Boil/abscess between breasts - large

[Becca19962014]

So I've had a boil for about ten days which over the last few days has got much worse. It's been growing and growing inward not outward because of the location. I spoke to an oncall GP who prescribed a days worth of antibiotics until I could see my GP today which I started yesterday as I was feeling seriously unwell (dizzy/sick/diabetes issues).

GP was very concerned because of location - it's literally between my breasts, I can't go without a bra as they're so big the skin between is very thin due to Ehlers danlos (EDS) rips open, and it's growing inward. They said to give it 3 days of antibiotics and go to hospital to get it "sorted out"

I am extremely phobic of hospitals/Drs/anyone medical even seeing GP is a massive problem. I had a panic attack at GP surgery and ended up locking myself in the toilet for ages sobbing in fear, eventually having to leave when staff came in to see if I was ok.

The only access I have in terms of mental health is the mindfulness group which made things worse, everything I tried to do to combat phobia has made it worse.

Is it likely to go away just with antibiotics? I can't have the ideal ones for it as I can't have penicillin so am on erithromycin. She was really worried but couldnt do anything in the surgery due to the location.

Local anaesthetic doesn't work with me at all due to my EDS so it'll have to be done without on top of having to actually go in without fainting (which I've not been able to do in ages) and I can't have any dressing on it due to the location as it just falls off because of my EDS.

Does anyone know about these things?

So how do you know that she was employed to "manage you out"?

I think you need much more support than you are getting and agree with a couple of the posters that the battering your mental health has taken is making you see things in a very negative way and find it difficult to accept help.

I have a friend whose daughter has EDS, so I do know how horrible it is for you. If I lived near you I would take you to another A and E myself

They employed her. The only conversation we had was about how's she's not just there for me but them.

Maybe I misunderstood.

Boil update - still leaking stuff. I think it's smaller, problem is it's still red so when I look in a mirror looks the same size. Not measured it again though.

The only help is mindfulness and that just made things worse. Aside from random charity worker which will not be same person or same sex as not allowed. I won't get into a car with a man. But again that's "a choice"

You sound very unwell, you’re talking a lot about ‘them/they’ who are these people?

Who is the man who is stalking you, and how can a woman at work be spitting at you if you’re housebound? Is he a neighbour? You’re not making much sense at all Op.

Sorry I meant would change not be one person.

Did you apply for PIP when they told you to? If you're working as well that might help pay for some help?

I was transferred to PIP. The difficulty is the amount of expenses I need to meet.

I've been incapable of work for years. Even the dwp recognise that!

I never said I was totally housebound I don't think. I rarely go out.
The nurse will only visit those who are housebound. Sorry maybe there was a typo there.

Stalking/spitting when getting food/meds (no deliveries here) which are only times I go out.
They could be mh team or voices. Not sure.

Sorry if not making much sense am exhausted.
Hoping to get at least a bit of sleep tonight.

I think what you need to do is sit down and write down all of your health issues so that you can plan together about what you can do to start managing them better.

EDS
After reading about EDS I’ve noted that there’s not much research out there to help people manage the condition, and from what I’ve read medication/painkillers can have an adverse effect due to the nature of the condition on the body that’s why they recommend mindfulness/CBT and physiotherapy, so now I understand that what’s you’ve been referring to. However i’ve found a link to another charity that provide support to people with EDS and they offer grants to help you manage the condition. www.mindbodyeds.org.uk/apply-for-a-grant

Mental health - PTSD/Anxeity/Depression/Self harm/sat at home screaming ect
Your mental health has been effected by the rape/your issues with your family/and your health conditions. You sound very unwell both physically and mentally and need to get your GP to refer you to a phycologist as you are not looking after yourself properly. Or if the phycologist isn’t an option speak to charities such as MIND ect or even the Samaritans so at least you can talk to someone about how you feel without the fear of any judgment.

caring for yourself washing ect
You’ve mentioned that you’ve to contribute to receive care at home, which you can’t afford. Have you sat down and looked at your finances to see if you can budget and cut down on anything so you can access some help at home? If you’re struggling to do this could your advocate help you with this? If not citizens advice will be able to.

male health/social care professionals
I understand that you don’t want to engage with men, that’s fair enough and this should be respected. However sometimes it’s difficult as the drs ect are male, would you feel better if you were chaperoned by a female colleague? (This should be automatically offered if you say you’re uncomfortable with a male dr ect).

Mindfulness made things worse, even if you ignore the loss of my religious community.. CBT/therapy for EDS is based around treatments working and things like graded exercise I've already done all of those things with specialists in London and yes some helped but most did not, my EDS was the worst they'd seen then and they'd no idea how I managed to function at all with such severe joint subluxations in my knees/hips/ankles (my knees bend in four different directions for example). My EDS is further complicated by a condition called dysautonomia. I have pain relief which is not recommended because otherwise I would be bedbound.

