Hidradenitis Suppurativa Once Again on National TV
Amber Taylor is back on TLC this season, in a “Where are they now?” episode of Dr. Pimple Popper: This is Zit reported to air on the Season 2 premiere episode tonight, January 3rd!
Last season, Amber bravely and honestly brought #HidradenitisSuppurativa to a national television audience by allowing producers to see the day to day realities of living with HS and having Dr Sandra Lee aka drpimplepopper treat her with multiple intralesional corticoseroid injections.
Kathleen Biedenkapp
I have just been diagnosed with HS and I’m so scared. I’m afraid infections will go sepsis and I’ll die. I’m being treated with creams and a month of antibiotic for now.
Victoria
Hey! I have been diagnosed with HS for almost a year now. I had a similar fear, as that almost happened to me. However, what “saved me” was being aware of my flare ups and taking note of any signs of infection (redness around the skin, skin feels hot, etc). Go to the doctor as soon as you see signs of infection, and you’ll be fine.
Susie russell
I just started garlic supplements. The change is staggering. I’ve dealt with this 50 plus years
Christina Goodwin
Hey , I have had this sense I was 18,I do not get it really bad I use to get it worse around my inner legs and thighs. Now it has gotten under my arms for the past 2 years it has gotten worse under my arms . I take doxycycline every day and I have been for the last month that I really haven’t noticed any change. Can you give me a little info on the garlic and how it has helped if you do not mind.
Kathryn Poindexter
Amber I just saw your episode and I wanted to tell you about what I found. I have a much less severe case than you do but had a cyst on my inner thigh. The dermatologist I saw wanted to prescribe systemic antibiotics, and I said no. But a friend had lent me a high frequency facial wand for some reason and since it’s supposed to kill bacteria, I tried it on my cyst. It worked wonders. It didn’t cure the cyst, but it took away all the swelling and fluid and inflammation. And it’s painless, and like $40 on Amazon. Search “high frequency facial machine”. Good luck!
Dhania
Hi Amber. I have the wand and I’m planning my to try it on my armpits where I have lesions. Do you think there’s any precautions I should take? Like do you go over your open lesions or just where it’s inflamed?
Mary Riggs
I started HUMIRA Injections for HS over a year ago and it has helped me very very much!
Susan
Dr Lee I have this disorder, I was put on Remicade for another disorder, during this treatment my HS completely went in to remission. Unfortunately when the treatment with Remicade was stopped the infections started up again. I talked to a dermatologist who said Humira is the biologic used for HS.
Deanna
Hi to all who suffer from this stinky disease daily just like me. Until I saw Amber on Dr Lee’s show I had no idea that there was an actual diagnosis for what I’ve been suffering from the last several years. I have adult onset acne that was rotating around my cycle every month. I always thought I was just becoming allergic to the elastic in my under clothes because that’s where I continued to break out only in the areas where the elastic touched. Thank you for being so brave and showing us your daily life and for going on the show. Now I know what I have and who to go to, to hopefully get clearer skin and eventually love the skin I’m living in.
Moira
I have suffered with HS since I was 12 years old. Lived on antibiotics for years. Suffered terribly and found Drs unhelpful and uninformed. Then I had my dermatologist recommend avoiding night blooming vegetables (night shade). Google them. Tomato, potato, egg plant, some peppers. I had nothing to lose, no one does…so I tried it. It has truly been a miracle. Since I starting avoiding them, no outbreaks. The tracks are still there but no flare ups. Of course I have tested it and in moderation I can have potato and peppers but I have found tomato and eggplant are real triggers for me. So no more. It’s not worth it. I love living sore free now. Please if you have this, try it. You truly have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. Oh, and I shared this with a coworker who also suffers and she has also had great results. I know the pain and embarrassment and I know what I am sharing with you will make a big difference in your life.
Florece Finks
I cried when I watched your episode airing on television because not so many people understand what we battled through and go through on an everyday basis and how strong we have to be just to try to live a normal life so I’m grateful for the fact that you’re bringing our condition to the forefront for more people to be educated about what it is that we go through and not only that but for those that are silently suffering at home to now be able to be more proactive about their condition and it be more confident that there is hope
colleen
I have had hidra for DECADES. I thought I was allergic to underwear. So painful and embarrasing. I have been free for about a year. I bath in Epsom salt and tea tree. I thank God for the healing. Thank you Dr. Lee for helping these people who have nobody else to turn too.
Stacey
OMG I’ve had HS…(this is the first time I called it that) for at least 39 years. My mother has it, and my little brother has it! I’ve always known it as hidradenitis suppurativa…I am a 52 year old HIV+ woman, not from drug abuse, but with this lifestyle doesn’t matter! My mother says don’t eat chocolate… Don’t drink beer… I’ll tell you in my situation stress is the worst!! For the longest time I’ve only known for people with this condition. Me and two family members and a random person… Finally it’s getting out there! Amber I just saw you on the TV and Dr. pimple popper and I just wanted to give you a big hug… But not where it hurts? I’ve lived with that for so long you just gotta laugh about it. I used to be a bartender and they would see me pouring a drink and asked me what the scars underneath my arms were, I would tell them that’s where I got shot… I just had to say, I feel your pain??
