How to get rid of this giant cyst on my leg!

[legprobs]

Hiya I hope you don't mind me posting for traffic, I'm so uncomfortable and hoping someone can help!

I normally get small boils on my thigh and definitely think this is due to gaining weight. I'm currently on a weight loss journey! Anyway, I have a huge cyst on the inner thigh that is filled with fluid and it's starting to get really painful especially when I sit down as it's on the inner thigh and kind of goes towards the back.

I've tried hot baths, and last night it felt ready to burst so we did try to pop it three times - only some fluid came out and it was so painful so stopped.

It feels really soft and wobbly and it's definitely filled to the brim with fluid!

Any suggestions on how to deal with this? It's turned purple and the upper thigh is now really swollen and I'm just starting to get a little concerned.

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated - just moved house and registering with a new docs...

See new GP or minor injuries unit, or pharmacist.

See a doctor.

I was going to say this is a Spooner's Corner job (and we need a photo) but it does sound as if it needs to be seen by a medic. GP? Minor injuries?

I'd try a pharmacist first and see what they advise

see the GP. If you can’t get an immediate appointment, pop to the pharmacy and get some magnesium sulphate paste, apply and put a dressing over. This will ‘draw’ the boil to a head. Hot flannel will do similar. But even if it does drain you may still need some antibiotics potentially so best to get them to look.

And yes, also move this post to the Sporners Corner board for more ‘specialist’ help!

Sounds like hidradenitis supprativa which I have, usually they're full of blood if they're purple
Hot compresses

If it’s a cyst then GP. My son had one removed recently. The Dr was very careful not to burst it as he said they get very nasty and infected. See your dr.

If you need antibiotics you will need to see a doctor.

a lot of people on mumsnet would totally drain it for you if you let them

Stop squeezing it. I just had to have a cyst removed under surgery because it was badly infected, which can happen if you squeeze it. The recovery has not been fun (I have a whole thread about it over on Sporners Corner!) so definitely wouldn't risk it. I wish I'd had it dealt with before it got to that stage so it could just have been drained.

GET IT SORTED! NOW! TODAY!

I had something similar at the back of my leg where it joined my bumcheek. "Just" a cyst on my bumcheek. I never got round to getting it sorted (and I work in a hospital so I have NO excuse!) and as a result I ended up having emergency surgery after being admitted through A&E. I was readmitted with sepsis 48 hrs later, I still cry when I think of my poor Dad driving me in and how utterly terrified he must have been. I was facing backwards in the footwell of the car, with my head buried in the car seat and my bum in the air because my leg hurt too much to sit down. I was so hot and sweaty I was crying at him to turn the car blowers lower and open the windows because I was so boiling hot with sweat pouring off me. What I was too ill to realise was it was 7⁰, pouring with rain and my lovely very scared Dad drove there getting soaked, with the windows on the car right the way down, with really severe rain coming in just to cool me down because sepsis had set in and my body couldn't lost control of regulating itself. We got to A&E and I was passing in and out of consciousness and couldn't string a sentence together. Anyway, back to the bumcheek, not the sepsis! I had 6 operations in 10 months trying to sort out the infection cavity that just wouldn't heal, and I'm now slightly but permanently disabled, as the pocket of infection had (unbeknownst at the time of the first surgery) buried it's way through to my bowel. I now have a rubber drain permanently in my bum cheek, connected through to my bowel. Attempts to "Fix it" are only likely to be 50% successful, and even if they do succeed in healing the original pocket of grot cavity, it would 99% certain make me completely incontinent. No thanks, I'll stick with my drain thank you very much!! I have to use disabled toilets for life, because I need to wash and clean round the drain every time I go to the loo, and so need a sink within reach of a toilet. I also have to take basically a washing kit and changing bag with me wherever I go (it makes a great conversation starter in nightclub toilets!). At first I couldn't sit up or drive for longer than 15 minutes, but gradually I've improved on that loads. I can't drive in rush hour traffic, because of the nerve damage to my thigh and bum muscles the stop/start on the accelerator is too painful after a while. So I've had to cut my working hours down so I leave home after rush hour and leave work before school traffic hits, so I'm now on £32k rather then £45. The thought of having sex with a new partner with a constantly leaking rubber drain hanging out of me connecting my bum cheek to my bumhole makes me feel sick at the thought. I'll never ride a bike again. My travel insurance for going on holiday has gone from £18 to £220. This is all because it wasn't "that bad", and it'll "probably clear up by itself". I have ruined my life forever because I didn't get it sorted. Please, don't be like me.

