Abscess, help please!

gman3517 · Jul 16, 2012

whats up guys. alright so i was pinning last week and when i went to aspirate found i had pus. so i got a new pin and did it again and pulled a couple syringes full of pus. i went to the dr the next day and got bactrim. so iv been on that for like 5 days. my question is, will the bactrim assist my body in idk making the pus go away or am i going to have to do it myself. because since iv taken the bactrim, my left delt healed and the inflammation and pain is totally gone from my right delt but its still like a soft lump, i kno theres still pus in there and its affecting my range of motion. what do you guys think

KUVinny · Jul 16, 2012

Your body will take care of removing it on its own. If it becomes painful or you start running a fever again, that means the antibiotic was not successful and you will need to seek medical attention again. At that time the doctor will decide if it's necessary to drain it.

gman3517 · Jul 16, 2012

alright thanks bro

maldorf · Jul 16, 2012

KUVinny said:
Your body will take care of removing it on its own. If it becomes painful or you start running a fever again, that means the antibiotic was not successful and you will need to seek medical attention again. At that time the doctor will decide if it's necessary to drain it.

Yep, watch for bad redness of the area that gets worse and a fever. Another thing you can develop is cellulitis. Cellulitis to me looked like I had goose bumps all over that area and it was really red. The skin looked like a goose that had its feathers plucked out. If you get a fever, go to Urgent Care of the ER and dont wait even 24hrs for an appointment because by that time the infection could be in your blood stream and spread to organs.

alpha6164 · Jul 16, 2012

By definition, abscess is a walled off area of pus and necrotic tissue. Usually and i mean usually antibiotics dont cross that wall and if they do they dont work so well because of the acidic content found in the pus. Pretty much when we see an abscess we do an I&D (incision and drainage) and have to actually leave it open and pack it with antibiotic soaked packing and let it heal from inside out. You never ever suture or close an abscess cause it literally acts as a pressure cooker. You want the stuff to drain out.

No on very small abscess it is possible that your body will take care of it in the long run. Bactrim is a good choice but usually we prefer double coverage with another antibiotic that has anti-staph coverage such as doxycycline or clindamycin. Keep a close eye on it but if it gets tender and warm, you need to see your doc again.

maldorf · Jul 16, 2012

alpha6164 said:
By definition, abscess is a walled off area of pus and necrotic tissue. Usually and i mean usually antibiotics dont cross that wall and if they do they dont work so well because of the acidic content found in the pus. Pretty much when we see an abscess we do an I&D (incision and drainage) and have to actually leave it open and pack it with antibiotic soaked packing and let it heal from inside out. You never ever suture or close an abscess cause it literally acts as a pressure cooker. You want the stuff to drain out.

No on very small abscess it is possible that your body will take care of it in the long run. Bactrim is a good choice but usually we prefer double coverage with another antibiotic that has anti-staph coverage such as doxycycline or clindamycin. Keep a close eye on it but if it gets tender and warm, you need to see your doc again.

From the sounds of it his abcess is rather small so maybe it will be ok. Like Alpha says if its big they will open it up and pack it deep with gauze. The gauze that was in mine was like 3 foot long I would swear, maybe longer. The gauze was just nuts, and it was like one of those clowns tricks where they pull a streamer out of somewhere small and it just keeps coming out. Every so often you have to pull that gauze out and clean it out, its nasty and smells horrid. I hope youi dont have to go through that. I eventually had to have surgery because I had so much dead tissue in there it would not heal.

I remember getting antibiotic shots at the Urgent care and orals on top of that. I think the injection was Rifampin maybe, its been awhile? A few docs have told me they no longer give antibiotic injections? My wife once had to have antibiotic by IV, I think thats how they do it now.

waterpolo · Jul 16, 2012

maldorf said:
From the sounds of it his abcess is rather small so maybe it will be ok. Like Alpha says if its big they will open it up and pack it deep with gauze. The gauze that was in mine was like 3 foot long I would swear, maybe longer. The gauze was just nuts, and it was like one of those clowns tricks where they pull a streamer out of somewhere small and it just keeps coming out. Every so often you have to pull that gauze out and clean it out, its nasty and smells horrid. I hope youi dont have to go through that. I eventually had to have surgery because I had so much dead tissue in there it would not heal.

I remember getting antibiotic shots at the Urgent care and orals on top of that. I think the injection was Rifampin maybe, its been awhile? A few docs have told me they no longer give antibiotic injections? My wife once had to have antibiotic by IV, I think thats how they do it now.

Wow maldorf, that is intense.

If you don't mind me asking, was this abscess related to an inject?

KUVinny · Jul 16, 2012

maldorf said:
Yep, watch for bad redness of the area that gets worse and a fever. Another thing you can develop is cellulitis. Cellulitis to me looked like I had goose bumps all over that area and it was really red. The skin looked like a goose that had its feathers plucked out. If you get a fever, go to Urgent Care of the ER and dont wait even 24hrs for an appointment because by that time the infection could be in your blood stream and spread to organs.

