Pilonidal Cyst??????

E

Evan B

New member
Well I typically have only been getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night until Thursday. So my extreme tiredness could be completely un related. And the only reason it continues is due to massive oversleeping. Does that sound right? My cyst has gotten a lot smaller since starting to leak. It is a redish color and isn't leaking as often. The more I mess with it the more sore it gets but if I leave it alone the pain gets better. The skin over it has begun to peel slightly, like a sunburn, my wife noticed that. I belive its from the near constant rubbing with a paper towel. ( Iclean up the drainage with a papertowel, its all we have lol. I keep a paper towel in my boxers to catch any seepage with much success. But I'm guessing that's what's causing the redness/peeling. I will look into that website. Hoping for a quick response for this post, thanks!
 
not sure but sounds reasonable


I've heard that they start out as ingrown hairs. I'm hairy lol.


I have had 2 surgeries. The last one has been over 20 years or so ago. The surgery is not bad at all. I worked 2 days afterwards. Boy was it nice to get rid of that thing. If you get surgery try to find a surgeon who injects dye into the thing. Thats what the last guy did. The first surgeon didn't inject dye and it lasted about 8 years.


It was for me. Bigger and grosser with time.


Didn't work for me.


I drank back then but I don't think it made it worse.


I would bet on it. If the military will pay to remove that thingy then I would jump on it. As I said before the surgery is a breeze. A few stitches and a little soreness, as well as sleeping on your stomach a few weeks, but what a relief not having that thing drain at the worst possible moments! Best of luck, Matt
 
Hello, so recently ive begun thinking i have a pilionidal cyst. as far back as i can remember ive felt a tiny peanut sized lump on top of my tailbone, sort of like a gland, but ive never thought anything of it. this last january i went off the basic training for the army and towards the end of those 10 weeks that "gland" got swollen and inflammed,soon enough it was oozing brownish red pus that smelled HORRIBLE. Then after a few days it went away. still thought nothing of it. weeks go by, then mid may while im in AIT it happens again right before a P.T. test, my only worry at that point was that i had to pass my test but this "gland" made it extremely painful to do situps, because once again it had swollen up. so i pushed on past the pain and it again drained out and went away. now here we are in mid august, im at my duty station in kansas for the army with my wife, who up until she actually say this cyst, was convinced it was just a bad pimple. and of course 2 days ago this thing starts flaring up again. well yesterday it was the biggest its ever gotten, roughly 4-5 inches long. sort of like an egg. i was very tired (from lack of sleep) and i felt like i might of had a slight fever, so i went to bed early. when i woke up today i noticed that in the night this cyst had begun draining on its own, so i helped it along by squeezing some of the goo out, and might i say that made it feel ALOT better. afterwards my lower back began to hurt alot, im guessing that the cyst was so big that it had put pressure on my tailbone and lower spine so when it got relieved my spine had to adjust or something, causing the pain? im probably wrong but thats my guess. anyways, that was this morning and now my back feels pretty good, my bottom is still pretty sore so i rigged some pillows to allow me to sit comfortably. every 2 hours or so i take the papertowel i put over the cyst to absorb the leakage off and manually drain the beast, it seems to be effective. i still have random spells where it feels like i have a fever, but they quickly fade away,im guessing its just because im nervous about this thing. i should also mention i am 23 years old and in pretty good health, the army makes sure of that haha. i am not in anyways overweight (ive heard alot of obese people get theses cysts) i do have a fair amount of body hair, which i believe is the cause of these cysts. how should i go about getting rid of this thing? i do not want surgery and will go to any lengths to avoid it. it isnt a big problem until it flares up. but this is the worst its been, pain and size wise. is this going to be a constant trend? if i shave the area and take great care to keep it clean can this be avoided? Also, if i was to drink a few alcoholic beverages, that wouldnt greatly effect this infection would it? because ive had a long exhausting work week and would love nothing more than to kick back a few beers. anyway i hope to get some kind of response from this horribly long post, IS this a pilonidal cyst? it fits the description to a T. Thanks.:wave:
 
Its drainage has begun to smell different and look different, less of a reddish brown and more of a tan. And smells similar to potatos, ewww!
 
Keep in mind, that although my heartrate seems high, it is not my resting heartrate, I've been awake for quite awhile so my heartrate has accelerated a bit, from what I've read is that the best time to check resting heartrate, is right when you wakeup before you even sit up.
 
Yes, it's a pilonidal.
So, am I getting it right that this is the 4th flareup since January? That's a lot. My husband's had one for decades that only acts up maybe once a year, and it gets nowhere near as big as you describe. I'm afraid that one that large is causing you some degree of systemic infection, which can be dangerous. Sepsis is nothing to toy with.

