Brace yourselves. This is kind of a long story as I have been dealing with Pilonidal Cyst disease since I was 15 years old and I am now 21 (so about 6 years). Iâ�?�?ll start with a little bit about myself. I am a very healthy 21 year old female. Iâ�?�?m in my last year of school to be a dental hygienist (so I am an extremely clean and organized person). Not that it matters that much but when it comes to being a female with pilonidal cyst disease I often like to remind people that I definitely do not think it is from ingrown hairs or not cleaning properly back there because I am a VERY hygienic person. So, how this all started… I was 15 and just getting off the bus from high school for the weekend and my brother and I were racing home and I had taken a fall right on my butt (tailbone area). I didnâ�?�?t think anything too much of it because I play hockey and have fallen directly on my butt before and nothing has come of it. Later on that night I felt some pain in my tailbone area so I decided to check it out in the mirror and realized that I had a blue/purple â�?�?bruiseâ�? right where I had fallen on!! My parents were in the US for a siblingâ�?�?s hockey tournament so I told my grandparents and they took a look as well. We thought it was just bruised so I stuck an ice-pack back there to try to get some relief. The following week was a week from hell, the bruise eventually swelled up to the size of a golf ball (it was red and yellow-ish and bouncy but also very painful when Touched) and I was pretty much immobile due to the pain. We went to the doctorâ�?�?s and they prescribed some antibiotics to take 4X/d for 10 days… I also saw a general surgeon that has done procedures on pilonidal cysts and he assessed it and recommended some treatment options however I was only 15 and didnâ�?�?t think that I needed surgery. On day 6 or 7 or the antibiotic course I had sat down on the toilet (this was the only comfortable sitting position so I would literally sit on the toilet, take a hot shower, soak in the hot tub and then repeat the process like 10 times each day)… and this particular time I sat down I felt something burst! Then this DISGUSTING smell filled the room and thatâ�?�?s when I knew what had happened, the pus just oozed down into the water. My mom and I decided that maxi-pads would do the trick for the next few days to catch the draining pus and I finished my anti-biotics. Fast forward to my first year of college (18 years old) I was in a very hard 1 year program to get a general sciences certificate to eventually get into a more specialized program, and I was constantly sitting down either in class for 6-8 hours a day or studying. About half way through the year I noticed I was having some pain in my tailbone area. I went out and bought a doughnut pillow to sit on in class and at home when studying, and I also went to a doctor in the city of my college to have my worst fear confirmed. My pilonidal cyst was back. I asked for the same anti-biotics as the last time and started them right away. I also tried to stay off my butt as much as I could. After about 2 weeks of being uncomfortable the pain sort of went away… but since the initial cyst I had always had a little hard like â�?�?almondâ�? cyst under the skin right beside my butt crack, and I have 3 very small pits along my butt crack, so I knew that this could just keep happening and happening. For the next 2 years I would have minor flare ups and just take extra caution to sit properly, sit down slowly, soak in the bath or the tub when I noticed something wasnâ�?�?t feeling right. Fast forward again to This past summer (July 2017). I had floor seats to see Metallica in Toronto, ON (Canada) and 3 days before the concert I had noticed that I had some pain and swelling in my tailbone area. I basically RAN to my doctor and begged for the same anti-biotics that I have been given in the past. I started a course of those ABâ�?�?s and the day before the concert I was in SO MUCH PAIN that my doctor sent me to the hospital to have my pilonidal cyst assessed and taken care of. At the hospital I was seen by a ER doctor who applied some topical and local freezing and made an incision â�?�?i&dâ�? or â�?�?incision and drainageâ�? it was so frickin painful holy shit!!) and packed my wound with gauze and sent me home. Please please PLEASE if all you take away from my story is this next part, make sure you do it!!! My first dressing change was a traumatic experience. I was too scared to take the T3â�?