- Joined
- Jan 4, 2012
- Messages
- 5
I just want to start off by saying that I have not been diagnosed with any form of IBD or Crohn's, but I came here for support for similar symptoms. Four years ago when I was 14, I had a sudden severe bowel impaction that my doctor ignored by sending me home with stool softeners that didn't work. I continued to tell him " I CAN'T GO!" and finally after 16 days of losing a lot of weight and making myself look like those poor kids you see on the commercials in foreign countries who haven't eaten in forever...he finally hospitalized me to give me a large "soap suds" enema which felt like the most amazing thing after it was all over with. After that, I had multiple tests such as MRI, Upper GI with barium swallow, multiple x-rays, tons of bloodwork and a colonoscopy to rule out anything wrong, I came away from it all clean as a whistle. Except for one minor detail... about a week after I came home from the hospital I noticed that I was leaking liquid stool into my underwear. I went to the doc and asked him and he told me that my colon could have been stretched from the impaction and to just wait it out with stool softeners. Well here I am, 4 years later..nerves shot and anxiety through the roof. I told him that ever since I had the colonoscopy, I had some bright red blood on the toilet paper after bowel movements and he thought it was just hemorrhoids. After demanding him to violate me and give me a rectal exam, he found an anal fistula that was bleeding. He referred me to a surgeon and they're going to do an examination under anesthesia on tuesday next week first to see if it is for sure a fistula and not some other thing called "pilonidal disease" which they don't think it is. They think I got this fistula from an infection due to the long term impaction. I literally had a piece of poo stuck inside my rectal opening for 16 days. Anyhow, I just wanted to share my story here. Because of all of this, I had to drop out of normal school in 8th grade and be homeschooled. I've lost touch with almost all of my friends and I've developed social anxiety from this. The surgeon said if the fistula is low enough, he will "de-roof" it? and lay it open so it heals. Thinking about it makes my butt quiver. He said though, if it is higher then he will want to do further tests for Crohn's or IBD and refer me to a specialist. Other than that odd impaction when I was 14, I've never had any of the symptoms of Crohn's or IBD. I guess I'm just really paranoid that this isn't going to be the "simple fix" that the surgeon says it will be. Dealing with anal leaking for four years when you're only 17 and a half years old seems like a lifetime. I'm mad at myself for not taking care of it sooner, and I'm mad at my doctor for always refusing to do a simple rectal exam instead of telling me to do bogus things like exercise more and use more fiber. I sure hope this surgeon knows what he's doing when he cuts me open next tuesday. I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life about this. Sorry if this all sounds dramatic, I know a lot of you have way worse problems than fistulas, but to me...this is my life. I can't even remember what it was life to feel comfortable really. I crave the life I had before..but I know even if this surgery works I can't imagine how I can recover emotionally without professional help.