About 6 years ago, a year before I started pinning, a kitten got me with her claw nail right above my ankle. It developed into cellulitis. I remember the pain and swelling was unreal. Any time I tried to put weight on that leg I would collapse. I ended up having to go for IV AB therapy.

Unfortunately, once you have cellulitis you are more likely to get it again, especially if the area is one with varicose veins, like my ankles are. I have had it reoccur 3 times since that first time.

maldorf · Jul 16, 2012

waterpolo said:
Wow maldorf, that is intense.

If you don't mind me asking, was this abscess related to an inject?

Yes, it was from gear. I lied to the doc though and told him some BS story about how it appeared after a 50 mile bike race.

alpha6164 · Jul 16, 2012

maldorf said:
From the sounds of it his abcess is rather small so maybe it will be ok. Like Alpha says if its big they will open it up and pack it deep with gauze. The gauze that was in mine was like 3 foot long I would swear, maybe longer. The gauze was just nuts, and it was like one of those clowns tricks where they pull a streamer out of somewhere small and it just keeps coming out. Every so often you have to pull that gauze out and clean it out, its nasty and smells horrid. I hope youi dont have to go through that. I eventually had to have surgery because I had so much dead tissue in there it would not heal.

I remember getting antibiotic shots at the Urgent care and orals on top of that. I think the injection was Rifampin maybe, its been awhile? A few docs have told me they no longer give antibiotic injections? My wife once had to have antibiotic by IV, I think thats how they do it now.

Maldorf,

the long strip you talk of are iodoform strips. That is what i was talking about as far as disinfectant dipped strips. They are soaking with iodoform and we pack 1-3feet inside a large abscess. It absorbs all the pus and prevents pooling of blood etc. We usually pull the packing in 24hrs and it looks all green and slimy and then replace it with a fresh packing. This is repeated until the packing you pull is no longer green and slimy and just a nice pink color of fresh blood

Vegascuts285 · Jul 16, 2012

Been there , don't let it go if it gets worse !! I got it in 2010 3 weeks out from a show let it go 7-8 days cause I wanted to keep prepping 100% it turned into cellulitis and eventually a huge abcess that needed to be cut and drained over 300cc's puss and wound up in the hospital for 3 days on IV antibiotics and had a wound packed everyday for 3 months till it healed from the inside .. Be careful bro

gman3517 · Jul 16, 2012

alright thanks a lot guys. one more thing, the abscess is on my right delt over where i pinned and once in a awhile my anterior delt will twitch for like a hour before it goes away. hah why is that?

prudhoe2006 · Jul 16, 2012

And as a result from waiting to long to get it taken care of you'll get a nice little scar to remember your ordeal with. Sorta like these

**broken link removed****broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

After time they've kinda started to blend in but they're still there

maldorf · Jul 17, 2012

alpha6164 said:
Maldorf,

the long strip you talk of are iodoform strips. That is what i was talking about as far as disinfectant dipped strips. They are soaking with iodoform and we pack 1-3feet inside a large abscess. It absorbs all the pus and prevents pooling of blood etc. We usually pull the packing in 24hrs and it looks all green and slimy and then replace it with a fresh packing. This is repeated until the packing you pull is no longer green and slimy and just a nice pink color of fresh blood

OK, thats the crap I had in me! Anyhow, my wound for some reason would never heal on its own. The abcess area just stayed an open wound. He had to go in and debride it then suture it up.

maldorf · Jul 17, 2012

gman3517 said:
alright thanks a lot guys. one more thing, the abscess is on my right delt over where i pinned and once in a awhile my anterior delt will twitch for like a hour before it goes away. hah why is that?

Guessing that there is some pressure from the swelling on the nerve that inervates that muscle there. Just a guess.

maldorf · Jul 17, 2012

prudhoe2006 said:
And as a result from waiting to long to get it taken care of you'll get a nice little scar to remember your ordeal with. Sorta like these

**broken link removed****broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

After time they've kinda started to blend in but they're still there

Ive got a nice size divet in my ass now. Certainly not something I am proud of.

Waylanderxx · Jul 17, 2012

I would not attempt to drain the abscess yourself in the future. You can get some crazy blood infections and end up killing yourself real quick if you're unlucky enough. As Alpha said it needs to be opened up and drained.

jquijano · Jul 17, 2012

my buddy went through same thing and had it opened and drained. they did leave it open with a pack in it

maldorf · Jul 17, 2012

jquijano said:
my buddy went through same thing and had it opened and drained. they did leave it open with a pack in it

The stench of that pack when they take it out could knock out an elephant!

Waylanderxx · Jul 17, 2012

I opened one up and drained it at home, but didn't have any bandaids (wasn't a large incision) so just taped a paper towel to it and went into walgreens to get some thick band aids a few minutes later, and then I started pouring blood all over the store.

Gross man.