pain management/medication options
i have level 1-2 and all the doctors/dermatologists will do for me is antibiotics and creams which sometimes don’t work and take a while. is there any pain medication i can get over the counter or ask for? im currently dealing with a really painful flare up that’s causing me to miss college and not be able to sit, stand, walk comfortable. I try lots of home remedies but i am trying to find something more effective than just ibuprofen
I'm sorry you're struggling and I can understand. When HS started I was in high school. I had a couple of surgeries in my late teens and found more compassion from my surgeon at the time than my dermatologist. Sometimes we'll find one specialist shows more empathy than another. You deserve to be able to go to college and try to live the best quality of life possible.
I now see pain management once a month, but in the early years, I had a lot of help from the surgeon and sometimes my primary care physician more than my dermatologist. Go figure! In fact my pain management referral didn't come from the dermatologist but from my rheumatologist when I was telling them how bad my HS flare-ups get.
Please don't suffer in silence because it isn't fair to you. Someone should be able to prescribe something for your flare-ups when ibuprofen or Aleve just don't do the trick. A doctor who understands HS and is empathetic will know that and do something about it. Good luck and gentle hugs to you!I'm on Cosentyx for my HS and AS (ankylosing spondylitis) but I've been experiencing recent flare-ups which I think have to do with my hormonal changes since perimenopause. I have talked with both my gyn and dermatologist about this! In the meantime, I'm managing the best I can with home remedies, a prescription for doxycycline, and my pain medicine. 
that's great you've been in communication with your team of doctors, although I'm sorry to hear about your recent flare-ups. I hope that things you're currently doing are helping. Can I ask if you have any go-to home remedies that you find particularly helpful? Also, as you mention AS, I just wanted to let you know about our sister site, https://axialspondyloarthritis.net/. Sending you gentle hugs! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
Hello,
, thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear that you're not getting relief from your current flare up. Do you doctors know that the pain is so bad it is interfering with your day-to-day life and causing you to miss college? (Sometimes I don't think doctors get it unless it's put in the terms of how badly it's impacting living your normal life and routine.)
I wish I could be more specifically helpful, but unfortunately I'm not aware of much for over-the-counter pain relief besides the ibuprofen. I do want to share a couple links with you though, maybe something mentioned with resonate with you. This article has information about pain, https://hsdisease.com/symptoms/pain (and includes some pain relief ideas at the end of the article). This article has information on various types of medications that are used to treat HS, https://hsdisease.com/medication. And these two articles have alternative therapies, https://hsdisease.com/alternative-treatment and home remedies, https://hsdisease.com/home-remedies. I'm not sure if there's something mentioned in these last two articles that you haven't already tried and might help ease some of your discomfort, but I wanted to share them with you just in case.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to your doctor (be the squeaky wheel if you need to) in order to get some ideas or prescriptions for pain relief. While getting prescription pain meds isn't easy (and sometimes isn't even always possible), you certainly deserve to be able to go to college and live your life without the discomfort you're currently feeling. Perhaps even seeking out a pain management specialist would be a possibility for you.
And, hopefully some of our community members here can also share any tips or tricks with you that they've found helpful!
Please keep us posted with how you're managing. Sending you gentle hugs. -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
