Living with Follicle Disorders

As a teenager growing up i did the usual, clubbing, pubs, i married at 21 and had children. One particular day i noticed a hard lump under my arm, this burst just under a week later hte pain relief when it did was unreal! As time went on i was getting more and more.I just put them down to Abcesses as my mum had had them too.
My marriage broke down and i was left to look after the children. I was under a lot of stress and the lumps just kept coming and coming they spread to my groin and on my breast. By this time controlling the pain was my initial concern, i was too embarrased to see my GP. By now i was having difficulty doing daily tasks and even walking became very painfull for me. One flare up i couldn’t take no more and i called my Mum in tears, she immediatley came and took me to hospital where they suggested surgery to lance and drain the abcess as they called it. Having a phobia of being put to sleep they only got as far as injecting a local anasthetic into the abcess and i refused to continue.
So i was back to square 1, having to pay someone to come do my cleaning for me and in general i had a very poor quality of life. I then met a fantastic boyfriend and didn’t tell him about my lumps and bumps till we encountered our first intimate moment together. To my surprise he was fine about it and made me feel human!
As time went on he expressed his concern about my health so i finaly went and saw my GP who then refered me to see a skin specialist (dermatologist).
He was a very friendly man and made me feel like he saw this kind of thing every day. It was then i got my diagnosis. I was so relieved to have a name for what i had, but the main thing is i knew i had done nothing to cause what i had got.
He offered me 6 months anti-biotics and told me about the surgery i could have, when i asked in what was the sucsess rate was he said not very good. so i declined and took the anti’s which didn’t really do much for me aprt from give me a bad stomach!
I got remarried and went on to have 2 children. the last 6 months i have got considerably worse and have become extremely limit in what i can do, there are days like now i can’t pick up my baby or feed her because of the constant pain.unable to dress or bathe myself. i heavily rely on my husband and my older children to do things for me..i am unable to do most things that other people are able to. I feel as though i have been robbed of 10 years of my life to this delapitating disease, there is no known cure to date, I live in hope that one day a cure is found, if not for my sake then for my children who have a chance of getting this horrible disease. Through my own research on the net and joining a support group i have found i’m not alone any longer and now have the confidence to speak about my illness to family and friends instead of locking myself away so they can’t see the dreaded disease i am riddled with. To those people out there that do have it please talk to your Gp, the earlier you go the better chance you have of being able to bring it under some kind of control. Thankyou for reading my story and wish everyone health and happiness in your lives.