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Pregnant with painful and swelling lump in armpit

Hi Everyone,

I'm 31 years old and 21 weeks pregnant. I have this painful lump under my arm that is getting bigger. I have a 21-month-old daughter and when she was 6 months old, I had the same thing and I went to the emergency room because the pain was too much. The doctor gave me antibiotics and said that it was too early to lance it (drain it). I was a bit happy about that because I was afraid of them cutting it open. Well, a couple days later, I saw my GP because the pain was getting worse and he gave me stronger antibiotics and put this anaesthesic cream on the painful bump and he lanced it and squeezed the stuff out. It hurt a little bit when he was squeezing it out, but well worth it. He told me there would be more and later that evening at home, I squeezed more out--It was so gross, but needed to be done. There's a small, painless bump that remained and I stopped breastfeeding because my daughter didn't like the taste of the milk after that.

Well now, the small bump from before has gone much bigger and it's painful. I'm worried now because I'm 21 weeks pregnant and I'm thinking that the doctor this time will not be able to give me antibiotics as well as much pain medication because of my pregnancy. I'm hoping it will come out on its own...Oh, but the pain!

Does anyone have any other advice or information for this situation?

Many thanks.
6 Responses
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Avatar universal
this sounds like your diagnosis.I am a sufferer of the rare disease and my story started the same as yours.Hidronitis Suprativa has ruined my life. I have suffered now for 16 years. there is alot about the condition I have learned to help. It is so rare that I went undiagnosed for 4 years after going to the main dermatology center in Ann Arbor Michigan was I finally diagnosed . Get in touch with me and I can tell you more about the disease and more ways to get comfort.Good luck to you.My email address is ***@**** know how scary this is for you and the more you know the better you will feel.
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Avatar universal
Hi collectionbam,

Btw, I drink about 1-2 cups of caffeinated tea a day and maybe something chocolatey once or twice a week...That's about it--I don't drink colas or coffee.

Is there a connection between this condition and caffeine?

Thanks.
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Avatar universal
Do you drink very much caffeine
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Avatar universal
Hello,

Thanks Mandi, MARTTY and collectionbam for your responses.  Here's an update...

On Tuesday, the pain was so intense that I went to my GP to see if they could either remove it or give me something to numb the pain.  My doctor advised that the "infected gland" should be drained.  He put an anaesthesic cream, gave me Motrin for pain...I waited for 30 minutes for the cream to numb the area, then he injected the area with more anaesthesa, then lanced it.  He squeezed most of the pus out and the last three squeezes were so painful.  The pain shot up along my arm to my fingertips!  He packed the cut with this thin, long sheet of fabric so that the wound will be left open and the fabric can hopefully catch the remaining pus--He called this a "wick".  Anyway, today I went back so he can remove this wick and he found more pus and thought it would be best to "wick" it again--and that was painful.   So I will have to go back tomorrow to get it removed.  He didn't give me antibiotics because he said right now it's not necessary.  He did prescribed me ibuprofen, but I've only taken it once because of my pregnancy.

I found this disease called Hidradenitis Suppurativa on the internet.  http://hs-usa.org/home.htm  Has anyone ever heard of it?  I think this is what I may have, but not 100% sure.  I'll ask my doctor about it tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.  
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Avatar universal
1 WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU GET A SECOND OR THIRD OPINION. A LYMPH NODE IS A GLAND YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE AN ENDOCRONOLIGST.
IT IS NOT NORMAL FOR IT TO BE SO ENLARGED AND PAINFUL.  IF ANTIBOTICS HAVENT TAKEN CARE OF IT PLEASE SEEK A SECOND OPINION
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Avatar universal
There is different grades of medicines and they possibly could find something to give you that is ok for you and the baby. I know I was given some antibiotics with both of my pregnancies. The first pregnancy I had no clue that I was pregnant when I was given the meds(only 7 weeks and was really sick so hadn't thought about it) and at 15 weeks I lost my son and found out it was probably from the meds. With my second son I was also given meds for infection and he is fine. They gave me stuff that was ok for pregnant women to take.
Mandi
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