As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Hypochondria + Growth on leg = ???

FuruFuru Registered User regular
edited March 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
Okay, here's the deal. I get freaked out a lot easily by fairly minor things due to a crippling fear of catching the death. Usually I get over them and it's fine, which is good because the position I'm in right now means "no medical insurance". Now I have a new, gross problem that I'm some what legitimately worried about. Worried enough to ask an internet forum for opinions on what I should do.

It's kinda gross so I'll give you some space to look away if you want to.










Okay. It's...like a boil. Except it's big, black, and making the area around it swollen as well. So far I've been treating it like a normal boil (hot rag on it, etc) however after reading the wiki aricle on abscesses I am fucking terrified. I mean gangrene. I actually got some....stuff out of it earlier, clear and mixed in with some blood.

So essentially what I'm asking for here is:

1. Is it nothing? If so, talk me down.
2. If I HAVE to go get medical help, how would a broke insuranceless hobo go about doing such a thing?

Furu on

Posts

  • QuirkQuirk Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Could it be a blood blister? They're harmless as far as I know, but they look pretty gross

    Quirk on
  • FuruFuru Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Quirk wrote: »
    Could it be a blood blister? They're harmless as far as I know, but they look pretty gross

    I've never had one so I wouldn't know. I don't think pus comes out of those though, do they?

    Furu on
  • dispatch.odispatch.o Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Some spider bites end out like that. They can end out infected and gangrenous. Insurance or not, you may want to go to a clinic or something, at the very least they can tell you it's nothing.

    Were it necrotic it would have a smell unlike anything you've ever experienced.

    Edit:

    I'd like to say it just sounds like a plain ole blister or irritation to me that you've picked at far too much. If you stop harassing it for a while and it starts shrinking and healing you're probably good to go. If you stop harassing it and it continues to grow, get it checked out.

    Either way, stop picking at it. Every time you open the wound to air with your grubby fingers you increase the chance of infection.

    dispatch.o on
  • FuruFuru Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Right. Stop poking at it. Can do. If it doesn't get any better tomorrow I'll find a free clinic and get to it.

    Furu on
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    You can post a picture of it if you want to. Just make sure you link it, don't spoiler it.

    Thanatos on
  • SporkedSporked Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    If you lanced it and got a bunch of gunk out of it, and it starts to feel better, I'd say it's probably just a boil. Quit fucking with it, let it heal. If you just squeezed it or something, and want to lance it, use a sterilized needle (holding a needle in a lighter flame for a bit and letting it cool off works)

    If there's any fever!, if it starts to hurt like a bitch!! or it starts to smell!!!, get thee to a doctor/clinic, sooner rather than later. There's got to be some kind of public health facility/free clinic in your area that you can go to. You have the interwebs, get googling.

    What you described sounds a lot like a brown recluse spider bite, it would help to know where you lived so we could maybe rule that out. (it's mostly a southern thing but they can live indoors up north during the winter, just a lot rarer) The big thing is to watch it though. How long have you had it? Is it a result of some trauma (pinch/bruise/puncture)? Is this something you found 2 weeks ago, 2 days ago, or this morning?

    P.S. keep in mind we're not doctors (I think!) and that you should see one if you're really worried about it.

    Sporked on
  • Jean Claude Van CalmJean Claude Van Calm 'sup? Awesome Possum.Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Hmm, I've had an abcess on my knee before, I also know a lot of guys who got them from basic training and such. I can say I'm not an expert but it doesn't sound like that, an abcess normally starts just like a little pimple and doesn't normally form a bump as much as it litterally eats the flesh away leaving a hollow. Plus there's not puss so much as "Mozzarella string cheese" that comes out of it.

    Frikken gross I know but I'm just saying it doesn't sound that bad, and if it gets that bad FFS go somewhere. I went to the ER when I noticed how bad mine had got.

    I think Sporked said it best, clean it if you can or feel comfortable doing that then leave it alone. If it gets better sweet, if it gets worse go see someone.

    EDIT ADD. if you're not sure if it's getting worse. Take a normal black inpen and outline all the redness around the bump. In a day or so the line will still be there and if the red spread outside of it, go to a doc.

    Jean Claude Van Calm on
    PSN: Grimmsy- Xbox Live: Grimmsy
  • Page-Page- Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    I've had a blood blister before, I think. It was strange, but it didn't hurt much. After I popped it and let all the blood out it healed just fine.

    If anything, I think I have the exact opposite problem from the one you have. I don't pay any attention to things on my body. The only reason I bothered with the blister was because someone else said I should do something about it. I thought it was kind of neat, and just left it alone. I remember having a wart on my thumb when I was a kid, and I used to go to school and stick pins and things through it, because it didn't really have nerve endings, and gross people out. Or I'd cut it off and see how long it would take to grow back.

    Actually, right now I realize that I've got this thing on the back of my knee. I can't really see it because of where it is, and I only noticed it about 2 weeks ago when I happened to be feeling around there for some reason. Feels kind of like a tough little lump. But it doesn't hurt or itch or anything, so I just leave it alone. Maybe I'll ask my doctor about it when she gets back from Florida.

    Page- on
    Competitive Gaming and Writing Blog Updated in October: "Song (and Story) of the Day"
    Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
    stream
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Link a picture of it--OP. Diagnosis or guesses at what the hell it is would be much easier that way.

    Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud on
  • FuruFuru Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    UPDATE:

    After a couple of days of lancing, applying Neosporin, and then covering it with a band-aid, it's getting better. It's no longer black or painful and is getting smaller all around. The area around it is redder, but I imagine that's from pulling the band-aid off.

    So I guess in the end it was just a boil and I was worried over nothing, as I thought. Thanks everyone!

    Furu on
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Does it have red streaks coming out from it, heading upstream of the infection site? If so, go to a doctor, because you probably have septicemia. If you don't, then you should be fine in a few days.

    Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud on
  • HeirHeir Ausitn, TXRegistered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Does it have red streaks coming out from it, heading upstream of the infection site? If so, go to a doctor, because you probably have septicemia. If you don't, then you should be fine in a few days.

    This. Septicemia is a good way to lose a limb or die.

    Anything that is big and black that leaks puss on me would immediately make me wonder if I shouldn't go to the doctor immediately.

    Basically, be careful man.

    Heir on
    camo_sig2.png
  • FuruFuru Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    Does it have red streaks coming out from it, heading upstream of the infection site? If so, go to a doctor, because you probably have septicemia. If you don't, then you should be fine in a few days.

    No, it's a big red patch.

    In the shape of a band-aid.

    Furu on
  • FuruFuru Registered User regular
    edited March 2008
    After double-checking: Nope, no red streaks. All in all it looks better with every day so I doubt it's a spider bite or getting infected or what have you.

    Furu on
Sign In or Register to comment.