Boils - HELP NEEDED!

Hi all, wondering if you can give me any advice...

Last week, I had a sore on my knee, which has turned into a boil (I used to get these all the time before I was pregnant - it was my waterbottle beside my bed that was giving them to me) and a nasty boil at that. Its the size of a ping pong ball. I also have a smaller one on my backside and another one on my forearm. My husband managed to pull the "plug" out of the one on my knee and the one on my backside and get some gunk out, but not much.
I had 2 more tiny sores break out today, atm they just look like sore pimples. I've been feeling really ill all week and on Friday at my antenatal visit (I'm now 31wks) I almost passed out... lucky for me the midwife was there to catch me. I spent most of yesterday and all of today in bed with absolutely no energy and i feel really ill and feel like I'm going to throw up.

There are no 24 hour doctors around my area (that I know of), none that were open today and I don't know of any that are going to be open tomorrow, a public holiday. I rang the hospital to speak to a midwife this morning and she said that because its not a pregnancy related thing, that she can't help me. I'm in a bit of pain with them, and she's suggested I see a doctor (again, where's one thats open??) or go to accident and emergency.

I'm really worried that since it's already made me ill that its going to get into my blood stream and affect / harm the baby. The baby is still moving and I made 10 movements today. My husband seems to think it wont harm the baby.

I will go to the a&e department if I have to, its just the agonising wait to be told, theres nothing we can do after 2 hours of sitting there. I don't know how quickly or friendly they treat pregnant patients. I was there last time, at about 14wks with a bad lower abdomen pain, for 4 hours to be told it was "stretching" and there was nothing they could do for me. I would rather know now than wait til tuesday and have them say well its too late now you should have come in 2 days ago.

Your help, opinions and advice are greatly appreciated.

thanks

its a sad state of affairs when we cant get help. this happens to me sometimes just trying to see a GP!

there is an after hours number isnt there? When I have called my GP after hours it goes through to a govt call centre where there are nurses and a dr and you could ask them what to do. Could you try this? maybe call your GP and see what happens- it was a free service when I used it.

Otherwise for your peace of mind maybe its worth going to the hosp even though theres a wait. Maybe get a friend to go with you and share the wait.

All the best.

Oh geez you poor thing, how horrible. Don't hesitate to present to the hospital if you get feverish or chills as it may be a sign of infection. Do they usually give you some sort of meds or cream for this? Maybe a chemist could help you if you can find one thats open today.

Definitely agree you should have no hesitations to present at A&E with this and don't leave until they give you a script for antibiotics! I'm fairly sure the doctor will reassure you at the same time that all is well with bubs.

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Hi Ren,

I'm not really sure what the best thing to do would be, but have you heard of epsom salts? You can get them from chemists, and you put the whole pack in a bath and soak in them and they kind of "draw out" impurities from your skin, and also give sore aching muscles a bit of relief... also, there's a shower wash called Phisohex that's mainly aimed at people with acne, but the main ingredient is triclosan which is also used in dettol antiseptic cream, but because boils are mainly caused by staph on your skin, using an antibacterial wash like Phisohex could benefit in preventing anymore boils from cropping up in the future?

I have had boils in the past and they have gotten to the point where they're 10cm or more in diameter, but i never really got chills or had the extra symptoms you have...

But i would defn see a GP and get some sort of medication to at least get the secondary infection under control...

Hope u get some relief soon :)

Keep an eye on your temp If it goes above 38 go to A&E
To get rid of the boils you can get some Magnoolasm from the chemist. Put this on the boil and cover it with an absorbant dressing. This cream is very thick and you may need to put it on the derssing and then put that on the boil.

If you are looking for a more natural product you can get a few slices of white bread. Cover them with hot water (as ho as you can stand without burning yourself) and put this on the boil. Cover with an absorbent dressing.

Change the dressings every couple of days or when they start to leak.

When the boils have burst get under the shower and spray lots of hot water on them.

Continur with the dressings until no more gunk comes out.