Pilonidal cyst (kinda gross) page 2

[Blackcatbone]

Mark highlighted someone recently who had this as well. Her trigger was potatoes, do you think that maybe something you're eating might have helped trigger your cyst? Maybe since switching to paleo have you included more nightshades in your diet? Good luck.

I've read her blog posts about it as well as the feature here. The only nightshades I eat are tomatoes and peppers, and haven't been eating quite so many tomatoes lately. I've not noticed any change during times when I wasn't eating them. My original trigger was gluten, which fortunately was easy to figure out because I'd been on a business trip to France about 8 years ago and went a little nuts with all the croissants and French bread. On the way home I was covered in a rash and had the first episode. It was the only thing I'd been eating in quantities larger than normal. I'd never been a big bread/pasta eater so I think the binge just pushed me over the edge. I can recall symptoms years before that but I never associated the two.

It took me a couple of years to go completely GF and by that point I'd developed other issues including a disc so badly herniated it had to be replaced (which can be a symptom of gluten intolerance) and ongoing digestive issues. I'm also quite intolerant of corn, which can be a major pain to avoid as it's in EVERYTHING. So there is the possibility that I get low level contamination from time to time. I really should do a more thorough elimination diet to see if I could pinpoint something specific, but due to finding the original trigger quickly I've never had a severe form and being intolerant of starches and many FODMAPs on top of gluten, the idea of cutting out more foods just makes me want to cry.

[lissee]

Glad you found your trigger so easily! Gluten sure can do some awful stuff can't it? For myself, I'm allergic to gluten as well. And now that I've cleared off wheat for good, my health has improved drastically.

To our OP, hope you can find your trigger too.

[boxcarguy07]

Good news! Woke up today, day 3, and I'd say a good 90% of the pain and swelling is gone. The cyst is barely there anymore and a lot less inflamed-looking. It drained a whole lot in the shower last night after applying a bunch of bentonite to the area and using really hot water in the shower. I know I'm not in the clear entirely, but it's progressing in the right direction and I'm pretty sure there's no infection at this point. Things are calming down. And thank goodness because I've had the past couple days off work, which was really lucky, and today I have to go back and I was dreading having to drive there (rode in a car yesterday and it was not fun!) but I think it'll be alright today.

Lissee, interesting you should mention nightshades. I generally avoid them, moreso tomatoes than peppers, etc. as I've determined large amounts of tomatoes (read: tomato sauce) to cause arthritic symptoms for me. I never eat potatoes, haven't since I went paleo a few years ago. But what's interesting is that I had a cheat of sorts two nights before this cyst came up. It was a whole lotta corn chips (not the best ones either) and I had an entire jar of salsa with them, as well as some chocolate. I felt like crap the entire next day, including having a very difficult BM. I have been thinking that might at least have something to do with this. Hmm.

[lissee]

That's great news boxcarguy! : ) And very interesting about the corn chips & salsa. I wonder which was the trigger, perhaps the salsa since you have a reaction to tomatoes already. It's nice that you've been eating so cleanly for so long, so it was pretty easy for you to drill down to figure out what might have caused the cyst.

If you get brave in the future, you'll have to OD on salsa or chips again and see if you have a similar reaction.

Good luck with the drive into work.