They Packed My Abscess with Gauze

[Mustelid]

So my going clean didn't work out quite as well as it started out, migraines still suck. Got lots of tar, learned to shoot it, got an abscess. Spent three days now in WDs, hoped it would go away but it didn't.

I knew they would drain it, but they filled it with gauze, I have to go to my normal doctor with the embarrassment, and have him re-pack it. They said until it's healed, how many times is that usually?

Just spent all day in ER, a bit frazzled.

[lotus]

until the cesspool ceases.

an abscess is the bodies defense to keep infection from going awry. the healthy tissue, white blood cells, surround the goop and form a "wall" around it.....stops it from spreading, but it also stops your immune system from being able to fight it off.

so it just sits there. sore, hot, painful.

how long it'll take to heal depends on how big it got to begin with, and how healthy you are.

most people......actually, i can't give you an exact time. usually by the time they'd get help it'd become a life of it's own, and would take forever to finally heal up. not to scare you, but it wasn't unusual to see the bandages for a month or two at least.

at least in canada, states might be a different story. here the docs keep you patched up till new skin starts to grow in the left behind crater. be warned, you will probably have anything from a small divot, to a 1/10 size golf ball indentation when all's said and done.

SHITS FUKIN NASTY. i knew a diabetic *i kid you not*, a nurse came by his house EVERY day for the first 6 months to re-pack it, till it began to heal, then they showed his girlfriend how to pack it, coming by once a week or if they call'd her. that went on till only god knows when. it was like a year, maybe a year and a half till the thing finally started to look like his leg wasn't going to be amputated.

don't worry about what your doctor may, or may not say. just take care of yourself~

[Poppylvr]

So my going clean didn't work out quite as well as it started out, migraines still suck. Got lots of tar, learned to shoot it, got an abscess. Spent three days now in WDs, hoped it would go away but it didn't.

I knew they would drain it, but they filled it with gauze, I have to go to my normal doctor with the embarrassment, and have him re-pack it. They said until it's healed, how many times is that usually?

Just spent all day in ER, a bit frazzled.
How big is the hole they packed, Mustelid? My experiences at the homeless clinic (=HUNDREDS of abscesses) were that most of the smaller ones will heal in a week or two. Each time the doc/nurse changes it, they need less & less gauze to fill the hole, until POOF! one day they can let it close over.
The biggest variable is how big the abscess/remaining hole is.
Good luck. Make sure you're getting decent nutrition to help your body fight off the infection.

[PrisonHer]

i just went thru the same thing. They left the packing in the hole for about 36 hrs..then they repacked it and told me to come back in 24 hrs. After that second packing I was finished. I was really shocked at how fast that big ol slice healed up..cuz you could see my muscle..but it closed up real quick. I still have big ol red circle with a purple slice in the middle of on my arm..it ain't pretty..but at least I got my arm still. Anyway..hope u heal up quick. When they take the packing out..it don't hurt really...just feels weird..eww.I 'm glad it's over..haha..good luck!

[pokergooch]

I shiver just to think about abscesses. When I got my first one (in the upper right buttocks) It was huge, it ate all the muscle in a 5 in area, when they sliced it, the doc said he could see my hip bone and was on his top ten list of all time. So, I have permanent divot. Some muscle has come back, but I think that I narrowly escaped a very bad situation. They are not to be taken lightly.

Take care

Pg

[Mustelid]

I'd guess it was about 25% smaller then half a tennis ball on my bicep near my elbow crook.

Another one on the other arm popped up the day after the ER visit, and I haven't injected anything since finding the abscess.

I went to a clinic where the doctor removed the gauze and put me on another antibiotic and they both have shrunk way down in the 24 hours that I've been on the new one, rifampin, which was very expensive the bactrim-ds generic I got scripted for from the ER was really cheap.

The clinic doctor doesn't believe in gauze packing, and I read on Wikipedia that gauze packing is usually done in North America, but no clinical proof exists that it helps and it may delay healing.

I'm also on day four of withdrawals, and feeling quite a bit better. I actually got a few hours of sleep last night after taking a huge amount of nyquil, benedryl, and a melatonin. Most of my psycological craving for opiates has been destroyed by these abscesses.

I'm looking forward to a relativly uncomplicated clean life now that I've found that the Canadian government is ignoring international copyright law when they feel it conflicts with the interests of humanity. I have a doctor who will write me a prescription for maxalt to be faxed to a Canada pharmacy that sells the generic rizotriptan benzoate for only $6 a pill instead of the $25 a pill brand name Maxalt. Then hopefully it gets shipped to the US and not siezed by Customs.

Ahh, the USA where the Customs agents are trying to keep me addicted to heroin.

[Flowergirl]

That sounds incredibly painful.

I had an abscess from an undissolved stitch on my NIPPLE of all places. Not fun. I went to the surgeon daily for 5 days for him to unpack and repack using dry wicking tape. In my experience, the only thing that made things better was plain old time.

I hope you heal well and quickly!