# Wanna see my abscess? (TMI, obvi) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125 "2014-03-20T00:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Inter\_Alia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@Inter\_Alia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inter_Alia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/101 "2014-03-29T16:20:54Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > No matter how careful you are you’ll probably forget and scratch, or scratch in your sleep, and you don’t want any gunge under those nails giving you _another_ infection! (Voice of experience here… bad memories.) :eek: _Don’t scratch, don’t scratch, don’t scratch…_ The abscess is looking a [little better](http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag207/elyse0228/2014-03-29093533_zpsf078b4c3.jpg) today, relatively speaking. I still have a slight fever, but the rash has stopped spreading. Contrary to my expectations, I slept like a baby last night. I’m itchy, but less so than yesterday. I can’t take Benadryl because it makes me feel like I’m on speed, and Zyrtec makes me feel like I’m on half a dose of speed. (Is that a thing? You know what I mean.) I suspect the Claritin isn’t doing much, so I’m going to try Allegra and see how that goes. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/102 "2014-04-10T05:40:16Z")
Bump, because by now it ought to be healed and I’m wondering if it is. ---
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/103 "2014-04-10T11:56:30Z")
have you had it drained yet? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/104 "2014-04-10T13:28:11Z")
Waaaaay back in the thread she mentioned her doctor elected not to drain it but to allow it do its thing without interference. ---
**Author:** ![Inter\_Alia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@Inter\_Alia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inter_Alia)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/105 "2014-04-10T14:22:38Z")
It’s healing. There’s a scab, and the red area keeps getting smaller. There was a hard lump for a while, but it’s gone now. The rash from my allergic reaction to Bactrim cleared up about a week ago. I’m so glad that whole thing is pretty much over. Thanks for checking in! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/106 "2014-04-11T04:19:18Z")
I’m hoping the exudate was cultured; this is acting a bit like MRSA, what with the multiple heads and all. Bactrim usually takes care of the community acquired kind. Broomstick has saved me a lot of typing;). At my current job I do many procedures, including various personal abscesses. I always apply Hurricaine topically first, and I ALWAYS try a local anesthetic; these day I use bupivacaine (Marcaine) because it is long acting, and seems to “take” more often than Lido. Since in my practice it works 90 percent of the time, I feel stabbing someone without it is mean. Plus I can then explore the cavity with a pair of curved forceps and yank the sac out;) and they don’t come back. If it’s a bigun I’ll put in a drain, or an iodoform gauze wick, or a Word Catheter which looks like something you would use to help a hamster with a full bladder. If the abscess is somewhere helped by sitting in a hot bath two cups of baking soda in the hot water helps a lot. And yes, I run this line of patter while I’m working at it, grinning is better than screaming. Congratulations on your excellent diabetic control. While you are feverish eat small, eat often, and check your glucometer often as you are burning fuel fighting the infection. That’s also part of why you feel yucky. Keep those followup appointments! Fingers crossed for you. Ps I’m old and don’t get why people put this stuff on utube…but I just love to FIX things and an abscess is way more interesting in my day than explaining hot flashes for the 60 millionth time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/107 "2014-04-11T04:20:29Z")
Oh foo, didn’t realize it was an older thread. Thanks, iPad. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125/108 "2014-04-11T13:23:10Z")
> [@Inter\_Alia](#): > > It’s healing. There’s a scab, and the red area keeps getting smaller. There was a hard lump for a while, but it’s gone now. The rash from my allergic reaction to Bactrim cleared up about a week ago. I’m so glad that whole thing is pretty much over. > > Thanks for checking in! See? Now is when we can look back & laugh. Way to go on a fine job of healing! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanna-see-my-abscess-tmi-obvi/684125.md?page=5)