Help! might be infected!

**ml87** · 09-24-2010, 07:56 PM

For a few months i have had an oval lump on my left shoulder and when i move, the bump moves with the muscle. so i figured i tore a muscle and its just healing. but tonight I finally wanted to see what was in there so i got a 23g syringe and aspirated. yellow puss came out and i got scared so i only collected 1/4cc. there is still plenty left and i am very worried. does anybody know what it is??

**SlimJoe** · 09-24-2010, 08:11 PM

get your self to see a doctor best option

**ml87** · 09-24-2010, 08:12 PM

iv been reading up on it and it might be an abscess. the only option is to drain it by a surgeon? that sounds like some down time from the gym.

**MACHINE5150** · 09-24-2010, 08:14 PM

probably a Sist... "spelt that wrong" i got one on my ass right where my tailbone meets my crack about two years ago.. completley unrealted to AAS.. the doctor just lanced it with syringe and then stuffed it with gauze... it was nuts.. he put 18 inches of 1cm wide gauze in it.. the thing was extremely deep.. you should proably have a doctor do this though.. as if it gets infected you will lose your arm in two days

**ml87** · 09-24-2010, 08:41 PM

would my doctor perform the drainage? or do i have to go to the hospital? does it ever go away with time?

**NattyR1** · 09-24-2010, 11:42 PM

1) get yourself to a doctor, who will lance it with a scalpel and then stuff it with gauze, give you a schedule of antibiotics, make you revisit for gauze changing.

2) you could....drain it with needle, buy yourself some bactrim and save on insurance costs, make sure you keep the sites cleaned.

ppl will flame me for this but if you drain with needle, the chances of infection are much lower since the doctor will cut your skin open to allow maximum drainage. you, however, are not a qualified medical personnel. the lower chances of infection, the better.

if you have insurance, go to a doc. if not. drain it with a needle and eat antibiotics.

**SlimJoe** · 09-24-2010, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by NattyR1

1) get yourself to a doctor, who will lance it with a scalpel and then stuff it with gauze, give you a schedule of antibiotics, make you revisit for gauze changing.

2) you could....drain it with needle, buy yourself some bactrim and save on insurance costs, make sure you keep the sites cleaned.

ppl will flame me for this but if you drain with needle, the chances of infection are much lower since the doctor will cut your skin open to allow maximum drainage. you, however, are not a qualified medical personnel. the lower chances of infection, the better.

if you have insurance, go to a doc. if not. drain it with a needle and eat antibiotics.

absoulte idiot do not drain it yourself go to hospital draining it yourself will lead to alot more serious problems surgery is used if i am right that is if it a infection of course hope this helps see a doctor please bro

**j4ever41** · 09-25-2010, 12:02 AM

go to the Doc!

**SlimJoe** · 09-25-2010, 12:05 AM

Originally Posted by j4ever41

go to the doc!

thank you

**ml87** · 09-25-2010, 09:57 AM

yea, even if i were to drain it myself, im sure that I wouldn't be able to get everything out. wouldnt there even be a little calcification? that doesnt go through a needle.

**voidofRoids** · 09-25-2010, 10:56 AM

You'll probably want to see a doctor. I mean, sure you can do most of the work yourself, but do you really want to?

**ml87** · 09-25-2010, 12:47 PM

I will not be doing it myself. has anybody ever had one removed? if so, how long did you have to stay away from strenuous activities? Also, is it ok to pin in that spot again once it heals?

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-25-2010, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by MACHINE5150

probably a Sist... "spelt that wrong" i got one on my ass right where my tailbone meets my crack about two years ago.. completley unrealted to AAS.. the doctor just lanced it with syringe and then stuffed it with gauze... it was nuts.. he put 18 inches of 1cm wide gauze in it.. the thing was extremely deep.. you should proably have a doctor do this though.. as if it gets infected you will lose your arm in two days

I have to disagree with you on this. It will take at least 3.5 days before losing his arm is a reality..

**ml87** · 09-25-2010, 03:43 PM

ah man, u were right, it just fell off! now i only have one arm to have fun with..

**ml87** · 09-27-2010, 10:43 AM

will they lance it with just local anesthesia even if its in the muscle and not at the surface? it seems to be pretty deep into my delt.

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-27-2010, 10:50 AM

I'm sure they will give you something. I have to get epidurals in my neck cuz of some drunk bitch running a red light and they give me 2 or 3 local shots before they stab me with that dagger of a needle. Other than feeling pressure on my spine when they are actually injecting the nerv-block medication I do not feel a thing so I am sure, even though you say it is deep, they will be able to make it as painless as possible.

