Abscess

[crohnie2]

abscess

How do you get rid of an abscess ? Is surgery required or can medications work? I may have one...the doctor has to do another test to determine what it is.

 

[danman]

Many thing can get rid of am abcess, the main one being antibiotics.

If this route doesnt work, then try pred. Then Remi/infliximab or humira. Then surgery.

Discuss the options with your doctor.
There are many different meds available. But start with the antibiotics first.

And good luck, stick with us here, you'll find a wealth of information on this site.

 

[sharon j.]

When I had an internal abscess the doctor prescribed an antibiotic called Zosyn. I was on that because he said the abscess was too small to operate on. Jeez, I must have been on that for months and the abscess just kept getting bigger (and of course it was in my butt cheek right next to my crack because everything I get is butt and poop related.) Finally, the abscess was quite large and I found it painful to sit down. I went to the doctor and he decided to operate and drain it. He said that he was pleased that the Zosyn had done its job by containing the abscess because it didn't open up and affect the rest of my body. I just assumed the Zosyn wasn't working because the abscess just kept getting bigger.

So I am in agreement with danman. Try antibiotics first and if surgery is needed then so be it. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon! Sharon

 

[CDDad]

Usually an abscess is caused by a fistula getting clogged up. What I had done is called a drainage seton. Sure, maybe not the first thing to try, but maybe if nothing else is working. It's an outpatient procedure but very painful for a few weeks. Now I'm 4 weeks out and I'm glad I did it - no more abscess for me.

Sure, now I have some strange strings in my butt, but that was he price to pay for me. There are other kinds of setons, like cutting setons, but that a different thing. The drainage seton does not cure the fistula, just keeps it from clogging into an abscess.

-Joe

 

[dreamintwilight]

Yeah, depending on where it is they might not even have to do surgery on you. Most doctors don't want to do surgery anyway unless they have to. Mine was in my lower right quadrant. I was on Zosyn as well for several days and then they used a needle to basically suck out the nasty stuff. They give you a type of sedation that allows you to forget what's going on, but you're still awake enough to respond to them if needed. I remember some things going on while they extracted the "goo." Haha. I remember thinking it hurt while the doc pushed down on my tummy to squeeze the stuff out, but nothing too bad. I also remember asking him if I could see what the stuff looked like (don't remember what it did look like now though haha). They stuck a JP drain in my stomach for a week to make sure any extra fluid drained out and the abscess healed up with all the antibiotics they had me on. I went home with 2 weeks worth of oral antibiotics as well. Hope they get things figured out soon for you

 

[kenny]

mine was also in the abdominal wall and like Marisa's case they used a big needle to drain it off. But since it was being "fed" by a fistula from my small bowel they put a Percutaneous drain into it and a bag. The drain was a small line a bit less in diameter than a pencil and it really did not hurt much or anything. I took antibiotics for 3 months and had to stay on a very soft/liquid diet the whole time. (flagyl, Levaquin) After a few months of that they went in, cut out the damaged bowel and cut away some of the scar tissue from the abscess on my abdominal wall.

I have been doing better and better ever since then and feel 100% right now.

Tricky thing was that with that much infection they did not want to use Prednizone to reduce the inflamed section of intestine so I had to tough out the initial flare of Crohn's without it.