Thanks for the pep talks! I need them. I feel like I’m being a baby, but this really hurts!
The ER doctor didn’t think it was a pilonidal cyst just because it’s not exactly centered, even though it is really close. She thinks it’s some kind of non-pilodonal abscess. She said it was either too small or too deep to lance (but that that might change later), and also that they don’t do that in the ER and I’d have to make an appointment to have it done. Or maybe that was just to get it removed altogether? I don’t know.
I wish I would have just paid out-of-pocket for the Vicodin last night but I only get 12 of them anyway so I guess I’ll be glad to have some left later if it’s still bad. My mom is going to fill the prescriptions for me in a few hours.
The ER discharge paper says to follow up with my doctor in 2-3 days, so I guess I’ll wait until tomorrow. Qadgop, you said you don’t think the antibiotics will do much good, but if the doctor is right that it’s some other kind of abscess, does that change anything?
Those were generic instructions. Why wait? Go today. For someone who’s hurting as much as you are, I’m puzzled by your lack of haste in dealing with this.
You’re not being a baby. Pain hurts–that’s why they call it pain. Pain is a sign something is wrong. It’s not meant to be ignored. The body will keep screaming at you-- louder and louder-- until you do something.
They aren’t always in the center, mine wasn’t. Find a more experienced doctor. You should find a surgeon to do the lancing, I don’t think other doctors will do it, and you may need to go back again some day, or even have it removed if you can’t get it under control. Put some hot compresses on it. Also (note that this is not medical advice from a trained practitioner) I’ve found the opposite of your natural instincts are required, get up and get moving around, physical activity will help open it up.
Not speaking for Blackberry, but for myself, dealing with the pain you know, even when it’s really painful is easier than dealing with the unknown. I have a deep mistrust and fear of doctors. I have a high pain threshold but a low embarrassment one. I’ve told myself when doubled-up in pain to suck it up, if I’m handling this now, I can keep on handling it. I walked on a broken foot for 6 months before I had it looked at.
ThelmaLou, I hate going to doctors always, and it hurts so much to move at all, let alone sit in the car, so that’s why I’m so reluctant to do anything. I just can’t stand to not be alone when I’m in pain.
But is there a point in seeing a doctor now when I just saw one a few hours ago? Anyway though, once I get this Vicodin I should be able to get up and go I bet. My mom can drive me, so it’s okay if I’m doped up.
TriPolar, I do have one of those instant hand warmer things on it and that is helping some. I’d need a referral from my doctor to go to a surgeon, so I guess I better see if I can get one. I just hope this isn’t going to drag out too long. And I HAVE to work on Sunday so I wanted to get it done ASAP so I’d have time to recover. My boss is being a total bitch about me taking any time off, even though I never do. I have to cover for her every time she wants to go on vacation (the last time was just last week), but I’m not even allowed to get sick.
StGermain, yes, that’s how I am! Except I don’t have a particularly high pain threshold either. But I never expect doctors to really help much, because usually for me they can never figure out what’s wrong (why is my heart rate 150? Who knows? Not the cardiologist.)
Get it lanced. It hurts for about a microsecond then you get an instantaneous feeling of relief. It’s like when you get to a bathroom after drinking 8 beers, only times 100.
Of course other doctors will do it, I already said I do lancings in my office (when appropriate). I would defer the excision to a surgeon.
Might as well take the antibiotics as directed until your own doc tells you otherwise.
I love modern health care delivery. We can keep a 500 gram preemie alive but it’s a fustercluck trying to assess a cyst/abscess and give adequate pain relief.
I had a friend who kept having chest pains and couldn’t decide what to do. The he dropped dead. Problem solved.
Your pain/embarrassment thresholds are probably similar to most people’s. But be sensible. Don’t brag about your stubbornness; it’s not a virtue.
The one thing you don’t EVER want to hear from a doctor is, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do. If you had only gotten here sooner…”
Yes, you should go even though you just saw a doctor. Why? Because you didn’t get any relief yet. You keep going until you get a solution to your problem. Or until nature solves it for you, as in the example I cited above.
