Her symptoms were pretty challenginga series of painful nodules that needed to be lanced and drained.
But when she got pregnant in 2020, it got so much worse.
She developed more nodules around her breasts, armpit,groin, and thighs.
The bumps were debilitating, and eventually things got so bad she had to stop breastfeeding.
Heres her story, as told to health writer Julia Ries.
I was in the seventh grade when a penny-size bump formed between my breasts.
My pediatrician thought it wascystic acneand put me on medication for a couple years.
That helped my regular acne, but it did not improve the bump.
She was like, This is HS.
I was excited because I finally had a name for the bump Id had for two years.
Throughout high school, my HS was pretty mildI just had that one bump on my chest.
I experimented with treatments: I received steroid injectionssometimes they helped, other times they made it worse.
I even had the bump surgically removed from my chest.
It was like the HS kept finding new places to grow.
Theybecame so painful, causing this incredible pressure that felt like my skin was slowly ripping apart.
Then I got pregnant with my son in February of 2023.
I was so concerned about what my postpartum would look like.
I wanted to be able to nurse longer.
I wanted it to be different.
It was huge, and the skin turned black and blue.
Again, I couldnt get in with my dermatologist.
Eventually I had to stop breastfeeding my son as well because it was too painful.
When my son was about eight months old, I got this terrible spot in my armpit.
So I decided to post a video about it to myTikTokto see if anyone had similar experiences.
It blew up overnightso many people shared their experiences with HS and tips that worked for them.
Thats when I started trying everything these people recommended because I was so desperate for relief.
Im currently 11 months postpartum, and I still get horrible flare-ups.
HS can definitely be debilitating, but if you have the right resources, you could get through it.
Thats the biggest thing Ive learned: you’re able to keep going.
