Journey through a boil

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(Spoiler alert- you have a minimum of 2 weeks before feeling 50% better,

and at least 30 days before feeling even 90% better)

Steps

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1. Wednesday, Jan. 25th . Thought it was a pimple that i scratched. Noticed soreness/tenderness but dismissed it. 

2. Thursday. Woke up and the area where "pimple" was at was swollen and painful to touch. Located literally at inner thigh on right leg, I knew this was going to be a problem when I start walking since my legs kiss when I walk. Yep, it was a problem, by 5pm after work I was limping to the train station and my "pimple" was hurting soooo bad. 

3. Friday. Thinking it was just a really bad swollen chaffing (denial), I just patted my thigh with baby powder, rubbed down with tea tree and oregano oil and was on my way, wrapped my thigh in ace bandage to help thighs not kiss and went to work. By 4pm I was crawling to the train to get home. Clearly not a bright idea.

4. Saturday. WTF!! I can't walk. I laid my "in denial" behind on that couch all day. I couldn't move/walk. My pimple looked like it  popped but there was puss oozing out.. ewwww and the area was super red, inflamed alot where it looked like a baseball was stuffed under the pimple and you look at it and i'm ready to cry in pain. Nope.. something is wrong. I can't keep going on like this. I applied ice pack all day to help soothe the skin around the pimple. This isn't working. I'm not getting better. I'm getting worse. 

5. Sunday. I give up! Give me my tablet.. time to google this. I know google is not a medical doc but i was borderline ready to go to the hospital ER because i was in so much pain. I confirmed it was a Staph infection and that I needed antibiotics. So off to the Urgent Care instead of hospital thinking some pain pills and antibiotics was my cure all and I'll be home for sunday dinner. So I wobble like a cowboy thighs far apart to the urgent care. 

6. Sunday afternoon. The doc comes in the exam room, and my legs are cocked wide open to keep thighs apart. with panties showing and I'm telling the doc "Save me". He turns around thinking he walked into the wrong room and asked "is this a female problem, am i in the wrong room". I said "no, my infected pimple is on my inner thigh near my vagina" lol It was funny at first until he looked at it, made a funny face and backed away. He said calmly as if to keep me calm.  "uh that's not a pimple.. that's a Boil on your thigh". So shrugging it off and never having one before I said, okay what's that. He said you're right it's a staph infection in which you broke skin with the pimple and all the bacteria in and around your body and nails flew to your inner thigh and infected it.... then it turned into an infected Boil that must be lanced. The nurse looked at me and asked.. why did I come in earlier.. i said "I never had a boil.. so i didn't know it was a boil smh". Time to get lanced. 

7. Lancing.. so I didn't know what lancing was until the doc told me to lay back he needs to numb the area before he slice open my boil and let the pus and boil flow out like a river.  I am a punk when it comes to pain, blood and pus. I was hollering!! A second nurse and my mom had to hold me down. Apparently they told me i was turning colors and almost passed out. I just remember the pain and trying not to move my leg so he doesn't slice my vagina by accident. I cried as if i was pushing a baby out. The pain was soooooo bad. I still cringe just thinking about it. Doc asked did I want to look at the pus "flow out like a river". WTF! Hell no I don't. I'm trying to remember to breathe, not looking at a river flowing pus and blood ewww. Of course my mom looked because she is such a "mom" lol He was finally done lancing my boil, he packed it with gauze so it can suck some of the infection out. He said to pull the packing out in 24 hours and run soap and water over it. No showers for couple days. Sounds easy, I wiped my tears and pride off cheeks and got dressed. When you're in that much pain, there's not a care in the world of embarrassment, just pure pain. 

8. Post care - omg if my mom wasn't there I would've had to admit myself to the hospital because i couldn't clean that nasty thing! Boils are horribly nasty, especially if you're not a big fan of pus, holes in your thigh and blood. Obviously I don't work in the healthcare industry so this isn't a "norm" for me. 

   1. Day of surgery, take your antibiotics (with food or milk) and I took Ibruprofen 1200 (took that much based on my body weight - 600mg would be a joke haha). Pain slowed down but didn't disappear. I wanted to cry but was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep. 

