success stories  :  nutrition

Thunder's story...

Up until the age of 50, I lived a reasonably normal life…bought a house, had kids, and all the usual things that one does. Then on Nov 5th 1992, an event happened that changed the course of my life.

I had offered to help a friend set up a GPS system on his boat, and thus it was on that fateful morning I went to the local marina, where my friend was waiting in his boat, and we set out to install the GPS system. Having done that, and with all systems go, we sat in the boat and spoke of fishing and boating, and how GPS would help in navigation, and the way to use it to best advantage. I explained how to put in waypoints and so on, and remarked that the first way point should be within 200 yards of the Marina Entrance, and the second should be on the leads , (visual marks you can home in on from out at sea), just beyond the gap in the reef, so that in any weather, even fog, you could come home safely. My friend started the motor, and we slowly went outside the marina to put in the first waypoint. The weather was foul to say the least, but at slow speed the 20’ twin hull vessel rode the waves like a duck on a pond. I showed how to put in the waypoint, expecting that we would return to the Marina, but my friend decided to head out to the three mile reef. There was a 9’ swell that day, and winds gusting to 25 knots, whipping up a 4’ chop on the water. The boat however was built to handle the conditions, and driven properly would have no problems. We battled out several hundred yards, pitching and tossing and taking some spray aboard, when my friend decided to increase speed to ride over the choppy water, rather than plow through it. He turned to me and told me of his plan, and I braced myself in the seat. The twin 90 hp motors were very responsive and the boat rose up on the plane like a shot out of a gun…straight up the next swell, and I found myself airborne in the cabin as the boat dropped into the trough on the other side. Coming down in time to meet the boat coming up again, my rear end collided with the arm of the seat, and I was thrown to the floor. The pain was so intense I lay there wondering if I was to be a paraplegic or a quadriplegic. My whole body seemed to be bubbling inside…..and I could not move…just lay on the deck of the boat wondering what had happened

We were met by an ambulance at dockside, and I was taken to Hospital to be checked out. To my relief I found I could wiggle my toes and flex my hands, but the pain in my back and legs did not allow me to walk. I was kept in “for observation” and allowed to go home the following day. The next few months were horrendous as I slowly learned to walk again. I found out that there was “severe soft tissue damage” to the right rear buttock, and compression of the spine, with some areas actually fractured. There were other minor injuries as well.

Almost 5 months later I noticed I was getting very sore tender patches on my right buttock, but thought it was just the bruising coming out. A few months after that I had a boil (I thought) appear in the same general area, it came up, burst and went away. Then around the November I had a series of large lesions appear in that very area, and they grew bigger and bigger… the pain was so intense, and the fever so great that I went to see a General Practitioner, who swiftly sent me to a General Surgeon, who sent me on to another surgeon, and none of these guys would say what it was, or wanted to operate… they were afraid to do so I feel. Finally I was referred to a Plastic Surgeon. All this took weeks to happen of course, and I was getting more and more ill. Unable to sit or stand, I spent most days lying on my stomach. If I had to go anywhere, it took me an extra 10 or 15 minutes to just get into and out of the car. Finally I saw my Plastic Surgeon, who took one look, and said in the inimitable Australian way.. ”Mate, that is Hidradenitis, and it is one of the worst cases I have ever seen. Also, your blood tests show that you have a severe blood poisoning going on.. If you don’t get yourself in Hospital now, you may be dead by the weekend. He picked up the phone and booked me into Hospital, to be there the following morning. I was stunned…. and did not know what to say, he knew what this was, and I was worse than I realised… I was very very frightened.

The end result was that once in hospital I faced a battery of tests. Doctors drew on all the resources they could, and I had CAT scans, MRI scans….the hospital microbiologist isolated the poisons in the blood stream, and I was put on IV antibiotics. On the Saturday morning my doc came I and said I was to be operated on, the theatre would be ready in a few hours. He sat down and explained what he was going to do, that of necessity it would be a “dirty” operation, since infection was still present in the blood stream. He told me that he would see me in Theatre, and a nursing sister came to give me a pre-med.

The operation lasted some 8 hours, the HS was far more extensive than the surgeon had expected, and he had cleaned out all the tunnels between the major lesions. He had at the same time removed some cysts that he found, The wound extended from the top of my right buttock, round into the right groin area, and down as far as the back of my right knee. He chose to heal by second intent, i.e. keeping the wound open and packed with gauze… yards and yards of gauze….. so that it would heal from the bottom up, or the inside to the outside. And so I spent the next seventeen days in intensive care. After 5 days though I could walk, albeit with a bit of a shuffle…. BUT NO PAIN !! After 9 days I sneaked downstairs and outside to have a smoke. The dressings were being changed four-hourly, and finally when I was allowed to go home, arrangements were made for home visits twice daily by a local nursing service. This went on for another 6 months or so. During that time I saw my surgeon on a regular basis, and he seemed well pleased with the result… even though as a plastic surgeon he would have preferred to put grafts over the scars, because of the risk of it re occurring he though that not a good idea.

