosquito bites. I didn't think much of them. They were itchy so I scratched them to the point of bleeding. Then I got a hot area on my calf, not itchy but painful like a bruise. But I had not hit myself there. Then my leg became swollen, and my knee was blown up too. I could hardly walk. In general, my body felt achy, and not quite right. Then I could feel a lump behind my knee (that was a lymph node I found out later). I went to bed, got up and could hardly walk still, and my ankle hurt. So I went to the ER, and it was diagnosed as cellulitis. I was told to put up my legs, take ibuprofen. I was told to come back in a few days if it doesn't improve or gets worse.

I had a running accident in which I fell on a log and ended up with a rather nasty gash on my knee. I cleaned the wound and applied antiseptic lotion to it and although it was very painful, I thought it would heal itself. My husband and I were going on a trip and although my knee was still very sore, the wound looked like it was healing. Having been told that salt water is very good for wound I did not hesitate to get in the ocean whenever I could. Five days later we were on our way back home and my knee started to get quite sore and began to feel hot. I was also not feeling very well but didn't really think too much of it. The very next morning my knee was swollen beyond belief and I was in considerable pain and unable to walk. I ended up in a small country hospital where I was treated with IV antibiotics but the swelling and tracking of redness was not able to be contained. The knee was drained but the redness that was around the knee was spreading up to my groin. After five days in the small country hospital I was transferred to a large hospital. By this stage my leg looked like a map, as every morning and afternoon the red streak-like markings were traced around to see if they were spreading or reducing. The IV antibiotics were not working as they should and there was a real fear that if the infection continued to spread that my leg may need to be amputated! After surgery and 14 days in hospital I was on the mend (still with my leg intact) and I finally came home. I was reliant on crutches for another three weeks. Several months later I began competing in running and triathlon events again..... I'm very pleased to be able to walk, let alone run!