I am 30.5 weeks pregnant and went in two weeks ago to have a cyst looked at since it flared up really bad and was killing me. The nurse drained it (this was a horrible experience!) and i've been healing since.
I went to see a surgeon yesterday with a referral from my Dr. and they said it was a pilonidal cyst and would need to be removed surgically. The assistant that I saw told me that since I'm pregnant, it'd have to wait until after the baby was born to do the procedure since it's pretty invasive.
I am a nervous wreck. I keep wondering how the hell such a random thing happened. Has anyone else had this and not had it treated? It sucks!
Re: Pilonidal Cyst
Oh, wow! Your poor husband! I can relate to what he went through. I was in the same boat, really. I was too ashamed to go to the Dr. and have it looked at because I didn't want anyone to see my butt like that. I've had mine for a few years now. After getting pregnant and having Dr's looking at me everywhere, I kind of got over that and decided it was time to do something about it, which is why I went in to get looked at. The draining of it was NO picnic and I screamed and cried the entire time. I am hoping it doesn't come back and it won't be an issue. On the other side of my butt though, I have what the surgeon called a sinus cavity. It doesn't hurt at all or anything, but it definitely has me worried. The one that was drained is healing and still hurts to put pressure or sit on it.
I'm so scared of being knocked out for the procedure to be done, let alone what the healing time will be like. I'm such a wuss when it comes to any of this stuff, I am so scared of the blood and recovery.
Oh man, I have been there. I never knew I had this until it flared up during my senior year of college. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life (I say that because childbirth hasn't started yet!).
Apparently I had this my whole life, but had no idea until it got infected. I was 21 and had no idea what was going on. I happened to be home for the weekend, and my mom convinced me to go to the dr, who listened to my symptoms, took one look, and sent us to the hospital. I had to have THREE localizers injected right into the spot to begin the draining process. I screamed bloody murder and cried like a freaking baby during that part because it hurt so bad. But since you've already had yours drained, you're past the worst of it.
All of that happened over 4th of July weekend, and I had the operation over Christmas break a few months later. I SWEAR to you that having the cyst infected and drained was 10x worse than the operation. I will admit that the first few days after the operation were no fun, ESPECIALLY when changing the gauze each day, but it gets much better and easier every day, and can heal quickly.
If you get the surgery and they get it all out, you should be pretty set for life with little to no risk of having it flare up again.
Oh, my eyes are watering thinking about how much the draining hurt!! It sucks, doesn't it?
I was honestly getting a little worried in my late 2nd tri because my tailbone pain was so bad I was worried the cyst had somehow returned and I'd have to go through it all again! Luckily, it was just regular tailbone pain and no cyst.
Best of luck to you!! I would honestly recommend the surgery and not risk any more flare-ups.
I usually lurk but I have had 2 different pill dial cysts removed. The first was the worse because it abcessed and turned black and hard. It was soon gross! The worst part about the surgeries is that they leave the wound open so you can keep it clean and dry. It s gross to clean it out everyday and you will need help for awhile. Unfortunately mine continue to return. If you have any questions let me know.
YES! It hurt more than anything I've yet to feel. Honestly, after the drainage and walking around with a flared up cyst, childbirth sounds like a piece of cake. I'm just sooo grossed out by the thought of them cutting my butt open and getting it all out and the recovery time. Not to mention, I wonder when a good time would be since i'm sure i'll be pretty laid up after childbirth and having this done won't even be a priority while i'm recovering from childbirth.
They drained the one really bad one and I still have gauze on it so kind of pad and protect it since it's still sore and i'm afraid that because I do feel some pain back there, that it's coming back or something. When you had your surgery, did they put you under?
Thanks for sharing your story... it makes me feel better to know i'm not alone and won't die from this. I've literally been freaking out since hearing what needs to be done in the near future!
So, yours have returned even after surgery? Poor thing! That's a LOT to go through if it keeps returning! How awful!
I had a total of 5 surgeries for a pilonidal cyst. I would suggest finding an excellent surgeon who has experience with this problem. My first surgery was closed, then I had 3 open surgeries and the fifth and final one was an open surgery with a wound vac towards the end. It was painful and took 3 years of my life away from me. If I had done my research first and found an experienced surgeon I wouldn't have been through hell and back. I would suggest checking out www.pilonidal.org. it's an amazing website that was started by another pilonidal sufferer.
I have been lucky to not have had another problem with this since my last surgery. It was taken care of and I am so glad.
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I had one surgically removed a few years ago. I had it for about 5 years before having it looked at. For a long time I actually thought it was just a spot on my tailbone that got sore from doing crunches on the floor (I used to do them regularly as a part of my work out). Then it would start oozing off and on and I realized I should have it checked out.
The surgery was pretty invasive. They left the wound open and I wore a vacuum pack 24/7 that cleaned out the wound (basically sucking stuff out of it). I had a home nurse come to change my bandages and reattach the vacuum every other day for awhile. I think the total recovery time was maybe six weeks. So in some ways the recovery was really hard but I think it was better than I expected it to be. And I will say that I have no pain back there at all now and no more pilonidal cysts coming back. It's been great. Try not to be too nervous because it really wasn't that bad.
Oh my goodness, I totally know what you are going through. With my first pregnancy 3 years ago, I had a pilonidal cyst flare up for the very first time...I think it was right around 30 weeks also. It got so bad because I didn't know what it was and was too embarrassed to have my doctor look at it. Once she did, she immediately sent me over to the surgeon and I had it cut open and drained. It was a horrible experience, ugh! My husband ended up having to pack it for me until it healed.
I ended up getting another flare up a couple of years later and I caught that one earlier, but still had to have it drained. Luckily that time I didn't have to pack it, just keep it clean and let it heal. The surgeon wanted to do the surgery after that flare up because he said the chances of getting another flare up just go up after each one. I was way too scared to get the surgery and still haven't.
I started to feel like I was getting a flare up at the beginning of this pregnancy, and I was so nervous. I ended up catching it super early, right when I started to feel like I had a sore tailbone, and started doing warm compresses on it and it went and away and hasn't returned.
I'm still not sure I will ever get the surgery but we will see.