Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) - How I conquered it.

Do you normally have repeated big boils under your armpits that seem resistant to anti biotics ? Like the boils are interconnected. What doctors call multiple sinuses. It usually surface at the regions where skin touch: Armpit, in between thighs and groins, bottom, around the private part etc. And when it bursts, it has really offensive odour. Then you might have HS.

Hi, my name is Olumide. I live in Lagos Nigeria. I noticed a big boil under my armpit when I was 15 years old. I forced pressed it. One of the sweat pores around it got opened up and some brownish fluid got out. I thought it will disappear in a matter of days; instead it became painful and started having smelly pus.

It started getting worse. For more than 15 years later I kept going to the hospitals and doctors and lab technicians kept experimenting all kinds of antibiotics with me. Nothing worked.

I eventually went for surgical incisions. It was opened up to drain off the purs and then dress the wounds to make the region heal from inside out. That didn't work too. In fact my doctor then had to send me off to another senior colleague of his to help manage me. All the effort he made too didn't help my situation. 

I proceeded to LUTH and for the first time, a doctor was able to tell me what the name of the ailment was: hidradenitis suppurative (hs). At least unlike the other doctors that was just telling me it was an 'inflammation of the lymph node'. The 'repeating boil' health issues now has a name.

My doctor in luth then told me the region of the boils had to be surgically cut out and another skin flap from somewhere in my body will be used to cover the area. They call it 'skin graphing'.

I said if that is all it will take to get out of this situation i was down. A couple of months later, i had the surgeries for both armpit and I was okay, I thought. A few weeks later, I saw boils again, this time not in my skin graphed region, but at my groin area. Which has close semblance to the ones I had at my armpit before.

At this time, I chose not to go the clinics again. I decided to do a few research on my own online. So I engaged google, and started researching on the ailment. The first blog that really resonated with me was by one Tara Grant (http://primalgirl.com/). I felt a lot of relief after reading her posts. She also published a book on the ailment titled: The hidden plague. I didn't need to buy/read the book after reading her posts.

I started my own workings and this is what I discovered: 

1. HS is an autoimmune ailment. What this means is that is controlled by what you eat.

2. HS has no cure. Yes you read right; no documented absolute cure. There are antibiotics that can help alleviate the pain and swelling a great deal, but not cure.

3. You can live with it without the symptoms: No swellings, no discharge, no odour: a state called 'Remission'. You can put it into remission and enjoy your normal life.

Based on her post, I started checking out on my food to know which is okay for my body and creating my own life adjustment routine.

What food to avoid

While this may not be same for everybody, it will definitely be a good place for you to start. I discovered I normally have swellings when I take the following:

• Milk
• Bread
• Juice 
• Puff puff
• Cake icing sugar
• Garden egg
• Soft drinks

The list is still growing. I will update the list as I discover more.

The moment I removed these foods from my menus, the change was unbelievable! It was like a dream. And since then no more swellings until of course when I eat anything that has the component of any of those items above under covers.

How I  fight new swellings

As you adjust to the new life of monitoring your food, there will be occasional accidents of you eating something that will trigger a swelling again. I usually don't wait for it to ripe to incise and drain, I normally prefer to stop it in its tracks. 

Some people prefer to allow it burst then they use things like Hibiclens to wash the wound to prevent bad odours. 

I don't use hibiclens again like before, though I still have it. I prefer to stop it in its tracks with hot water pressing. This has been very very effective for me, painful though, but it is very effective. I boil water, get a piece of small face tower and press with it. I do this regularly till the swelling disappears. You will notice that after each pressing exercise, there will little to no reactions in the boils. I think the hot water kills the bacterial in swellings and set up faster healing process.

Hope this help gives somebody his/her life back. I decide to put this out there to help those who may be suffering in silence. HS has been described as the leprosy of the 21st century. It can destroy your social life and work life. It can really incapacitate a vibrant life. Co-workers will avoid you when they notice you smell funny despite looking neat and all. Wearing perfumes won't help for long, you've got to know how to deal with it from the source.

I will try answer as many questions I can in the comment. God bless.