35, first cyst, day 4 with bloody surface irritation, my story

Hello everyone! First off, I'd like to say that this has been one of the greatest resources I've found out here in the wild world of the Web, and I'm sincerely grateful for what this community has provided for all us women who should have been taught better from the beginning. Our bodies should not be this mysterious, and it's wholly unfortunate that we only discover integral parts of ourselves under circumstances for which we are all here.

Now, here I am at age 35, with one of these lovely abscesses for the first time (and clearly not the last). I have had a small, pea-sized cyst from an ingrown hair since I was 15, which never once became a monstrosity such as it is now. I think a few factors have played into this sudden swelling, however; I have an extremely bad back (those details are for another time), and I recently threw my back out at the beginning of this month, September. I've been highly couch and bed ridden since then, and unable to probably shower, wipe (my husband is truly a saint), sit on the toilet, be in the bath, etc., so my hygiene has been less than good, and baby wipes just don't do justice. Plus, during that time I had both finished my period and been heavily ovulating, so the tension was strong, since I couldn't physically do anything about it. Last week I was finally getting to a point where I could walk fairly freely and take showers, which was absolutely divine, so I've been in the home stretch of recovery for my back, until now.

This past Saturday, I noticed while taking a shower before a DnD session that I had this swelling. At that point, it was tender, and only painful if I pressed on it. Of course, this was the night I was finally going to try sitting in a chair — a good test at home to see if I could finally go back to work this week. I can safely say it wasn't worth it in the end, as it further inflamed the cyst and my back. So, now I'm further away from going back to work, and the cyst is backtracking any progress I've made skeletally.

Here's what I've been doing:

• Constant epsom salt baths/sitz baths (both horrible on my spine, but soothing and helping to bring the infection to the surface)

• Turmeric poultice for a couple hours yesterday

• Prid last night in the evening and while sleeping

• Switching between heavily diluted tea tree and then witch hazel spray poultices after every episode of Ghost Adventures (these dorks keep me company, don't judge)

• Sitting on a heating pad while doing poultices, changing panty liners each time, and changing undies between each full soak (so, maybe four or five times)

I've noticed some superficial blood on the surface of my inflamed skin, and bruising near the surface. I think that the turmeric paste may have contributed to the irritation, and I may do a turmeric tea on the area, if I try the spice again.

Based on the testimony of so many of you on this platform and others, I am entirely turned off on the idea of lancing or any other medical intervention, since it only seems to be a temporary band aid to the situation, and some have even stated that it came back worse, or healed poorly. And catheters seem to fall out all the time, which slightly boggles my mind, given the advances in medical science. And, in my mind, even if you make a new hole, a new incision, your body is still going to try and push through the natural duct, and I wonder why these surgical procedures don't aim to unclog the opening of the duct, itself (again, this isn't taught, so my analysis could be way off). That said, I would much rather learn how to deal with this and find my method for the long, seemingly endless, cyclical road ahead. I have no fever, no thrombosed veins, just one, very angry, hard grape, which seems to be getting harder near the surface as the remedies go on.

I hope I'm doing the right thing(s).

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