My son had one that drained constantly. Maybe because it did, he never complained much about pain, but it was always staining through his clothes. I was the one who persuaded him to see a doctor, because I was embarrassed for him about the staining. He had it surgically repaired without any ado and is very glad he did. It was simple day surgery which he had done on spring break his freshman year of college. Recovery consisted of lying around on the couch for a day and a half before he got bored with that, called some friends and continued his happy life.

All that said, surgery is the only permanent fix. You will be hounded by that "beast" for a long, long time... Maybe the rest of your days. That might be feasible if yours was like DH's and only gives you minor, infrequent trouble. But trying to live with yours ... Well, I wouldn't want to.

But wow... I have to applaud you doing situps with that thing in full bloom! We can really use men like you in our army. ;)
 
I had one of those in my younger days. They were called "Jeep Seat" in WW2.

Fortunately, mine broke while I was on a long bicycle ride, with results about like you're describing. It never came back.

But you should see a doctor; this isn't getting any better. It is a cyst, it's obviously infected and you need professional help.

Good luck.
 
not sure if this is relevant but my flatulance has begun to smell like this as well. im going to the doctors tommorrow. i cant stand living like this anymore, im horrified. i feel like im on the verge of a breakdown im freaking out, my wife is like well you should have gone to the doctors sooner, but i didnt because the other times this has happend its gone away on its own. this started last wednesday and although its improved in most aspects, its gotten worse in others. and im a hypochondriac so thats making everything ten fold worse. someone please help.
 
Ok so I finally saw a doctor. He drained some and took a culture of it. Then started telling me that all infections are staph infections and that my cyst has staph infection. And prescribed me some medicine and said if it isn't better in a week to come back. He also mentioned ii should take hot baths every night to drain it also. Now from what I've read medication really isn't going to help this very much and hot baths don't work right? Well this whole thing sucks, physically I feel a lot better, the cyst is a lot smaller. And the pain is almost gone. But mentally I feel like crap, my thought to be gone anxiety problems are back and so is my depression. Well hopefully this cyst will fade back into darkness soon and let me live my life!
 
I'm glad you bit the bullet and saw a doctor. Take the baths; they can help. Take the medicine; it can too. You didn't want to see a doctor for this, but now that you have, why waste the effort by not following his advice?

I gather you're young, used to being relatively healthy, and have been thrown off balance by having something go wrong. I wouldn't say you're a hypochondriac, because they have nothing wrong but go to doctors all the time thinking there is. You do have something wrong, yet don't like seeing doctors. See the difference?

As for the anxiety and depression, as long as they're mild, confide in your wife for comfort. For better or worse, in sickness and health. That's what husbands and wives do for each other. If that doesn't help, seek professional advice.

This will get better, and if you're lucky it won't return. If it does though, Matt has given you good advice. Get the stupid thing fixed on the Army's dime and get on with a happy life.

Good luck to you!
 
Side note. I've been extremely tired the last few days, I've slept more than I've been awake. Is this.a normal sign of infection? Is sleeping a lot going to help me or hurt me? I'm worried and so is my wife. Thanks.
 
i know this may sound bad, but this started 2 days ago, and i havent showered since, for fear that it might hurt like crazy if soap or hot water got in my cyst, should i just try showering anyway? might it help more than it hurt? this pain is getting so annoying and the smell is just unholy. i cant even sit down comfortably at all. walking hurts. not really bad but if i let it get to me it does. i cant let this thing win. i gotta beat it. i definitly do not want surgery, ive never had surgery of any kind in my whole life this far, i definitly dont wanna start now. im contemplating drinking a few beers to dull the literal pain in my ass. lol. i dont take asprain or painkillers of anykind either, im a bit of a hypocondriac so i avoid all meds. whatshould i do? this is really irratating and depressing me.
 
i quickly realized that i was being a complete idiot by not bathing and promptly showered after the last post. still hurts quite a bit but its amazing how much better a good clean feeling can make things.
 
The sleeping won't hurt you, but whatever's causing it might. Is there any other reason you'd be extra tired that would explain it? Doing hours of physical work out in the heat, for example?

Here's the URL to a link about sepsis. (You have to copy & paste it into your browser window. We can't hotlink on the board.) Please read it and check for signs and symptoms. If you have any of them, DO NOT ignore them! Go to an ER immediately. Promise?!
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000666.htm

I'm frankly worried about you, because a PC that size is not typical and shouldn't be left completely untreated. Let me know how it goes, OK?
 
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