Sharon king
I have been suffering from this since 1985
I’ve had 2 major surgeries and skin grafts under my arms , surgery on my talebone , I’m never without 1,2, or 3 of them
I always get in groin area very hard to wear underwear and when I do I always get one or 2
Also recently I’ve gotten them on my breasts which has been lanced, now I have 2 on the back of my neck
I never knew what it was called but that god for dr lee I finally have a diagnosis, also I have past this onto my 2 daughters , my sisters, niece and nephew have also suffered with them although not as servere as myself
Thank you so much I finally know btw I was also told at one point to bath in some bleach
Gail Saracho
My daughter has had HS for about 5 years now. She was given an antibiotic but that didn’t do anything. Now suggest humira shoots weekly but it weakens her immune system so we don’t want to go that route. We are seeing a general surgeon this Wednesday to see if it can be removed permanently. What treatment has helped you? Has anyone try surgery before?
Jamie L Triplett
Hi Gail! My name is Jamie. I’m a 26yo female and have suffered with HS since I was 11 or so. I can tell you that in my experience, Humira has been the absolute best treatment I have received. The risks sounded super scary when I first start but I was desperate. Despite it “immune system” I shockingly haven’t noticed. I don’t ever really sick, and have managed to stay COVID free throughout this whole pandemic. I would absolutely suggest at least checking into it more. It hasn’t given me remission but it has given me significantly fewer and more tolerable flares.
Melissa White
Have any of you looked into intermittent fasting since the discovery of autophagy came out? Since it’s autoimmune and inflammatory maybe that would help?
MA
I’ve been intermittent fasting for about a year and I noticed it became less frequent like one every couple of months instead of every other week. What’s the connection?
Jen
I’m watching old episodes of Dr. Pimple Popper and I felt so bad for Amber. I’ve struggled with HS for over 20 years now. One of the most effective treatments for me has been Birth Control. I always noticed that my hormone fluctuations were associated with flare ups. Taking estrogen or progesterone seems to regulate it and minimize flares. Just wanted to share that option.
Gwen D
I don’t have this disease but saw it on dr. Pimple Popper. Omg you are all so strong and I pray a cure is found. I wonder and I know I am ignorant but I wonder if the same drugs that keep donor recipients bodies from rejecting transplanted organs might help if it is from the body attacking itself. I just can’t stop thinking there has to be an answer for you. If there is anything people who don’t have this can do to help, please tell us. I pray for a cure.
Steph J
Hello, I have just watched your episode of Dr. Pimple Popper (we get it much later in the U.K.!), and I wanted to reach out to you and let you know how much I admire your strength and determination to find a solution.
I also wanted to share my own experience of HS, in case it can help you. I first experienced HS when I was about 18 years old, like most people I had no idea what it is or what to do about it. My doctor wasn’t helpful; prescribing antibiotics and draining the largest and most painful. I thought this was something I just had to live with, although it severely affected my ability to work and go about normal life. There were times my groin was so painful I could barely sit, and certainly couldn’t drive. After nearly 15 years of managing this condition the best I could I came across a book called The Hidden Plague by Tara Grant. The idea that my HS was caused by my body reacting to something made sense to me and after doing loads more research I started and exclusion diet. I avoided all nightshade vegetables completely – not easy because I had virtually lived on potatoes (chips, fries, roast potatoes) and tomatoes, particularly in pasta sauce and on pizza, as well as being huge curry lover! After just over a week of avoiding all potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines/eggplant and peppers both sweet and hot, I noticed my groin and underarms were much less painful and the cysts (as I called them) were far smaller. I was really encouraged by this so I carried on avoiding all nightshade vegetables and after approximately three weeks I had no active HS symptoms anywhere on my body, for the first time in many years. I have maintained this for over 10 years by avoiding nightshade vegetables, although I do allow myself the occasional slip (I have roast potatoes with my Christmas and Easter dinners, and a very occasional curry), but In the first few years after starting this way of eating I found that if I ate them too frequently e.g. more than once a month I will definitely get a flare up. I have learned from my mistakes and nightshade vegetables don’t pass my lips more than 4-5 times a year now, and I haven’t had a flare up for years. It’s not easy to avoid nightshade vegetables completely, you wouldn’t believe how many processed foods contain potato starch or paprika, but it can be done, mostly by cooking from scratch, and I have found some great alternatives e.g. recipes for ‘nomato’ sauce, using sweet potato and butternut squash as potato alternatives, and pizza with white sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Despite not having had a flare up for years I do still have a couple of significant scars in my groin and underarms, but that is nothing compared to having active HS, nor is the minor inconvenience of avoiding some foods, which became much easier once I’d discovered alternatives.
I appreciate that this certainly isn’t a ‘cure’. I still believe I have HS, because I know if I started eating nightshade vegetables again I would definitely experience a flare up, but it enables me to live a normal life, rather than one of constant pain, and means I don’t need to take strong medication that always has side effects.
I don’t know whether excluding nightshade vegetables from your diet would work for anyone else, but I would encourage anyone who is suffering to try it for a few weeks – you have nothing to lose and I sincerely hope that you get the same results as me. If nightshade vegetables turn out not to be the trigger for your body I’d recommend reading The Hidden Plague and seeing whether anything else suggested in that book might be a possibility for you.
I’m signing off with all my love and hope that you find solution that works for you.
mary beth Alexander
So glad to read this info. My son had just been diagnosed with HS. Waiting on blood work to come back to see if he can take Humira. He has been in tremendous pain for 7 weeks