Can you get a GP appointment, even if it’s a phone one you could hopefully send them a picture. As someone else said it’s possibly HS, my son has this and is on daily antibiotics to help reduce flare ups.

And I know that probably either sounds drama queen, or worst case scenario.....but I'm in a support group for women with the same thing, and I can honestly say.....I GOT OFF LIGHTLY! I got the thin end of the wedge with how much impact it's had on my life. My issues are still very "liveable" and I can get on with things and manage most things. I had 9 months off work, made it back for 5 weeks but then got rushed back in again for what was my final op, and then had only another 3 weeks off. I really did get off lightly.

If you're not registered yet, you could call 111 or do an online request for help.

Otherwise, look up out of hours GP services in your local area. Where my parents live they have an alternative walk in GP centre that they use if (when!) they can't get an appointment with their actual GP.

Jeezo @bringthecactusin I was not expecting that! So sorry and wishing you a full recovery. I’ve just sprouted a boil under my bra strap and thanks to you I’m going to stop my home lancing attempts and see the GP.

Is 'see a doctor' too obvious?

Thank You. It's an odd one when people ask how I'm doing or how good my recovery is going, because for me there is no 'recovery' as such. This is it for life. It won't get better, and it won't heal. The drain was originally temporary, to let the insides heal slowly (problem was after being drained it just kept healing over at the surface, and so the drained interior sack never healed and closed up. I had an appointment to discuss fixing it, but the MRI showed the infection had tunneled through too much muscle. The surgeon was happy to try if I wanted to go ahead, but I'd rather keep my muscles and stay in control of my bowel, with just the drain as a permanent feature. Just no question about it in my mind! Poo everywhere, or a bit of grot? I'd have a bit a grot any day off the week over uncontrolled poo! Not even a question is it?

It is odd when I think back to last spring. It had been there ages, like 6 months, maybe 12, just doing nothing but being a squishy lump. Then it started getting a bit bigger one week. I had appointment with the Practice nurse on the Wed, for something else, and asked her opinion and to squeeze my bum cheek to see if she could feel it, and she couldn't. So the next evening (Thur) I asked my aerobics teacher to see what she thought (she's also a Physio!) and she had a squeeze and said it might be a lactic acid cyst on my glutes because we'd been working hard the week before doing squats in really hot weather. She said to massage it to try and disperse it, but warned me it would really hurt when it popped, but it was necessary. So that was the Thursday. OH squeezed bum for me to help too (difficult angle for effectively squeezing your own bum to full effect!) 🤣🤣 which unbeknownst to us was just forcing the infection further into healthy tissue. On the Friday night I couldn't sit down so Sat morning went to the Walk-in centre where they fobbed me off with antibiotics when really it needed an inscision and drainage there and then. Sunday I was in massive pain but no ambulances so I sat on a cushion and drove myself to A&E at 4am on Monday morning. Surgery that afternoon, discharged home on Tue, readmitted with sepsis Thur, discharged Friday. That was June last year and I was signed off sick for 9 months. I had surgery in Nov trying to cure it, which failed, then 3 mini surgeries in December trying again. Made it back to work in March (was well into "half pay only" point of sick pay at that point) rushed back into surgery via A&E in April for this drain, which was a game changer. It keeps the wound permanently open but allows the grot (tissue fluid, dead cells etc) to drain out so it can't reform. It's frustrating and can be painful or ache at times, but the awful feeling of tenderness and pressure build up has gone, and most importantly (most of) the fear of reoccurrance and sepsis had gone. I've been back at work since May.

I am very very lucky it's not got worse since. It flares up every month when I'm due on my period for some reason, and I'm JUST getting used to not panicking it's all gone wrong again! I'm 8 months in and still learning but I'm determined to carry on as normal as I can.

If me going through all of that stops one other person going through it then it's worth it!

Impossible to comment without a photo!!

I don’t think you should have squeezed it though, it might be infected now?

@bringthecactusin that sounds very hard and your attitude seems so positive despite what you're going through xx

Doesn’t sound like a normal cyst, they’re normally full of gunk, not fluid. Dh got some fluid filled blisters this year and turned out he had a rare autoimmune disease and was admitted as an emergency. You need to get it seen.

@bringthecactusin I'm sorry to hear what had happened to you. You're very strong and brave to share your story. I hope the OP reads this and seeks help.

Wow, that is a cautionary tale if ever I heard one. Sorry you had to go through that.