Chrohn's fissures advice please!

[Heathcroft]

Hi, I'm a new member and would appreciate some advice. I've had Chrohn's (without knowing it) for some years following 3 bouts of childhood surgery leaving me with very little small bowel and strictures, and it was only after repeated attacks of bowel obstruction necessitating hospital stays that some doctor eventually cottoned on that there may be more to it, last year.

I can live with the Crohn's but its a symptom or side effect of Crohns that I find difficult to live with- it's lateral small multiple anal fissures / or cuts just inside the anal margin. I've had them for years and my GP has prescribed various steroid and anaesthetic creams and so on and now nothing works.

The GI guy I see doesn't think its worth bothering about but then he doesn't have to walk about with powdered glass up his backside. I saw a skin guy who shrugged and said "Well that's Crohn's for you have you tried Anusol? that'll be £180 please" (Do you know I never thought of that...) Has anyone had this symptom and if so did they get help and if so what?

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone who has had this and discovered a successful treatment. Please leave a post, mail or message - thanks!

 

[Dekar]

i had them, and have them now but in a lesser extent. BEST way to take care of them is to exercise and eat easily digestible foods and go to the bathroom normally. the stool keeps putting pressure on those fissures and if you make ur stool softer it'll relieve the pain and let the body heal it. takes a long time of lifestyle change to even make a dent in trying to heal it though. i wish you luck.

 

[Heathcroft]

Thank you Dekar for that. I have to say that I do all those things anyway and thanks to teh drugs and diet regime ( exactly as you suggest) and have a near normal B.M. but I appreciate your concern.

I am told that Crohn's fissures are lateral and usually smaller, but there are more of them than the single posterior ones (tears) caused by constipation. As it's a common Crohn's symptom I was sure that there would be people using this forum who had found some relief so I'm not losing hope yet!

 

[Jeff D.]

I had about seven of those and the only thing that really helped me was taking a soak in epson salt one day and the next taking a soak in aveeno. Just make the water a comfortable temperature and you are set.

Good luck

 

[Maggie-Muffin]