   2. Next day. Clearly I couldn't go to work the next day (monday). I called out sick and forwarded my doctor note to be out of work for three days. I literally stayed on that couch all day. Only time I got up was to use the bathroom. Be sure to drink lots of water (getting up to use bathroom is good for circulation despite how much pain you'll be in). So since you need antibiotics obviously you need to eat and take vitamins that will increase your immune system. Yep Turmeric and milk, green tea, zinc tablets, veggies, fish, b12, vitamin d,  Chrollea. I did it all! Well mommy did it and I just drunk up feeling so bad for old people and cripples who have to do this every day (unable to walk). It's horrible. I'm so appreciative of my legs (more than I was before). Okay so that night, mommy took gauze off and I cried as the tape ripped at my skin. I was allergic to the tape.. wtf! Now my skin was breaking out around the boil. oh boy!. Well that's a secondary problem. The Boil was the primary problem. Okay she got the tape and gauze off. BE SURE to ALWAYS wear gloves when dealing, touching, treating the boil area. Never go anywhere near the boil without gloves. Don't have gloves.. get a zip loc bag (back up plan). Okay so she got the tweezer and pulled out the packed gauze. Not the packed gauze to my duh moment was inside the boil which when 1 +1 = 2 I finally realized.. oh my god.. I have a HOLE in my thigh!! I didn't realize it til just then. Of course, I started to cry lol well i was in pain and I was in disgust too. My mom squeezed the boil forcing any remaining pus and blood to come pouring out.. more like a stream than a river. Okay bath time. 

      1. Now you can't get into a bath or take a "real shower" because the bacteria running off your body will reinfect your boil. So take a "bird bath" at the bathroom sink while your wound is covered. Then get in the shower with hot/warm water. Take your "white" washcloth (never used) and fill it with antibacterial soap or plain (no fragrance soap).. make it real soapy. I turned my thigh sideways as I propped it up on the side of the shower and i squeezed the wash cloth over the boil hole. omg there's a hole!! Still in shock. and it looked nasty.. all you see is white stuff. I try my best not to look. My mom stood there and made sure i did it right.. i wouldn't trust myself either lol I think she was worried i was going to pass out in the shower and crack my head.. I probably would have lol Okay remember. the wash cloth NEVER touches the boil. You squeeze the soapy water out the washcloth about 5-6 times, rinsing with water the boil after each soapy encounter. Trust me.. it's exhausting. Once done, I sat on my couch (always had a towel down on the couch and switched EVERYDAY to avoid reinfection). I cocked my legs open an my mom went to work on that boil. She lightly placed a gauze over it and tape and I went to bed. Can't go to bed with a hole in my leg and anything can fly into it. I didn't move.. i laid down in the bed and woke up on my back in the same position.. i' was exhausted lol

   3. Tuesday. Okay still in pain but not as bad. Each day gets better. So trying to figure out how to speed this up and wishing I read up on it earlier I read that applying hot compress and using Ichthamol ointment helps speed up recover. I'm all for trying anything once (besides crack lol) so I was up for it. My friend dropped off some more sterile gloves and Ichthamol ointment he got from CVS. That's a friend for life.. the one that picks up boil ointment for you and doesn't complain haha. You're going to need lots of gloves because every time you change the dressing, or medicate the boil with Ichthamol you'll need GLOVES. So don't be cheap. Get a box.  I applied the heat compress throughout the day, did some more walking (Baked some cookies.. turned into martha stewart with all that time on my hands staying home). and my mom applied Ichthamol ointment to the 3x3 bandaid with a Qtip and placed it on my boil. then she taped the bandaid down and wrapped gauze around my leg. I just sat on the couch (on top of my towel). It works!! Between Ichthamol and heat compress (I got that heat compression that you can microwave for heat or put in microwave if you need cold) it was working. It was oozing out with pus. As much as that grosses me out I was soooo happy to see a soggy bandaid lol That means the infection is leaving the body, and when the pus is out.. so is the pain!! Okay, bath time. You know the drill.. don't touch it just let the soapy warm water run over the boil. Do NOT apply peroxide... it can damage the tissues that are trying to repair itself. You can use it later but not now. I applied it to the skin around the boil cuz it was ripped from the tape and i didn't want infection to spread to that but no peroxide, witch hazel or alcohol in that boil! Just wait. 

   4. Wednesday. You know the drill.. antibiotics on time, alot of water, you shouldn't be taking as many pain pills (maybe twice a day if that), pain should be noticeably less than the day of the surgery/lanced boil. Keep eating veggies or put them in a smoothie. I'm still apply heat compress and Ichthamol, the boil was hard on Monday and Tuesday but now it's draining and getting softer. Turning very black (area) but I've been using shea butter on surrounding area since everyone scared me stating that it leaves a scar. Shea butter helps with skin regeneration and healing. So for now antibiotics, heat and Ichthamol are my best friend. That's all I did Wednesday.. oh I went to the dollar store to get more gauze.. and when i came back it was so much work to try to walk that I passed out and slept the rest of afternoon away. That night.. you know the drill.. shower time.. still bird bath the main parts like your private, underarms etc. Can't take a real shower yet until you see the type of progression that it's on the way to closing up. 