**Far from massive** · 09-27-2010, 10:03 PM

Unfortunately back when I was 23-28 I used IV drugs and have had a good amount of experience with abscesses, sticking a needle in an abscess is never the way to drain one. Although on a shallow abscess you can often get away with it, on a deep abscess particularly in a muscle. When you perforate an abscess with a needle you may easily poke a hole through the side wall of back wall of the abscess, while this is less frequent with a scalpel it also happens, if you do not allow a free pathway for subsequent drainage of purilent matter ( either a packing with a tail to the outside, a tube or a combination of both) then the outer opening may clog ( almost unavoidable with a needle ) and the purilent matter will now have a pathway further into you body. While this can be a bad problem on the glute on a shoulder with its numerous muscles and proximity to viens arteries joint etc. as well as the nearness particularly from a vascular standpoint to the heart it is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

**tjax03** · 09-28-2010, 06:29 AM

Originally Posted by ml87

will they lance it with just local anesthesia even if its in the muscle and not at the surface? it seems to be pretty deep into my delt.

Yup, sorry but if you have a a true abcess, it' gonna hurt like hell to drain. For one thing, the infection causes the pH of the surrounding tissue to change, which greatly lowers the effectiveness of local anesthesia. As a result the doctor needs to use a lot more than he usually would, and it still doesn't work as well. If you do need to have this thing drained, be prepared to grit your teeth and feel some pain.

**letstrain** · 09-28-2010, 07:13 AM

Doctor asap......

**Far from massive** · 09-28-2010, 08:58 AM

One other note, the only time I had an abscess on my ankle I was treated in a hospital ( I was in for pneumonia at the time) the doctor took a scalpel and with no anesthetic whatsoever sliced me open to the ankle bone an incision about an inch and a half long and a half inch deep! I am sure his actions were the result of his view of me as a worthless junkie (although I worked full time as a mechanic making 80K at the time) my point being many physicians have a simalar view of a body builder who use steroids , anticancer meds, diuretics, etc to alter the shape and appearence of thier bodies, particularly after the movie the man whose arms exploded as a matter of fact if you have seen the movie you know Greg had a simalar experience. Because of this I would recommend you see a physician not just walk into the ER and when you get to the point that the boil is going to be treated make sure the doctor has a reasonable attitude.

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-28-2010, 09:03 AM

I would have kicked that Dr in the face if he tried to cut me like that without some sort of anesthetic, on accident of course..

**Far from massive** · 09-28-2010, 09:14 AM

Believe me I had already made plans to locate him and beat him to a pulp, unfortunately he was either worried about that or a malpractice suit or just felt bad about what he had done (doubtful) and never sent a bill of any kind, nor did his name appear on any paperwork from the hospital. Shortly after it happened a nurse came in and my foot was still kinda shaking from the pain and she took one look at it shook her head left and returned with a large syringe full of morphine so at least the pain was only a few minutes.

**tjax03** · 09-28-2010, 10:30 AM

Read my post above. Except for the less common cases where they can perform a nerve block, locals agents arent going to do anything for an abcess. Your situation sucked, but its not the doctor's fault you had an infection. Just be glad he took care if it properly.

**Far from massive** · 09-28-2010, 11:35 AM

Read my post above, slicing an abcess to the bone is not even close to the proper treatment of an abscess. The slice should have been through the outer envelope of the abscess, then the cavity should have been packed with a piece of gauze allowing drainage( or if the abscess was very large/deep it should have been debrided or deroofed). Upon examination by another physician after release I was told I was very fortunate because the slice where it hit the tibia was only about 1/16" from the joint capsule and if the capsule had been perforated it could have lead to serious nonreparable complications, even as it was the fact that the bone did not become infected due to its exposure to the pirulent matter was fortunate.

Let me ask you if he treated it properly, even in his own opinion, why did he not bill for the services and why did any record of the procedure appear on the hospital paperwork? I never said a word to him but possibly another physician or nurse did, myself I knew at the time if I spoke my voice would quaver and I was not about to let that SOB enjoy that moment.

As to your point about lessened effectiveness of locals, while that is true they are still generally used.

http://apps.med.buffalo.edu/procedures/abscess.asp?p=1

http://www.proceduresconsult.com/med...procedure.aspx

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-28-2010, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by tjax03

Read my post above. Except for the less common cases where they can perform a nerve block, locals agents arent going to do anything for an abcess. Your situation sucked, but its not the doctor's fault you had an infection. Just be glad he took care if it properly.

The things people say never cease to amaze me! Be glad he took care of it properly? Did you read his post? You must be in some 3rd world and even then I'm SURE this is not porper procedure. You do not make incisions in patients without anesthetic, or at the MINIMUM some sort of local nerv block for the area. Do you have any idea what kind of pain we are talking about here? This is the type of stuff that make people black out from pain!

My hats off to you FFM, I would have gone ape sh1t and probably been thrown out. You handled it much better than I would have!

**Far from massive** · 09-28-2010, 11:50 AM

Thank you very much for your reply FuzzyPeaches, I don't know if this is another guy who feels an ex drug addict has no right to complain about medical treatment recieved, or if he just did not read the post carefully and see where I noted the depth of incision etc.

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-28-2010, 11:53 AM

I'm positive that as soon as he read what your history was he, just like the Dr, felt you did not deserve humane treatment anymore.

