I Had No Idea
I have had boils since I was 10. I am 81 now. I had/have no idea if this is HS. When the boils erupted, I just applied whatever home remedy was available. Sometimes, my mother, sisters, or even my husband helped me clean out the wound. My older sister also had the same problem. I think we compared wounds and talked about who had the worse. Since I had no idea, I did no research about the why or how. I just carried on with life. Family, Friends and fellow workers understood. I recently read that the wounds are highly contagious. I am finally understanding how they, therefore, move from one part of my body to another. I am also now very careful about touching others who may have open cuts, etc. In the last 5 years, I have also requested antibiotics from my doctor to help. Presently, I have only one in my armpit that is still healing. Somewhere along life, I began to link the boils with food. I think it was my father's condition that helped me do that. He was a diabetic and also had boils. I have been close to being diagnosed as a diabetic. Right now, I am hesitant to get a blood test for fear that it will show that diagnosis. I have been eating foods that are not good for me as well as not exercising as I should. As I type this, I think of my sister I mentioned. She died of pancreatic cancer. There is probably a link there. I have a tiny cyst on my pancreas. I am scheduled to have a procedure to see if it has grown. That is my story. I will see what happens now.
Hello
, thank you for sharing your story and experience with us. You certainly have been through a lot, living with boils since age 10. Good for you for doing what you could to manage them all this time. Although I can't say whether your boils are HS or not, I can assure you that HS is not contagious. HS is an autoimmune condition. (Here is a link to an article with some information about common myths of HS, https://hsdisease.com/living/myths.)
Many people, like you, do find that their HS flares are linked to various foods, although everyone is different. Are there specific foods that you find trigger the boils for you?
I am very sorry to hear about your sister. I have not heard of a specific link of HS to pancreatic cancer, but there is some information there may be a link of HS to a certain type of skin cancer, https://hsdisease.com/living/cancer.
I hope that your procedure for the tiny cyst on your pancreas goes well. If you're comfortable sharing, please keep us updated on how it goes and what you find out. And please don't hesitate to reach out here anytime. Sending you gentle hugs! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
