A bad divorce is what I think was my trigger. Stress and drama.

I think with my daughter it was purely genetic makeup! tangerinebear xo

I think I also have a splash of genetics going on also. Sorry I did not mention that to begin with. :)

as soon as i hit puberty but my mother had it so its def genetics for me

I'm convinced it was a spider bite that triggered this for me. I was very sick for two years afterwards, then diagnosed with a couple of different auto-immune diseases. I also tested positive and negative (back and forth many times) for mono and syphillis. I want to add that I HATE this disease...it makes me insanely depressed. I have a good tolerance for pain, this just literally makes me crazy..

I correlate it to my first use of BCP's definitely a hormone issue for me

mine is hereditary and hormonal... I have PCOS so that I believe is the underlying cause of my HS

I've been convinced for ages that my HS trigger 6 years ago was, like the original poster, my using deodorant. It was Dove with extra moisturising ingredient of some kind, I really wish I could rack my brain & recall exactly what it was. I only used it for a week before noticing it caused me an unusual kind of irritation, however by that point it was already too late. I've not bought any kind of Dove product since.

Even if I were to somehow eliminate all traces of HS from my armpits, I will never wear synthetic deodorant ever again.

Mine first came up when I got pregnant with my first child. I think mine is a combo of genetics, hormonal and stress.
My grandmother had it (I'm almost positively convinced now) my mother had it, and my sister too..although neither my mom nor my sister have had it to the extent that I do.

I don't think any one thing triggered it for me. I think it was already lying in wait for me and was just waiting for that last final ingredient (getting pregnant) before it could rear it's ugly head.
Hope you are having as pain free a day as possible.

Well, I just found out my dad used to get sores until a few years ago, off and on over about ten years. So I suppose it is mostly genetic for me but I still feel like deodorant unleashed the beast, so to speak.

And now that I'm thinking about it... my dad said he stopped getting them after he quit working. He became disabled due to sudden partial blindness from diabetes and immediately changed his diet once he was diagnosed and could no longer work. I have seen some here suggest cutting out sugar and I can't help but wonder if that's what possibly helped alleviate HS for him.

I was diagnosed about 1 1/2 yrs. ago, I found out that my grandmother had it also. I also believe stress has a lot to do with it. It seems everytime I get stressed out it seems to flare-up

WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!!!.

My aunt has it and my dad but neither to the severity of mine. I think my was orginally triggered by weight and stress, I was in a very unhealthy marriage and then after my divorce I lost a lot of weight and it seem to clear up and went into remission. Then I got pregnant and it has been HORRIBLE ever since.!!!!!

I'm not sure what started mine. I was working in Australia for a few years and one day a got a lump. I just put it down to unhealthy living. Little did i know that 5yrs later i still get the lumps most months. I know if i sweat a lot or wear the wrong sort of boxer shorts i will get a lump and I've not worn deodorant for a few years as it seem to triggers lumps in my armpits. I find the ones in the armpit are easier to cope with as you can still walk around even if you have to stand with your hands on your hips all the time. The ones on my inner thigh hurt so much it make walking impossible sometimes and when i can walk its that cowboy bowed legged walk which looks silly in central London.

I dont know anyone in my blood related family who suffer with this however both of my step-sisters (through marriage not blood) suffer with one or 2 abscess' that look, feel and act the same as mine. however since they have only had afew neither has been to see a doctor.

The other thing I can think of that maybe have started this was shaving my bikini line which led to a single ingrowing hair. Within weeks I had afew and was given a topical treatment by my GP. It then took 5 years before they got bad enough for me to see a 2nd doctor who straight away referred me to a dermo suspecting HS....thankgod for decent GPs!!!!!! Luckily I only suffer from them around the groin area (especially on my knicker line, so I now tend to wear my boyfriends cotton boxes as they dont add pressure to the abscess) and under both breasts and the ones under my breasts only started 12 months ago. Fingers crossed they dont spread anywhere else