I am almost 31 years old. I have had a pilonidal cyst for 16 years (got it at age 14). With an average flare up of about 2-3 a year. It starts at the very end of my tailbone and works it’s way up to the top of the crack. During that flare up I can also feel pain and a hard bump in my lower abdomen. I’ve never had surgery to have it removed but have been to plenty of doctors. I have had it lanced & packed plenty of times in my teen years.
One time in the ER this young ER guy was instructing the new guy how to lance my cyst. He said because of the scar tissue more lidocaine would not work on me. Let me tell you something, if you ever hear that by any doctor..get the hell outta there!!! I screamed. No matter how loud he kept cutting and packing. My mother stood horrified. I’m a person who hates to rely on anyone or thing to get me by. In my 20’s, after a doctor didn’t give me enough lidocaine to numb me up, I became my own doctor. I know what your thinking and I’m not writing this to inspire or scare or for pity. It’s just my story.
My next flare up (and I’m sure plenty of you know–you live in fear of that next flare up–the moment that you feel that familiar ache, you feel like, “How can I go through this again?…I wish it would just go away!!”) I used a scalpel, mirror, and light. Believe me…it was a very hard spot to reach. LOL I almost fainted. No lidocaine (but I already knew what to expect…just this time I had no doctor bill). I even packed it myself with sterile gauze.
I was so ashamed of my cyst that I kept it secret from everyone except my mother. My husband finally found out about it 2 years after we’ve been together. How’s that you ask? I’d turn out the lights. LOL He finally found out after I had a flare up and I couldn’t lance it myself…I would keep almost fainting. I just couldn’t do it anymore. So I asked him to. He had to think about it. LOL At this point in our relationship he was kinda freaked out that he never knew about my little secret but also about how ugly this huge zit in the crack of my ass was. LOL
Well, all I’m gonna say is that he eventually did lance it for me 2 years after that incident and has for the past 5 years. He came up with the ingenious idea to numb it with ice first. Since he has been doing it we don’t pack it. It heals quicker and my flare ups are not so severe. Nowadays I will feel that ache for a couple of days and it just goes away. That’s maybe because of my age or how long I’ve had it but it’s livable & my butt still looks decent. LOL I will tell you that I believe packing it is a bad idea. Maybe I’m wrong but I have had this thing for 16 years. I believe I know something about it. I also believe taking dairy out of your diet will help keep flare ups away (mainly cow’s milk). If the cyst is at the maximum flare up and has been lanced before you may be able to help it pop itself by using ground up taro potato on the cyst(look it up).
I don’t know if it’s because of how long I’ve had it or because I haven’t had to go to the doctor for awhile but I’m not scared as much anymore. Once again this is just my story. I don’t recommend that you do anything as crazy as I have done. Good luck, your not alone, yes it sucks but we’re all rooting for ya!