My pilonidal first showed up when I was 17 years old. My mother felt it was a boil, so she had me take hot sitz baths with Dreft in an attempt to bring it to a head. After a few days when she realized this method wasn’t going to work (I had difficulty walking and it was noticeable), she took me to our family doctor.
Over a period of 3 years, our family doctor, lanced the pilonidal 6 times, poured hydrogen peroxide into the wound, bandaged it up, and sent me home. My mother would continue to pour the hydrogen peroxide into the would and bandage it for a few weeks after each lancing…and the wound continued to drain at intervals sometimes heavy, sometimes not, depending on how active I was.
Then, at age 21, another doctor recommended that I enter the hospital and have it removed surgically. Prior to surgery, he inserted dye into the abcess to determine just what we were up against. My mother was present, and she mentioned later that the dye slowly moved up my spine, then projected left and right as if there were several “feelers” present. A day later I was given a drug to make me woozy, then a spinal to put me out for the surgery. I remained in the hospital for 7 days and was groggy for at least 3 days of that period. I foolishly refused the painkillers that were offered to me as I wanted the staff to think I was doing fine and ultimately would send me home. This in fact, caused more concern to my doctor and nursing staff as they thought I had lost feeling in that area, and I believe that is why I couldn’t go home sooner.
I was told that my pilonidal was filled with long hairs and calcium deposits in the shape of fingernail clippings. Anyway, here we are 37 years later and no complications or drainage during that entire period after the surgery. I do, however, have “ghost pains” in that area, especially if I sit in the same position for too long, and my butt crack heads west for about an inch.
As an aside, I want to mention that my body produces high testosterone levels, and I was told by an Endocrinologist that this is caused by a blocked Adrenal Gland…could this tie in with the “guy disease” that was mentioned in the Community Site?