Dealing with Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Seeking Advice

Females should try spironolactone. I haven't had a are in about 3 years.

Hi! I also delt with my HS for a good while before being provided other alternatives. Initially they had me on antibiotics, then on topical creams, etc. Right now what currently works for me is Humira. I take it in the form of a pen i inject into my leg 2xs a month. It has started to take into affect and it made a difference to me when it did. Things to note are: - it takes a while for the medication to begin taking effect. For me it took ~6 months to begin seeing the full effect - what works for you might be different since everyone's body processes meds differently - i got that via a derm, so this information may not be as helpful (sorry) Non-derm related things that help me is finding the right bandaging. I recently discovered that hydrocolloid gal bandages are a GAME CHANGER with healing time

Have you tried an elimination diet or do you eat those foods for another reason? It took me 4 years to find out that tomatoes are a serious trigger food and even that small change helped so much. Steroids and other anti-inflammatories are amazing. Unfortunately exercising may also be contributing to your pain. If you haven’t already, take some time to investigate your triggers. Keep a log of your food, activities, clothes, weather, hormonal factors (either bc or your period), and basically anything else you can think of and watch for trends with when you get better or worse. There’s still very little known about what causes HS and so many people are affected by different things, my triggers are heat, friction, and tomatoes but other people can’t eat dairy or only get flares on their period which aren’t issues for me

I recently had my first treatment from dermatology. It took years & years of me pushing for treatment (HS symptoms started at 10, I'm 22 now). I had my first steroid injection into a cyst 3 weeks ago & now that cyst is healed. It would've normally taken at least 3 months for it to have healed this well- I've never had one heal so quickly. It also stopped filling up with gunk & hurting SO fast. The injection itself hurt a lot less than I expected as well. Steroid injections are 100% worth the fight

Seriously, HS in my groin leaves me walking like a duck. I’m out of options. I can’t get into a derm until late March. I also take baths regularly, I don’t know what else to do. Surgery scares me as well. Does anyone have any tips to make it more manageable