Health Watch: the skin condition you’ve never heard of but will never forget
BALTIMORE, Md. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – It’s a rare systemic skin disorder that results in severe rashes, boils and cysts. Now, a long-time Washington newswoman is sharing her own painful journey and how she eventually found treatment.
Jackie Nedell is a long-time Washington journalist but she’s the one making news by going public about suffering from the rare and painful skin condition – hidradenitis suppurativa, or H.S.
“It took me three and a half years with hundreds and hundreds of these lesions and boils that burned and were so painful, I can’t even describe to you. I was so embarrassed, I had all these scars and boils on my back when I went to the pool. I’d wear little T-shirts. I was just humiliated,” Jackie recalls about her condition.
The cause of H.S. is unknown. It consists of painful, lumps or boils that most often form in areas like the armpits, breasts, buttocks and the groin. It affects more women than men, more African American people than people of other races. Jackie suffered for three and a half years before she finally found relief with Chair of Dermatology at the George Washington School of Medicine, Adam Friedman, MD.
Dr. Friedman explains, “This is a chronic condition, we can’t cure, we can only contain, but it’s gonna be a combination of local care, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial washes.”
And that’s just the H.S. you can see. The disease is systemic, meaning it’s inflicting damage on other organs through inflammation. Dr. Friedman is using biologics to treat that.
“Fifty percent of people will have an inflammatory arthritis, many will have high blood pressure, diabetes, mental health disorders, clinical depression,” adds Dr. Friedman.
Jackie is now a year and a half into remission.
“And I feel like I’m a whole new person, and don’t feel self-conscious, and most of the scars have faded – not all,” she says with relief.
Jackie encourages people with H.S. to seek out the best therapy for relief of this disease. If you suspect you have H.S., check our website for more information on hsconnect.org.
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