�?s I was prescribed so I didnâ�?�?t take any pain meds and was at the wound care center for 2 hours while the nurse battled with me to remove the gauze that was stuck to the sides of the incision.. after 3 weeks of constant wound care (and still pain/swelling and you could feel the hard pit) packing appointments the wound finally healed (left a nasty but clean and properly closed scar). I vowed to my mom who had been my rock through the past 6 years dealing with all this pilonidal cyst stuff, that I would never have an i&d ever again. OH and if youâ�?�?re wondering… yep I missed Metallica 🙁 ! So after all of this, I thought maybe just maybe I would be lucky and if I be careful enough I wonâ�?�?t deal with any more pilonidal cyst issues… man was I wrong! The next 2 months the scar would randomly flare up, which I had read can happen for years even after an i&d. Well this past weekend I started to get pain in the area yet again…but this time was different. My cyst abscessed but the abscess was really HARD and hot to touch and extremely painful. I tried everything. I took 3 days off work to soak in the hot tub, cold compresses, essential oils, NSAIDs like Advil for pain/swelling… you name it I tried it. Well eventually the pain became so unbearable my mom called the general surgeon I had seen when I was 15 and he happened to be working at the hospital and had an hour of free time to see me. I drove myself to the hospital (screaming and crying the whole way there from the amount of pain I was in)!!! I met my mom there and was taken into a room to wait for the doctor. He gave me 2 options, I&D or go home and wait for it to drain itself… through my tears and mental breakdown I decided to just get the I&D over with as my college is on strike right now (lol). Holy friggen shit!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN SO MUCH PAIN IN MY FRICKEN LIFE! He used local anesthetic with a big ass needle and kept injecting it in different spots (each time I screamed, like it was bad) and then he took a scalpel and cut into the scar from the last I&D and this time he went even deeper because apparently the other surgeon didnâ�?�?t go all the way and cut into the cyst that was found about 4.5cm deep into my butt)… he offered to do some pit picking but like NO THANKS because holy hell the pain was too much… after about 15 minutes of screaming and crying the procedure was over with and I was packed up. There was SO much blood, I ended up fainting and having to spend another 30 minutes being monitored. I was prescribed T3â�?�?s and told to go home and relax and of course the next few days I would need to get wound care done. Today is Post-op day 3 and I feel amazing. Day 1 was 1 T3 and 1 Aleve every 4 or 6 hours, Day 2 same thing except I was violently ill from the T3â�?�?s (even though I ate a meal with them) and Day 3 Iâ�?�?m not on any pain meds! Iâ�?�?m uncomfortable but it is tolerable. Itâ�?�?s also Day 3 and my wound care nurse switched to the anti-microbial gauze and told me I can come back in 3 days instead because itâ�?�?s healing so well! So thatâ�?�?s my story so far with this disease. If I can help anyone who is struggling with finding ways to cope, I hope I can. Especially women who have pilonidal disease. I was/am still so embarrassed about it because predominantly men have this disease. I remember I cried when I explained to my boyfriend what I have because I was so embarrassed and felt so gross/ ashamed of my body. To my surprise heâ�?�?s been so helpful and supportive through this whole experience for the past 2.5 years Iâ�?�?ve been dealing with it more frequently. Some helpful hints: take hot baths to soak it, take pain meds to help reduce the swelling and the pain… ESPECIALLY TAKE THEM BEFORE YOUR FIRST FEW DRESSING CHANGES, if your doctor gives you the option of an I&D… even though itâ�?�?s legit a form of fucking torture, I would say do it. I screamed and cried for 15 minutes but as my surgeon said, itâ�?�?s better to be in pain for 5-10 minutes than 5 hours or 5 days kind of thing. Personally, I think if this thing flares up again, which I hope it doesnâ�?�?t because of how much better the post-op has been this second time, I will look into getting the tract removed (a more extensive surgery done under general anesthetic with a 6month-1year recovery) just because Iâ�?�?ve been dealing with it for so long and my flare-ups seem to be more frequent than some other peopleâ�?�?s.