hello,I know how much discomfort a fiisure is.not fun at all.Yes espon salts does help somewhat,I find sitting on a heating pad helps alot too.I've tried different creams and also used antibotics to try and get rid of one,they didn't work for me,but everyone different,Diaper rash cream works better than ansual doesn't sting like that does.Hope this helps you some
~~~HUGS~~
PS any more I can help you with let me know okay

 

[Heathcroft]

Hi Maggie Muffin, Thanks a lot for your concern. I will try a heating pad as well as what I'm doing!

Incidentally I have started taking Primal Defense probiotics (to start with I am being careful and taking one every other day)

Its' supposd to change your internal chemistry - improve the good bugs inside and knock out the bad ones - plus increase the immune system that's been repressed with the azathioprine and that may help - I will report back!

 

[Cog]

My ultimate solution was remicade - Mine was on and off for years - antibiotics helped suppress only

 

[Jeff D.]

Yeah Heathcroft I would not recomend what I accidentally did. I was taking one primal defense a day and then I was going to go to two but instead I took three and WOW. I was on the crapper the whole next day.

 

[Shoeless]

Had them before surgury, I had fissures and poleps they said looked like shag carpeting. I've been on 6MP and it seems to work pretty good so far

 

[lizziecee]

Hi Heathcroft - I have had Crohn's since 1970 and have fissures and a fistular at the end of the anus, as well as psoriasis there - very nasty area. When I had to do the prep for colonoscopies, my gastro advised me to use Zinc and Castor oil cream - it is an over the counter medicine at any chemist and quite cheap. It coats the skin rather thickly and does make it easier to pass a motion without pain. Don't know if you have tried this, but it does work for me.
Take care.
Liz.

 

[pb4]

It still sounds to me like you have fissures, that's what my fissures were like when I had them, they weren't the larger/deeper cracks, I had many small ones like you're describing...here's what got rid of them for me...

sitz baths with alot of epsome salts and then dry off area completely and gently rub some extra virgine olive oil on the area using your bare finger(s) don't use a cotton ball or anything like that...you'll see once you try it how quickly it'll heal the area.

 

[Heathcroft]

Thanks a lot Lizziecee and PB4.

Lizzie - I did try zinc and castor oil and it did relieve the symptoms for a while then stoped working so I'm now using a combination of Epson Salts baths and Bepanthen which is basically baby nappy cream and has no active ingredients. Just lanolin, vitamin B5 and petroleum really.

Ill give that a week or two PB4 and then if its not working try the extra virgin olive oil after the epson baths as you suggested.

Thank you again and I'll keep you posted.

(Take care yourselves!)

 

[jjs16]

Fissure help

I have two fissures.

Long ago I had surgery to help heal them from the inside out. I think it's called "lay open" surgery. They carved a cone shape from the outside wall into the inside. The theory is to have it heal from the open inside - out.

It seemed to work, I was off work for about two weeks and very uncomfortable though. This I was told may or may not come back. Well it came back, thankfully quite a few years later.

About eight months ago I had "Setons" installed in the fissures. These are like thin rubber bands which are placed inside the fissure itself and stitched to stay in place. They have worked marvelously and I only had to miss one day of work with little or no pain after the fact.

Just to let you know I used to do the epson salt thing as well and it only gave me brief relief.

j :canada_flag: :hockey:

 

[Malcav]

Not much help but i know how you feel. I had a fistula leading from just inside my anus out through a butt cheek. they had to slice it open mess about with it then sow it shut again. but while it was developing it was the most painful thing in the world.
Hope it all goes well/gets better/stops hurting/etc.

 

[Heathcroft]

Fissures

Thanks a lot Malcav. I hope it is sorted out for you now. I know fistulas can be horrible things.

As you'll know fissures are different and normally they occur at the top or bottom (excuse the pun) i.e. 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock if you see what I mean.

Mine are Crohn's typical- small multiple 'micro' fissures either side. They are too small to be individually tackled by surgery, but so many that they cause real discomfort especially when walking. (I use the term 'discomfort' here but it doesn't do the pain justice!)

Anyway some kind person in the USA sent me some Desitin, which we can't get here. Its for babies and is OTC. Its mainly zinc oxide and dimethicone. The dimethicone acts as a sealant and the zinc oxide a protectant. the ratio seems to work better thn anything I can get here in the UK and its steroid free!

But is has fragrance which is always bad news, and other ingredients they always put in these creams (to stop them going off I suppose) and its not ideal but it does help. So anyone else reading this thread why not try it?

But I am still open to ideas!

 

[jmcgonigal]

I have had CD for almost 20 years, and according to my mom, was constipated at 6 wks old. I've had trouble with fissures for a very long time. I never get used to seeing blood in the toilet. I know how you feel...that "razor blade " pain is something I never get used to. If I have a bleed, I usually have a sitz bath in extremely hot water (as hot as I can stand it) which will keep "the area" clean. My doctor has given me a scrip for Proctofoam which is kind of like hair mousse that you squirt up there. It is also a corticosteroid which is the down side, but I'm not on Pred. so I figure it's okay. It usually works after a couple of days, but in the meantime, my butt feels like hamburger meat. I've never tried Anusol, but have also used witch hazel and petroleum jelly with some success.

Hope that helps

jmcg

 

[s.a.m.]

I've been dealing with fissures for months now, tried cipro/flagy/zinc cream/proctodan all with no success. I have a doctors appt tmr, where do I go from here?

 

[TammySue62]

The sitz bath with epsom salts works the best for me.
Try to get the water as hot as possible and soak a good 15-20 mins.
i have a little pan that fits right ontop of the toilet seat that I got
from one of my hospital visits.Works great.
Not sure where you can buy them from tho. I have not seen them
in any drugstores or shopping stores.

 

[jamie2462]

HI,

FISSURES and fistulas here. :S I had surgery to cut a drain for a larger internal drain that was infected during my last flare up...the smaller two have been still draining (internal as well) but my remicade treatments seems to be helping clear these up...along with antibiotics....I am seeing my surgeon and my specialist on Mar 18th so hopefully things are progressing well.

I can't say enough about sits baths though. (I just use warm water but I set the sits bath and the warm water to just run through the bath...it doesnt take long but keeps nice warm water cleaning the sore and painful areas. Feels goooooood.)

Best of luck. ALSO>...I LOVE MY DONUT PILLOW....DO i look like an idiot?? Probably but I go no where without it...keeping as little pressure on those painful suckers as possible and allowing them to heal more.

 

[jamie2462]

The sitz bath with epsom salts works the best for me.
Try to get the water as hot as possible and soak a good 15-20 mins.
i have a little pan that fits right ontop of the toilet seat that I got
from one of my hospital visits.Works great.
Not sure where you can buy them from tho. I have not seen them
in any drugstores or shopping stores.

I dont know about where you are at but in our pharmacies the sits baths can be found at pharmacies that sell the special health products (with the adult diapers, donut pillows, walkers, etc.) -- Call ahead and ask the pharmacy if they carry these types of products.

When you buy a sits bath or at least when I bought mine it comes with a bag you can hook up to it to keep the water flowing instead of having just the bath piping hot and sitting for a while. (I know at our hospital they never used the bags with the baths, but BABY it works and it is TO DIE FOR...because that way you just open the clamp to let more hot water in...love it!!!!)

Strongly recommend anyone with anal/perianal fissures/fistulas to buy one. Magical.