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Dealing with a Cyst
StrifeRaZoR
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
After doing copious amounts of research, I figure it's time to get some advice from my fellow forumers here at H/A. So here it goes.
History:
When I was around 14 (24 now) I developed a large lump at the base of my spine. Thinking it wasn't much more than some light infection, my dad told me to use hot water and soap to make the skin weaker. This worked, and the lump busted and sure enough, out flowed some nasty infection fluids. It didn't smell, and the relief from busting it was crazy awesome. I never had to worry about that thing again. It left some small scar tissue at the base of my spine and that was the last I had to deal with it...until now.
Present:
For the past 2 years I've had the exact same spot flare up at least once every month or two. When it flares up, it's almost impossible to sit down, and my back feels as though it's completely locking up. I did research on it last night to figure out exactly what the hell this thing is, and all signs point to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cyst that thing. (Warning: Images are a little raunchy, but not too bad). The routine has been the same everytime. It flares up, I have some pretty sharp pains in my lower back, then normal movement eventually ruptures it and I clean it up, and the pain is gone.
Not this time. Last night it flared up and I am unable to rupture it. I contacted a friend of mine in the NAVY who is studying to be a doctor (Forgot which field) and he pulled a few favors and did some additional research for me. He says that the scar tissue from the cyst being ruptured so many times over the past 2 years has caused it to become very thick and resistant. Apparently, the only way to solve it is to plop down $2500 for some surgery. Now here's the kicker: Even after the surgery, not a single person has reported that this thing has gone away. Men in their 60's are complaining that it still haunts them and they've had to go back for multiple surgeries to keep it in check.
I guess TL;DR - Has anyone else had to deal with one of these? Apparently they can be fairly common, it's just that some do not flare up as mine has.
History:
When I was around 14 (24 now) I developed a large lump at the base of my spine. Thinking it wasn't much more than some light infection, my dad told me to use hot water and soap to make the skin weaker. This worked, and the lump busted and sure enough, out flowed some nasty infection fluids. It didn't smell, and the relief from busting it was crazy awesome. I never had to worry about that thing again. It left some small scar tissue at the base of my spine and that was the last I had to deal with it...until now.
Present:
For the past 2 years I've had the exact same spot flare up at least once every month or two. When it flares up, it's almost impossible to sit down, and my back feels as though it's completely locking up. I did research on it last night to figure out exactly what the hell this thing is, and all signs point to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_cyst that thing. (Warning: Images are a little raunchy, but not too bad). The routine has been the same everytime. It flares up, I have some pretty sharp pains in my lower back, then normal movement eventually ruptures it and I clean it up, and the pain is gone.
Not this time. Last night it flared up and I am unable to rupture it. I contacted a friend of mine in the NAVY who is studying to be a doctor (Forgot which field) and he pulled a few favors and did some additional research for me. He says that the scar tissue from the cyst being ruptured so many times over the past 2 years has caused it to become very thick and resistant. Apparently, the only way to solve it is to plop down $2500 for some surgery. Now here's the kicker: Even after the surgery, not a single person has reported that this thing has gone away. Men in their 60's are complaining that it still haunts them and they've had to go back for multiple surgeries to keep it in check.
I guess TL;DR - Has anyone else had to deal with one of these? Apparently they can be fairly common, it's just that some do not flare up as mine has.
StrifeRaZoR on
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edit: Ohhhhh, after looking at the site, a good friend of mine had one of these. She had the surgery and the whole thing was removed. She said it was incredibly painful, as was changing the bandages... like bite-down-on-a-leather-strap-painful... but it hasn't bothered her since.
usually you just have to cut the bitch out though, yeah
and even then it has a chance of coming back later
It's a simple inpatient procedure to get them excised. I'd push for excision instead of drainage though - a drained cyst will likely return.
These things can become a serious problem if left untreated, get the procedure done. I put off going to the doctor over it, and I ended up having such a large excision leaving me with an open wound which housebound me for 2 months.
Seriously, go to the doctor. I'm not sure what type of surgery you're referring to, but its worth getting removed. If you're that scared of it returning, research points to a combination of sitting and ingrown hairs being the cause of the cyst. Hair removal in that area via electrolysis apparently helps.
Also, about cutting it out myself...I tried. I couldn't bring myself to mentally cut into the flesh and drain it. I made it bleed a little, but that's about it. I'm taking some spare penicillin left over from my abscessed tooth to hopefully stop some of the infection. The good thing about that, is that I never take any type of medicine for problems that I have, so it should be pretty effective.
If you're looking for encouragement to try to operate on yourself as well as misusing prescriptions, you're in the wrong place.
Go see a doctor, get it removed. Being unemployed is a drawback, but call around to local clinics and local medical schools as they often have low or no-cost care available.
AND NO MORE CYST.
People get through pain just fine, please see a doctor.
Now if anyone just has some information on clinics and state hospitals in Texas around the San Antonio area, I might just be set for good.
Edit: I am now leaning back in my chair, very comfortably for the first time in 48 hours. You take things like back support for granted after a while
Holy shit. A golf ball?
I had a sebaceous cyst excised from my cheek in March (I didn't have bad acne as a teenager but somehow one of my zits stuck around and became cystic), about the size of a small marble. And I was told that was big.
That cost me $125 for the consultation and $400 for the very quick procedure from a reputable cosmetic surgeon my doctor recommended.
I imagine a pilonidal cyst would be far more expensive.
+1
I actually just has a sebaceous cyst excised from my cheek, as well. I assume you don't have insurance, Strife.
