Hi @peabody88 and JK, Volunteer Mentor:

The thing about HS is that it is like acute acne, and has other names because it's misdiagnosed a lot. That was my problem, because for years the doctors called it (and even dermatologists) so many other things and I didn't know what I really had until I was already in stage 3 of the skin disease. I wish I had known so much sooner because then I might have found more solutions sooner to make it less painful to deal with. I was told that I was born with HS and that it probably came down through the genes from someone in the family (my mom) and there was really no cure, just things that could help me deal with it and make myself more comfortable. Sometimes the sores don't even come to a head, they just go away. Other times they fester and break and either bleed, have pus, or both and they always take a while to heal. Over the years I've gotten tunnels under the skin because I've gotten them over and over again in the same places, and it's just the nature of the disease to run tunnels under the skin. I have diabetes (but I'm under control without insulin and just pills and a shot weekly) and I didn't have diabetes till recently. I actually was hypoglycemic for many years. I do have PCOS, had difficulty with periods and getting pregnant and sustaining the pregnancy (had 2 miscarriages but 2 successful pregnancies), and I had hormonal imbalances. I was told that HS does contribute to the other health issues and they affect the HS as well. All I know is what I've learned over the years that helps the painfulness of the sores and how to hopefully keep from getting staph infection along the way. It's a difficult disease to even talk about because it's embarrassing, has an odor to it at times, and can very easily keep you home and not want to go anywhere. So you have to look for that silver lining every day so you don't become a hermit. I'm always around if any of you just need to talk. I've been told it all, tried it all, and pray daily that they'll find a cure. 🙂