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Fistula??!!??

J

JillianB82

Guest
Ok, I am only 3 weeks into this whole "Crohns" thing.....I've seen in several posts the mention of "fistula." I did a search on yahoo, but it gave me so many different sites with so many different definitions. So what better place to ask, than here. So what the heck are they?

Reason I'm asking......here comes the "graphic" part.....2 days ago I noticed an lump that hurts like hell right outside of my vahjayjay, I just assumed it was kind of like an ingrown hair & have been putting creme on it. Could it be a fistula? :eek:
 
Don't know for sure Jullian. I can only give you the benefit of my experience.

Fistulas usually form an abscess on the skin around your buttocks. I had one on my scrotum as well as around the buttocks. So it could be a fistula.

You'll know very soon, as it will start to get very painful.

Fistulas, are actually like tunnels formed, from the bowel to the skin.
The abscess is filled with puss (i know, gross, but it happens most of us here), and eventually bursts and continues to weep.
Mine used to leak gas from the bowel to the outside, a very strange experience.

Lots of us on here have experience of fistulas and abscesses. the treatments vary, from antibiotics to heal the abscesses, to surgery to drain the fistulas.

If your in any doubt, go to your doctor, because the sooner you get antibiotics for the abscess the less damage it will cause.
 
Ohh, I forgot to add. Try the search option on this forum.
There have been lots of threads on the subject of fistulas.
 
JillianB82
It sounds similar to what happened to me, it was an abscess and now its a fistula. Ended up needing surgery for it. You should really have it checked out.
 
A fistula is any abnormal connection between parts of the body. In Crohn's it's caused by inflammation that causes ulcers that get deeper and deeper until they run into something. That something can be pretty much anything, from another part of the intestines to your skin or even (rarely) your lungs. Fistulas often take very winding awkward paths through your body. I knew a guy who had a fistula run all the way down his leg before they found it. If I remember correctly he said it popped out next to his big toe.
 
As Colt said, it is an abnormal connection between two parts of the anatomy that should not be connected. In Crohn's it is usually caused when the inflamation "burns" a hole to another part of the intestine or other organ etc...

Dan

I'm no doctor, but feel free to send me a pic and I will let you know what I think it might be....




just kidding on that last one...
 
Hey! I know exactly what you're talking about...I've had it. I had NO idea what it was at the time, and that was at least 5 years ago...before I was diagnosed with CD. I went to the walk-in clinic for it, and the dr poked around at it, and didn’t know what it was…and when I got home it burst…it was SO gross.

I’ve had one other episode with it a few years ago, but after sitting in my kitchen sink with hot water and Epsom salts for an hour every day for a week, it went away, and never burst.

Ever since the first incident with it, when I pass gas, sometimes it comes out my va-jay-jay instead of my bum…or when I have really bad d, it will leak out as well (never A LOT…just a smidge).

I think the most important thing to note here is to keep that area as squeaky clean as you can…I have never had any pain from this, or any other complications other than those noted already. I recently told my GI about it…because I never thought there was a correlation until I came to this forum…my GI said that as long as it’s not bothering me, or causing me pain, to just leave it alone, that sometimes fixing the problem is only temporary, and the odds of it coming back are pretty high…so why go through all that trouble just to have to do it again in 6 months or a year?? Fair enough.

He wants to send me in for an MRI to see if they can see it, because he said they can be very hard to spot…sometimes as small as a pinhole. If it is a really big one, I imagine they would take steps to correct it.

If you want to chat more about it, you can either PM me, or reply…whichever you feel more comfortable with. One thing about this disease is it makes you lose your modesty pretty quickly. :)
 
J

JillianB82

Guest
Do you really wanna see it? Oh come on now! :ylol2:


DanM said:
As Colt said, it is an abnormal connection between two parts of the anatomy that should not be connected. In Crohn's it is usually caused when the inflamation "burns" a hole to another part of the intestine or other organ etc...

Dan

I'm no doctor, but feel free to send me a pic and I will let you know what I think it might be....




just kidding on that last one...
 
J

JillianB82

Guest
daisy_dueller said:
If you want to chat more about it, you can either PM me, or reply…whichever you feel more comfortable with. One thing about this disease is it makes you lose your modesty pretty quickly. :)
No kidding!!!!!

I have never talked to people so much in my life about the big D......rectal exams.......moviprep etc :ylol2:
 
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