There is no psychologist just psychiatrist and cpns who do mindfulness. That is all. If you need anything else you must pay and travel. I can do neither. I have in the past but am too ill to do so now.
Mind/Samaritans/other helplines are useless - they assume like many on MN do that services are available everywhere, having to begin again everytime I rang caused me even more distress, as did being called a liar about being left to manage alone or there being no help. The NHS simply doesn't do multiple conditions, appointments I was having were literally being told to get a grip on other conditions first before they can treat whatever I'm seeing them for.

A never ending circle that's left me in a lot of debt.

Financially I cannot cut costs. I already don't pay bills so I can pay rent. I must use taxis for food/meds/GP. I cannot manage a bus (not that there are any now). I must pay for physio each month as I don't qualify on NHS (I've had my allocated sessions). I've debt which I must repay (it went to court) as I'm already on minimal payments and cant afford to go bankrupt (SS idea was to go bankrupt), if I went bankrupt I'd have nowhere to live as I'd fail the credit check to remain where I am living. Stepchange told me I've enough income for bankruptcy to be refused anyway as a lot of expenses aren't considered necessary e.g. Hundreds of pounds on taxis every month and incontience pads which are not available on NHS (just one a day which is very poor quality). I've no guarantor. Everywhere needs guarantor if alone even HA. CAB is only funded for UC in this area. Nothing else.

Male professionals. trigger warning for this paragraph for sexual assault When I was raped I was held down by the chaperone. So it makes no difference at all. Just another person to hurt me.

I did try I appreciate these are just words and you have no idea how hard I've tried and I've no strength to continue. What I've done for it to make no difference and just cause even more pain (not being patronising!). I was asked to get formal diagnosis, which was then rejected. I was asked to pay for therapy which I did, and their findings rejected. I paid for physiotherapy (which I still have to do occaisonally), told because it's private they were keeping me ill and not pushing hard enough - no the nature of EDS is it gets worse sometimes with physio especially if someone has dysautonomia and autonomic dysfunction and partial failure. I spent a fortune on pain clinic and therapy for being physically disabled. More therapy because mental health said couldn't be physically ill when they said I was I was told it was because I was paying, NHS therapist (there are none now) told me I wanted to be ill because of being fostered and refused to accept diagnosis.

just about boil

It's been leaking again. Still the same colour fluid, 99% certain it appears to be going down. The skin is remaining red but I think that's an EDS thing.

Keeping an eye on it and it dressed/using antiseptic.

Am removing dressing to clean it every now and then. Every now and then I can feel it leaking.

I've spent 15 years trying. I'm simply too exhausted to anymore. Physically and mentally.

I'm so shocked at what happened to you, and even more shocked that the perpetrator got away with it

I’m sorry that you’ve been failed in so many ways. Please contact the charity I linked above to see if you can get a grant

boil update

Spoke to pharmacist today and they said it appears to be healing from my description and what's happening and to keep and eye on it and do what I am doing. It's nowhere near the size it was.

Good news!

Apparently the reason it must be done by a&e is because I must be put on a drip for antibiotics and treatment ready in case of septic shock as there's a chance of that happening due to location (it's not an issue when they're elsewhere)vwhen they do the procedure so it can't be done in GP surgery for that reason.

chick I will. Thankyou.

How are you today @Becca19962014?

Boil is draining a lot more - bloody pus stuff and visably looks smaller.
I don't feel well but that's probably antibiotics combined with awful weather (very muggy here).

Hoping for an early night tonight as I've been going to bed quite late.

Antibiotics can really knock it out of you. I always take probiotics with with them as I find it really helps.

I am taking a probiotic. It's definitely smaller.

Maybe it's the antibiotics that are making me feel ill, along with anxiety over everything else. It's also very humid and horrible here which makes me feel ill as well.

You poor girl. I had an abscess some months ago in an armpit, not sure if it was an infected hair follicle or came from a nick when shaving. Anyway it was quite painful. I was on antibiotics, also put flannels (actually cut up old towel) wetted with water that was boiled and still very hot, and pressed them onto the abscess. After a few days of doing this religiously, it burst while I was in bed - quite messy but I was glad.
I cleaned the area with surgical spirit and applied some antibiotic cream. Soon went leaving a red patch but now that has gone.

Hope your abscess clears up soon.

Thankyou.

There's obviously still "stuff" in it, as it's just weeping gradually. However, the pharmacist I spoke to yesterday said that's better than it suddenly rupturing because of where it is located and associated risk.

I've still got a few days worth of antibiotics to go. My blood sugars today were closer to normal as well. So maybe feeling unwell is just the antibiotics/lack of sleep which apparently is one of the worst to take anyway for side effects.