One thing to keep in mind is that the $2,500 figure quoted to you was not quoted from a doctor you're seeing. When I had my cyst removed I was uninsured (which, in Massachusetts, isn't actually not-covered) and I was able to go to the surgical clinic at Mass General where the work was done entirely for free.
So check out surgical clinics at any teaching/large hospital near you. If you're close enough to Boston, check out the clinic at MGH.
You won't know for real what's up until you see a doctor. Until then you're just scaring yourself with hearsay.
They are NOT FUN. Sitting is ungodly painful, as it pretty much feels like you've got a stick or knife jammed up in there. I've had four (4!) surgeries at this point to remove mine. You might be lucky and get it with the first try, but mine is determined to come back. Go to your doctor, NOW. The quicker you get it looked at, the quicker you can get rid of it. To be honest, I'd pay any amount of money and go into any amount of debt to get rid of mine, but that's because I keep have a recurring problem. Perhaps you can talk to your family for help or something - 2500 is not much for the surgery.
There are also social complications; when people notice you start smelling a bit differently (it's draining infected fluids, etc, and those smell), as well as you constantly having to worry about the drainage (am I soiling my clothing with this stuff?). Other than the pain, this is the next problem with leaving it alone.
The in office excisions are only valid for small cysts - for large ones, you will have an outpatient hospital bill, usually with anasthesia, etc. Healing time for the surgeries can last up to 6 months (yay, me). You will also be stuck at home, at least for a few weeks afterwards (if a larger excision is done), because it will HURT LIKE A MOTHEREFFER. Changing in and out the dressings will be painful, but when not doing that, life is immeasureably more pain free. However, after a little while everything just feels massively better. People who have never had one don't appreciate such a simple thing as sitting normally.
On another note; it's actually quite refreshing to read stories from other people that have had them. It's been my dirty dark secret all through college and half of high school (and even through some of my first job now). My life is generally awesome, but I've thought about suicide from not being able to get rid of this thing, even with modern medicine helping me (the pain, the shame, etc) If you have the chance to get rid of it now, or early, DO IT.
Quit not taking all of your antibiotics for one, and for another antibiotic treatment is rarely effective at getting rid of the infection and inflammation before it bursts and is generally only useful after it's drained.
Pilonidal cysts are vastly different from any other cyst as they aren't a proper cyst but are instead a sinus created through whatever means that continues to get inflamed for various reasons like sitting, reduced circulation, trauma, ingrown hairs, etc. Once you've had it flare up once or twice it's not unusual for it to get really deep and large very fast.
Mine don't continue to drain and I haven't had a flareup, knock on wood, in years but yeah the pain and awfulness is just something people who have never had them can not understand. I've had people who have gone through childbirth tell me that having a pilonidal cyst that was inflamed was the more painful experience. I've had ER doctors tell me that they rarely see patients make it through the incision and draining without having to be sedated first because the pain is so bad.
Basically shit ain't nothin to fuck with, son, go get it looked at by a proper doctor. Generally when professionals do an incision and drain on a pilonidal they pack it full of gauze so that the fluid can continue to drain and the wound won't scab closed over a mass of slimy gross infection pus; that's not happening when you're just letting it burst open and scab over without being cleaned and packed. Also yes this is going to hurt, there is no way around the fact that it's going to hurt, but it hurts a hell of a lot less than not being able to use the lower half of your body without screaming pain for days on end every month.
The likelihood that you'll never have a recurrence after a surgery varies with the incision type and healing method used and how much your body hates you; the surgery I had of course has the highest rate of failure (thanks for not telling me that, doctor) because they put the incision and stitches straight over my tailbone. I've had a few flareups since the surgery - for the first year post-surgery it was about every three months, though I'm not going to say it was the surgery that caused that as I was also changing my hormonal birth control methods around and going through a lot of stress and weight gain. There is also the cut it out and pack it full of gauze every day until it heals method, which has a pretty high success rate comparatively, and I believe the highest success rate is where they basically reshape your butt and sew your tailbone area into a flat spot by taking a flap of skin and restructuring the whole area.
However if you're going to continue to be dumb and not have it looked at the easiest way to get it to rupture quickly is hot baths. Lots and lots of hot baths where you sit in the tub for as long as you can stand. Mine usually build up over the course of two weeks from the first soreness and redness to when it finally ruptures and taking a hot bath is the best way to get them to pop a hell of a lot faster than two weeks. This will also help at least some of that grossness drain out I guess.
But seriously go get it looked at ASAP, like hopefully today, yes even though it popped, so that you can have a proper incision and drain done on it and talk to someone about your options for having it removed.
This is what my friend had done. She never talked too much about the cyst itself, but it was painful just reading about her post-op experience. Do it anyway. Hers never came back, and there's a better chance yours won't either if you do something about it than if you don't.
To this day, going to the doctor and subsequently having the surgery is easily the best decision I've made in my life so far. I'm not kidding or exaggerating in the slightest. I had my surgery freshman year of college, and I've now been cyst-free for about 7 years.
Ironically, I had the procedure which seems to have the highest recurrence rate, where they basically just stitched me up right after the excision and let it heal up by itself (without the packing and repacking of gauze that seems to be the alternative). As a sidenote, I did my procedure without general anesthesia. I was at a Navy hospital and they just gave me a spinal (so now I know exactly how a paraplegic feels). Not being able to feel anything below my diaphragm for hours was probably scarier than going through the procedure completely awake was.
Don't get scared or put down by all the horror stories you see on the internet. Yeah, there's a fairly high recurrence rate for these things in general, but the stories people post tend to be the "interesting" ones, a.k.a. the exceptionally bad ones. It's worth any amount of money to start down the road to getting rid of this cyst, trust me.