**funkymonk** · 09-28-2010, 12:08 PM

I'm not sure why you're still posting here, make a damn doc appt dude. You've said it yourself that you've decided to do that, stop wasting time.

Best of luck and I wish you a speedy recovery.

**ml87** · 09-28-2010, 03:08 PM

Got back from the doctors a few hours ago. He took a 23g pin and took a little out and saw it was yellow just as i told him (i should have brought my syringe) then he said cutting wouldn't be necessary because of its depth and size. it is too deep for simple slicing, and too small to make that big of a deal about it. so he shot a little cortisone into it and gave me 10 days of antibiotics. he says it should melt away.

**FuzzyPeaches o.O** · 09-28-2010, 04:39 PM

Good 2 hear.. I was fearing the worse for you..

**fleck** · 09-28-2010, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Far from massive

Believe me I had already made plans to locate him and beat him to a pulp, unfortunately he was either worried about that or a malpractice suit or just felt bad about what he had done (doubtful) and never sent a bill of any kind, nor did his name appear on any paperwork from the hospital. Shortly after it happened a nurse came in and my foot was still kinda shaking from the pain and she took one look at it shook her head left and returned with a large syringe full of morphine so at least the pain was only a few minutes.

haha classic

**tjax03** · 09-28-2010, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by Far from massive

Read my post above, slicing an abcess to the bone is not even close to the proper treatment of an abscess. The slice should have been through the outer envelope of the abscess, then the cavity should have been packed with a piece of gauze allowing drainage( or if the abscess was very large/deep it should have been debrided or deroofed). Upon examination by another physician after release I was told I was very fortunate because the slice where it hit the tibia was only about 1/16" from the joint capsule and if the capsule had been perforated it could have lead to serious nonreparable complications, even as it was the fact that the bone did not become infected due to its exposure to the pirulent matter was fortunate.

Let me ask you if he treated it properly, even in his own opinion, why did he not bill for the services and why did any record of the procedure appear on the hospital paperwork? I never said a word to him but possibly another physician or nurse did, myself I knew at the time if I spoke my voice would quaver and I was not about to let that SOB enjoy that moment.

As to your point about lessened effectiveness of locals, while that is true they are still generally used.

http://apps.med.buffalo.edu/procedures/abscess.asp?p=1

http://www.proceduresconsult.com/med...procedure.aspx

The only point I was trying to make was that in terms of pain management, the doctor followed the common practice for this problem. I know this because I was coincidentally talking to two doctors about this this past weekend. Anesthesia may be recommended in a large dosage, but it is often foregone, because to quite frankly, it isn't going to do anything to ease that severe pain. I mentioned the nerve block possibility, but those are generally only used to if there is a large area to operate on. I probably should have worded my reply more politely, so I am sorry if I came across as insensitive. I just get tired of everyone on this site ragging on physicians. It is weird that you were not billed, but another possiblity is that there was simply some administrative error, which with the US's outdated records system, is not impossible.

**tjax03** · 09-28-2010, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by FuzzyPeaches o.O

The things people say never cease to amaze me! Be glad he took care of it properly? Did you read his post? You must be in some 3rd world and even then I'm SURE this is not porper procedure. You do not make incisions in patients without anesthetic, or at the MINIMUM some sort of local nerv block for the area. Do you have any idea what kind of pain we are talking about here? This is the type of stuff that make people black out from pain!

My hats off to you FFM, I would have gone ape sh1t and probably been thrown out. You handled it much better than I would have!

I am in america and although you are "sure" you are not a doctor and thus do not actually know what the common practice is for this problem. The pain is horrible, but anesthetics are frequently omitted as they simply do not mask that type of pain effectively and nerve blocks are only used to large areas of infection.

**evil30** · 09-28-2010, 06:12 PM

You have a cyst! It needs to be professionally drained or you can risk major infection. See link:

http://www.popthatzit.com/2009/10/the-best-back-zit/

**ml87** · 09-28-2010, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by evil30

You have a cyst! It needs to be professionally drained or you can risk major infection. See link:

http://www.popthatzit.com/2009/10/the-best-back-zit/

i wish that it was that easy.. but mine is deep into the tissue due to intramuscular injection. remember, we are pinning an inch or more into our bodies, it is not on the surface like a pimple.
for anyone wondering, i am on keflex 500mg 3xday.

**ml87** · 09-28-2010, 08:29 PM

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/child..._infection.htm
read a few lines down on what it treats.. it will say "deep abscess"

**Far from massive** · 09-29-2010, 07:23 PM

tjax03,

Did not notice your post until today, thanks your explanation, I thought that you may have just misunderstood my complaint, which was the depth of incision not the pain management technique ( or lack thereof ) employed.

**sportfan33** · 09-29-2010, 07:40 PM

Wow, lucky they didnt slice u open and let it drain out.

**ml87** · 09-29-2010, 10:32 PM

well im not quite out of the war zone yet. if this doesnt work then the only other option is slice and dice. which from what i was told will keep me out of the gym for weeks..