3 Habits That Make My HS More Manageable

Cristina hit her breaking point with HS when she turned 30. Making key lifestyle adjustments helped her enter remission and reduce her flares immensely. As told to Cheyenne Buckingham.

I was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) when I was 13-years-old, after my second or third emergency room visit for painful boil-like abscesses in sensitive areas. Growing up in Miami in the early ’90s, I was lucky that my mom pushed for answers from a dermatologist relatively quickly — because even today, many people with HS wait years for a diagnosis.

Still, getting diagnosed at such a young age felt devastating. On top of that, I was told to wash better and lose weight, which — unfortunately — is still a very common experience for people with HS. There’s so much stigma attached to this condition, and for years, I internalized the idea that what was happening to my body was somehow my fault.

But HS isn’t about being “dirty,” and it’s not just a skin issue. It’s a systemic inflammatory disease, and understanding that changed everything for me. Once I started learning more about inflammation and how my body responded to stress, food, sleep, and other triggers, I was able to build habits that helped me reduce flares, feel more in control of my symptoms, and slowly rebuild my confidence.

Staying Educated As A Patient

I’m now 40-years-old and have been in remission for the past nine years — something I credit in large part to becoming deeply informed about how to manage my symptoms and reduce flares.

But for years, I felt uncomfortable even explaining that I had a chronic illness, especially one as misunderstood as HS. When I finally started researching the disease for myself and having more productive conversations with doctors, it completely shifted the way I viewed my body. I stopped feeling ashamed and started feeling empowered. Now, I can confidently explain that HS isn’t contagious — but it is painful, inflammatory, and often scarring.

One thing I always remind people is that remission doesn’t mean HS disappears forever. I can still flare, and there’s no cure. For me, managing this condition means staying consistent with the routines and habits that help keep my inflammation under control.

Identifying My Triggers By Tracking Flare-ups

I decided to make major lifestyle changes 30 days before my 30th birthday, when I felt like I had hit rock bottom with my health. The postpartum years were especially hard on my HS, and I remember thinking, “something’s got to give.”

One of the most helpful habits I developed was tracking everything: my symptoms, stress levels, sleep, diet, menstrual cycle, and flare-ups. Keeping a journal helped me connect the dots between what was happening in my body and in my life. Stress, in particular, turned out to be one of my biggest triggers for inflammation.

A lot of people with HS feel like their flares happen randomly, but once I started paying closer attention to patterns, I was able to make more informed choices. For me, that included changing the way I ate, cutting back on foods and habits that seemed to worsen my inflammation (for me, that’s dairy, gluten, and alcohol), and shifting away from intense workouts like HIIT and CrossFit that pushed my body too hard and triggered my HS symptoms. These days, I stick to lower-impact movement — long walks and slow strength training — and pass on classes that leave me feeling depleted instead of energized.

Protecting My Energy With Better Boundaries

Having healthy boundaries, learning to say no, and prioritizing my mental health became non-negotiable for me. That includes being honest about what my body can and can’t handle — whether that’s skipping a high-intensity workout or leaving a girls’ night out early to get some rest. I’ve had to accept that I can’t party all night, drink heavily, and run on no sleep the way I could in my twenties. Sometimes protecting my energy simply means saying “no” altogether. I think that’s true for anyone living with chronic illness, no matter the diagnosis.

It took me a long time to realize that advocating for myself isn’t selfish — it’s necessary. Because if something doesn’t feel supportive for my body, there’s a good chance it could trigger a flare.

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