ETA. I can talk to you like this because I’m pretty sure I’m older than your mother. Maybe even than your grandmother.
Oh, you vastly underestimate my embarrassment/modesty quotient as well as my doctor phobia. I went about 25 years between doctor visits. I stopped going to the doctor when I became old enough to stop telling my parents I was ill. When I finally went to the doctor it was because I stepped on the proverbial rusty nail in the barn and it went through my tennis shoe. I got a tetanus shot. Do you think I never got sick in those 25 years? I did. I suffered. And I got better. In attempt to get over my phobia of doctors/trust issues, I joined a vaccine study group for a possible AIDS vaccine. Of all the people throughout the NIH study (still not a large group, because most people weren’t willing to be injected with an experimental vaccine), I had the strongest immune response to the vaccine. My body did become stronger because it hadn’t had an antibiotic in decades.
I realize that my lackadaisical attitude towards medicine may come back to bite me some day. I now go to the doctor once a year to have my thyroid levels checked, since I had to have that surgically removed. I do get a mammogram, since my mother, sister and aunt have had breast cancer. I accept that cancer is probably in my future - my mother was one of 11 children and 6 had cancer. My father was a non-smoker who died of lung cancer. If I die from my own psychological hangups, so be it. I’m going to die sooner or later.
That’s a remarkable assertion. Is there any actual evidence to support it? I’m unaware of any credible studies that indicate one’s ability to respond to an antigen is based on past antibiotic use, or lack of it.
My mom is saying the exact same thing too. I guess I better call. I’ll let them lance it if they will, but like I said, the doctor at the ER said it was too small or too deep to lance yet. Another doctor could very well have a different opinion though. It sure doesn’t feel small to me. Deep though, yeah.
The assertion that my body is stronger because it has had to fight off antigens on its own may be incorrect. However, the fact about my immune response was brought up at the AIDS vaccine study annual picnic, and I won a bag of mini Snickers for that fact. The study went like this: They looked for people who had not previously received the smallpox vaccine. They spliced a small part of the outer cover of the AIDS virus with the smallpox vaccine. They cultured the pustule that formed at the injection site several times. I’d guess that’s how they knew what antibodies I produced. Study info. I was in the study with Barney Graham, along with my sister and a few other people from my Catholic parish as well as others. Unfortunately, it didn’t produce a viable vaccine, nor did it do much to lessen my fear of doctors. Barney was a nice guy, though. It’s been over twenty years. It was a different time then, and just suggesting the fact you might be in an AIDS vaccine study was dangerous.
Perhaps a hot, moist compress would help bring it to a head.
You’re not being a baby. That thing was some of the worst pain I’d ever experienced. I cried and sobbed in a tone that I’d never before heard come from me.
As to why you should see a doctor today when you just saw one, I recall that damn thing went from “what the hell is that?” to inflamed and very painful pretty quickly. If your pain is a whole lot worse today, then maybe it is ready to be lanced.
Well yes, if you’re going to quote what I said and not what I meant. :smack:
Doctors often recommend a surgeon for lancing a large cyst or something in a dangerous location. I’m sure any doctor will take care of it when appropriate.
So no direct evidence of a stronger or more effective reaction to an antigen (albeit some of varying levels of inflammation in general) but some that at least is highly suggestive of greater resistance to getting an infection as a result of (not just correlated with) decreased antibiotic use.
As is well-known, antibiotics are not effective against viruses. So would the effect of antibiotics on gut bacteria have any effect on future viral infections, as opposed to bacterial infections?
Instead of merely looking down on him, you could give him a swift kick in the butt. But then he wouldn’t be just a wannabe any more.
My mom is saying the exact same thing too. I guess I better call. I’ll let them lance it if they will, but like I said, the doctor at the ER said it was too small or too deep to lance yet. Another doctor could very well have a different opinion though. It sure doesn’t feel small to me. Deep though, yeah.