   5. Thursday. It's a sad day.. time to go to work. Okay be sure to bring extra bandages/bandaids because depending where your boil is it's gonna be oozing with pus because you're moving. Mine was oozing cuz it's on my inner thigh so clearly the friction was pushing that pus out.. good but super painful!! I crawled home. When I got home, I applied heat and Ichthamol and went to bed. It was a rough day and I sit all day at work and it still was painful. 

   6. Friday. It's a better day because I had a bright idea. You know that band/wrap that you wrap around your stomach area to help you sweat while you work out. It's plasticky on the inside but has a velcro to secure it when it's wrapped around your stomach? Yep that's what I used and am loving!! Okay so mom came over in the morning and re-did my dressing with Ichthamol, bandaid, gauze and I added heat. She made me some eggs to eat because I couldn't take another antibiotic because it has making me sick..literally. felt like i had to throw up (this kicked in on Thursday morning actually). She said it was because i was taking antibiotic on empty stomach.. and she was right.. a couple of them..i took with water and no food and thought nothing of it. So had my eggs, took my pill and stood up to wrap my thigh with the gym stomach wrap. It felt awesome!! very little pain but i can walk sooo much better. So off to work I went. Walked around the office a little bit for circulation reasons then stayed at my desk until it was time to go home. I'm not 100% but i don't need any pain pills and can tolerate the little bits of pain that comes and goes. I'm going to take the bus home instead of walking. Now this morning, the boil is alotttt better. I can see pink in the nasty hole. The pink signifies new cell/skin/muscle growth. It can't turn pink when it's full of infection/pus. So I'm on the right path to healing up quickly. Keep going until boil completely closes. I'll come back and let you know how long it took to close and the pictures I took along the nasty boil journey. I've officially grossed myself out and walking around with literally a hole in my thigh. Soooo  not sexy haha

   7. Saturday and Sunday was a blurr because all I could do was mope around the house wondering what vitamins I could take to increase my immune system and speed up my metabolism lol (if you want to know then it's kelp, oregano oil, eucalyptus oil, lysine, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, spinach, any fruit, stay away from sugar.. body will focus on breaking alcohol and sugar down instead of fixing  your body!)

   8. Tuesday, February 21 - Wheww almost a month later and I am 90% all good. Thigh got messed up really bad (allergic reaction/breakout all 360 degrees around the mostly closed up boil) because apparently I am allergic to the bandages/tape that was wrapped around my thigh and it broke me out so bad. Not sure if it's worst than the actual boil. The boil is 98% closed. Barely there but I'm so freaked out that I'm not taking my tiny little band aid off until I see nothing but the color of my skin. I hope to never go through this again. Wish I knew exactly how I got it so I can avoid it in the future. Any pimple from this point on will be dealt with the most utmost seriousness for now on!

9. Hope my story helps. 

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What speeded up the curing of my boil?

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 Ichthamol Ointment  for Boils and bringing out splinters 

 Ichthammol ointment to treat a spider bite . It pulls out all the poison and infection. also used it for ingrown toenail.

Ichthammol ointment,(CVS- $8.79. also called black ointment or black drawing salve, is a home remedy used for many skin disorders. Ichthammol ointment is made from sulfonated shale oil and combined with other ingredients, like lanolin or petroleum, to treat skin problems. It comes in different strength concentrations. Ichthammol ointment, well-known for its drawing effect, also has antibacterial, antimycotic, and anti-inflammatory properties. Ichthammol ointment can be useful to treat different types of skin conditions in both humans and animals.

Treat boils, carbuncles, or abscesses with an ointment containing 20 percent or more of ichthammol. A staphylococcus infection causes boils, which can swell and have pus. Draw the pus out by applying some salve ointment to the boil; let it form a head, lance it, and then let the pus drain.

Relieve the discomfort of painful bites and stings with ichthammol ointment. For bites or stings from bees, wasp, spiders, or other insects, apply some black ointment to the area. Be careful with insect bites, as some people can have an allergic reaction to these and may need medical attention.

Apply a 20-percent ichthammol ointment to animals (like horses) with wounds, dry hooves, inflammations, or skin irritations. Use ichthammol ointment once or twice daily on the area.  

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Testimony:

justina

have been having this problem for about 5 years. I've been to the er to get them lanced and drained several times. Talking to my mother I found out she always got them. Then I found out that a lot if people in my fam gets these boils. Painful....ohh so painful. I rrarely get sick, never had the flu...nothing. My mother told me I get boils because my body needs ti release and that's how my sickness is manifested. I do use the drawing salve ,ichthamol, and it does work. . I promise you. Best thing ever!!

Note: 

It has as been said if you ever get one of those boils then you will continue to get them periodically. You must keep your stress levels down and keep away from bad diets You need to be VERY Careful and Sanitary with Boils...for the infection is very contagious. They can very easily turn into Staph!!!!