So what now, some 7 years after surgery, HS is still there, but not the way it was. In fact it is barely noticeable. By following advice and help from the support groups here on the Internet, the HS is largely under control, and goes into remission a lot. I have found that natural remedies work better than pharmaceutical drugs. A good diet. Herbs and that sort of thing works better for me than any other treatment. If I bump into things with the rear end, that causes some flaring, but otherwise life is almost back to normal.

During the years following the accident my life changed dramatically. Unable to work caused financial problems, and led to divorce. The emotional impact was enormous. I set up a business making Video Postcards. But the HS took its toll there by not allowing me to devote the time needed to keep the business going. A second relationship faltered too, not directly attributable to HS, though a severe financial struggle did not help matters…..and that was attributable to HS.

Now I live basically on a pension, trying my best to get out of this hole, never giving up. I have even started writing a fantasy novel about Elves and Magic …(smile).. maybe one day that will earn me an income, who knows. I just keep on keeping on. Knowing at the end of the day, my HS is manageable, and that the Universe will provide.

I pray that one day a cure may be found for this dreadful affliction, It is not just the disease itself, but the effects it has on those around you. Financial hardship, marriage break ups, that sort of thing. The hidden factor of living with HS

Some questions for Thunder...

Describe in detail how bad your HS was before. What impact it had on your life.

My HS took about 10 moths to manifest after the accident, and then rapidly went to stage 3, with multiple large lesions that started at the top of the right Buttock, and then spread down the back of the right leg, and around into the scrotal area. These as they opened became infected with Staph Aureus as the main culprit. Antibiotics would work for a while, but then ceased to be of value.

Such was the extent of the disease I was unable to work, and this lead eventually to a marriage breakdown culminating in Divorce. Though after surgery I had some remission, that period of healing was both painful and because I was healing by second intent, quite prolonged. I was still unable to sit comfortably for any period of time, and still unable to work, even though the pain and lesions had gone.

One could say that HS altered my life completely. I went from being a 'normal' business person, to a wreck in a very short time frame.

Describe details of the program you are on/ what you eliminated from your diet, what you now eat. What other things have you done? Exercise, meditation, colonics, acupuncture, etc. -- What supplements do you take?

I joined the Yahoo group called HShealingwithGodgivennutrients, and read of all the success stories there. At the time I was skeptical, however having nothing to lose, decided to at least try what seemed to have worked for others. Barb Collins devised a plan for me, which basically was a detox programme, followed by dietary changes. These consisted of cutting things like dairy products (cow milk and -cheese), beef and other things, from my diet, and substituting other things, i.e. instead of milk, using soy milk and so on. It was not easy at first to remember to not eat certain things, however I did eventually find that it got easier. I also found that meditation was of great help, especially in reducing stress, a major factor in HS and other diseases. I went on to become a meditation leader in the group I had joined. Regular exercise, i.e. walking and swimming, also helped a great deal. Using this programme I also lost a lot of weight, and felt healthy for the first time in years.

What supplements do you take?

During my 'Medical Period' blood tests indicated that I had low levels of Zinc, so now I regularly take Zinc on a daily basis, 100mg a day. I also learned that Vitamin E was good for helping to heal lesions.

How long did it take to get better? What was the path? Did it get worse first?

In my case, it took approximately one month for each year that I had suffered with HS before I was healed. At the beginning of detox, the HS did get worse, but it was explained to me before this happened, that it was likely to be so, thus I was prepared for it. It did not last long however, and I almost gave up, but with great encouragement from Barb and her group, I stuck with it, and gradually reached the stage of no new lesions, and old ones fading away.

How long have you been healed?

After almost 12 months of being lesion free, I consider myself healed. If not it is the longest period of time that I have experienced complete relief from the signs and symptoms of HS. I am also aware that if I stray too far from the guidelines, that HS may come back, however I find that I can enjoy the odd glass of wine with a meal as and when I wish, but never to excess.

All this has proved to me is that while there is no medical cure for HS, there are other ways that work to heal the disease, or to give some control over it. Such methods date back thousands of years, and just because they are only now being documented, should not be discarded or overlooked.

Love, and healing,

Thunder