[Indy]

Maybe this is TMI, but did anyone else feel the urge to take a mirror to their butt after reading?

A little bit, yeah, lol!

[Punkie]

I'm pretty sure sitting around in wet, dirty breeches has nothing to do with the causation of these nasty things- the "risk factors" are family history, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, white hairy young adult male.

Not always! The infectious disease specialist here in Ocala as well as my ID guy in Boston (who I see entirely too much as any little infection is way more dangerous for me than for your average bear) both said that this is a very common causality. It's not just being sweaty/gross. It has to do with the fact that you chafe throughout the day when you are sweaty and gross (anyone does, even those of us with very average sized behinds!) and then you are sedentary for a time after that where things have the potential to, erm, fester. The compression of the tailbone and the sacrum lead to more irritation and voila! You've got a cyst! You'd be surprised just how many riders my ID doc said they get down here with this very same issue...though most don't culture out Strep A or have the infection try to turn to septicemia in less than 72 hours. That's where the unusual part comes in!

So while it is not very common to see someone in an ICU for this issue, it's not at all an uncommon issue to have. And I can promise you, I am not hairy, male, sedentary, or obese in any way, shape or form :P


I did get the great news that I'm out of the woods ICU wise after this last dose of Vancomycin and getting moved to a regular floor sometime tomorrow! I have to stay here until the wound heals fully because I need to remain on the Vanco for the entire time it's packed, but they're going to start hyperbaric therapy tomorrow, so we're hoping for a mid-week discharge It also hugely helps that my mom just got in from Boston, so that makes me feel oodles better.

[rmh_rider]

Oh my. OUCH.

Guess you will shower right away now, and not wait.

I come in and change under garments a couple times a day. Well, ok, I change completely a couple times a day. I most of the time will shower FAST, then put on new stuff. I have alot of laundry. But hey, it works for me that my husband usually folds all laundry.

Hope you get on the mend, and well, umm, get clean more often.

I am in 'Bama so it is hot and nasty here too.

[Punkie]

Oh my. OUCH.

Guess you will shower right away now, and not wait.

I come in and change under garments a couple times a day. Well, ok, I change completely a couple times a day. I most of the time will shower FAST, then put on new stuff. I have alot of laundry. But hey, it works for me that my husband usually folds all laundry.

Hope you get on the mend, and well, umm, get clean more often.

I am in 'Bama so it is hot and nasty here too.

The worst part is, I change throughout the day, too! We've had a lot of trouble with fungus and the horses this year, so as I go between my house and the two farms I board at, I change fully (I even keep different pairs of boots and half chaps each place, just to be safe!). I don't often get to shower every time I change, but I shower 1-2 times a day and still, here we are! No more sitting on the couch when I get home, I'll tell ya!

[Canaqua]

I'm pretty sure sitting around in wet, dirty breeches has nothing to do with the causation of these nasty things- the "risk factors" are family history, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, white hairy young adult male.

Hmmm...I'm none of the above and it happened to me years ago. I wasn't in wet dirty breeches. I'm guessing it must have had something to do with general irritation...I actually have a scrawny butt and a long tailbone and sometimes have tailbone pain sitting in my desk job, despite getting up regularly to walk around. Last year it was bugging me enough to ask my doctor...she told me my choices were to put on 20lbs, all on my ass, or get a cushion with a cut out in it. Went for the cushion .

[Mosey_2003]

My tailbone hurts often too, and I am certainly NOT lacking in the cusion department...

[FLeventer]

I get them almost every year even with my two showers a day. They show up in the same place every year, under my arm, and they are the worst. I also feel like a nasty pig when I get them even though I clean myself within an inch of my life. I also live in FL.

[FalseImpression]

I hope you heal fast... and that you have insurance!! oh my... I can't imagine the bill...thank you Canada!

[jen-s]

Can you get your Mom to shave your butt then video tape it? That seems to be the preferred course of treatment!

I wasn't gonna go there, but I'll never again think of pilonidal cysts without remembering the (mis)adventures of MN.

[Mosey_2003]

Wait, what? Someone on here did that? What did I miss?

[rmh_rider]

Maybe you could try a different soap, and aloofa, or a nylon scrunchy thing. Also Softsoap has some really nice smelling liquid soaps with a bit of a exfoliator in it.

