3 Lifestyle Tweaks One Mom Uses to Keep Her HS Under Control

A few years ago, Erin, 44, discovered what she thought was an ingrown hair on her groin. So, she did what a lot of people do: She squeezed it. “I quickly realized ‘Okay, this is much more painful and is not resolving it’,” she recounts. “In fact, squeezing made it worse.” It was so uncomfortable she suspected something was up, so the mom of two reached out to her dermatologist for an appointment. That’s when she learned she had hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), a chronic inflammatory condition that’s hallmarked by painful boils and abscesses deep in the skin.

Erin was lucky not only to get a quick diagnosis, but also that her case was pretty straightforward. “Typically, it’s always in the same spot for me,” she says. “It feels like a little, pea-sized boil under the skin and will just grow slowly to a larger size.” (Think: the size of a cranberry.) She’s opted for deroofing surgeries to remove them, getting two in the past three years. “I didn't want to play the game of just draining and then coming back and having to do it again, so I chose to do the procedure where they open up the tract and cauterize it,” she says. (There’s a risk of scarring associated with this, but because the HS was in her groin, Erin wasn’t concerned about it.)

While the surgeries have kept the HS flares under control, even they impact what she can do with her kids. Surgery “comes with downtime while the area is healing,” she says. “It affects being able to do anything [with them].” So Erin, a functional health practitioner, started making a few lifestyle tweaks in the meantime. “HS is an auto inflammatory condition, so for me, keeping inflammation down is key,” she says. “If it starts to pop up, doing everything I can to lower my inflammation has been my game plan.” Here’s a few lifestyles changes she’s been leveraging to help manage her HS.

She Swapped Her Wardrobe

Erin's HS breakouts were limited to her groin area, which meant she didn't have to worry about scarring after surgery — but their location impacted her exercise routine and even what she wore to work out. "Anything tight in the area, like leggings, wasn't comfortable," she says. And it limits what she can do with her kids. “When I’ve had an active boil site, I can’t do things I’d normally do with them, like go for a long walk or a hike,” she says.

Fabric can play a big part in that. “A lot of the time, HS starts where hair follicles are,” she says. “So, if there's a lot of trapped sweat or a lot of rubbing with different materials in that area, that might aggravate it more.” And the science backs it up: Mechanical stress, like friction from clothes, can make HS symptoms worse. So Erin’s switched to 100% organic cotton leggings, which she finds more breathable and comfortable.

She Manages Her Stress Levels

Roughly three years since her diagnosis, Erin has noticed that her HS breakouts tend to coincide with stressful points in her life. One flare “was around the time that I got sick, which creates inflammation in the body, as well as at some stressful points with work and whatnot,” she says. And in fact, the latest one appeared when her family was moving. “I was very stressed out,” she adds.

Because of that, she recommends “minimizing stress where you can, whether that be through therapy or other nervous system regulation options.” She also relies on routines, especially in the evenings. “Having a more consistent routine with bedtime minimizes stress on the body and helps the body repair and restore itself,” she says.

She Cleaned Up Her Diet

For starters, Erin tries to lower inflammation in her body via her diet. “I'm a functional health practitioner, so I'm already very health-conscious and well-aware of what causes inflammation in the body,” she says. So she focuses on whole foods and avoids highly processed snacks, since they’re pro-inflammatory and can exacerbate HS flares.

And on the flip side, pro-inflammatory diets are linked to more intense HS symptoms—both in studies and in real life. “During the points in my life when I've had HS flares, I've noticed that I've gotten kind of loose with my diet as far as eating out more,” Erin says. Her eating habits aren’t perfect — she still goes out to eat with her family, where she can’t control how food is cooked — but it still offers her some relief.

Through tweaking her habits, Erin has managed to keep her HS symptoms under control — and found that there’s a silver lining for her kids, too. Her changes have “trickled down to my children,” she says. “I’m teaching them healthier lifestyle and nutrition habits.” And the beauty of it is that it’s available to everyone else, too — and can help people regain a little more comfort wherever they are in their HS journey.

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