How Living With HS Forced Me To Stop Pushing Through Everything

I've had severe eczema since I was young, so it's not like I was unfamiliar with chronic health conditions. But I always had a pretty strong mindset. I thought I could put my body through anything and that it would be fine and wouldn't fail me. Whether it was work stress, long hours, or life in general, I thought my body would always keep up.

Then, around 2020, my body started telling me otherwise. I was in my mid-30s, and around that time, I noticed what I thought was a cyst in my groin area. It would become painful, then seemingly go away. A few months later, it would return. Since it always showed up in the same place, I didn't think much of it at first. Around the same time, I was also at the heaviest weight I'd ever been, and I remember wondering if the two were connected, but I chalked it up to just one of those annoying things that happens as you get older.

Instead, it became the beginning of a months-long journey trying to figure out what was actually going on. I went to a dermatologist. Then another. I went to my OB/GYN. Everyone kept passing me to someone else. Because it was always in the same spot, I assumed it was exactly what everyon...