I have changed clothes 3 times just today, and showered twice. Whew. I have had world record showers due to the heat, humidity, HOT, dirty, etc. I think it was 4 maybe 5.

I have endurance ridden lots, so I know being dirty and riding for very long periods of time. I have done many 50 milers. Plus all the training on the horses to get there. Sometimes depending on the ride, I would go back to my non-LQ trailer and do a fast bath in a bucket with some water in the tack room. Then change clothes before heading back out to ride another 25 miles! I hate sweaty wet undergarments. ;-). I have aLOT of underwear and socks, and Hanes white tee shirts. All cotton. I have no idea how my husband puts all the socks together so they come out matched. Well, some are newer and some older, and some have taller, some shorter, but all crew socks.

I have had ummm, heat ra$$h, and severe butt rub on my umm butt cheeks betwix the divide, those take forever to go away. So I kinda know what you are going through. But yours wins.

Good luck, hope you heal fast. Stay cool! No couch potato-ing.

[JGHIRETIRE]

Glad it's healing faster than you thought. Really doesn't sound fun. Good luck with the healing!!!

[SonnysMom]

I'm pretty sure sitting around in wet, dirty breeches has nothing to do with the causation of these nasty things- the "risk factors" are family history, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, white hairy young adult male.

I was 14, active, no family history, young white female. Did I qualify as hairy- probably. I was quite mortified that while the nurses in the hospital shaved the tops of my thighs and butt they joked about it being easy to tell where they hadn't shaved yet. Sensitive weren't they?
Major surgery to remove it, anesthesia, overnight stay the whole bit. Mine had hair in it. It came back once more and was small enough for an office visit. I always joked I was growing a tail.

I had fallen off my deck onto my tailbone about a year before. At that point I didn't own a horse so was doing weekly lessons in the summer.

I don't remember reading anything about personal hygiene being a contributor or cause.

[Long Spot]

I had fallen off my deck onto my tailbone about a year before. At that point I didn't own a horse so was doing weekly lessons in the summer.

This leads me to wonder if there isn't some truth to tail bone injuries having something to do with some as someone else posted.

Either way, you guys who have dealt with this are one tough group of ladies.

[SolarFlare]

Yup, I had one too about 15 years ago. Both of my parents had it around the same age. Mine developed gradually and got so painful that I couldn't sit in class (I was in university at the time). I went to the student clinic where the doctor basically said I would be fine. Ended up crawling on my hands and knees to my mom in the middle of that night begging to go to the hospital or for heavy-duty pain meds.

I spent the weekend going back and forth to the ER every 8 hours for IV antibiotics - a particular kind that was supposed to bring the cyst to a head. The in-between hours were spent doped up on Demerol and T4s. It didn't work well so finally they decided to lance it. It was horrendously painful - possibly the worst pain I have experienced yet. Screaming-my-head-off-in-the-ER pain.

Mine wasn't packed but left open (I guess it wasn't that deep?). Thankfully it has never reoccurred!

ETA - the doctors suspected trauma in mine as well, possibly from falling off horses.

[Mosey_2003]

I'm pretty sure I dislocated or possibly broke my tailbone a year or two prior, too.

[vxf111]

A boyfriend in high school had one of these. It was bigger than a freakin' apple when they removed it and he had a WOUND for months. At the time, I was told it's an internal process/problem with a hair follicle/problem with cell development and NOT caused by anything external?! Polynidal cysts specifically. It makes sense to me that A cyst could be caused by external factors, but I thought these were caused by either hair follicles that turn in OR internal cells that get told to be hair cells even though they should have been told to be some other kind of cell??

Feel better soon!

[goneriding24]

Sorry, don't have time to read all the posts but I will say, if you were a horse, I wouldn't have a problem treating you, sticking my hand and arm up ANYwhere or stitching it closed. But, you being a human and all, no way in h*ll am I even watching a vid of a whatever cyst. Human stuff makes me toss my cookies while the same thing in a horse or do, I'm there probing around and wanting to know more...

Go figger...

[RugBug]

Yeah, totally guilty over here of coming home and sitting around in an inert heap for a while before mustering the strength to shower/eat/tidy the house/etc.

I might be doing that right now. And I also might be getting up to take that shower because I'm a little worried now....