- Joined
- Mar 6, 2012
- Messages
- 8
Help! Perianal Crohns?
Hi everyone! I am new here though I've been reading through the threads for over a year now. I appreciate the information I've gained greatly from this site and I'm hoping some of you can help me now.
Here's a little history: I'm 35yo female and ive been having issues with this for a year and a half now. The first issue I had was severe constipation, to the point I went to the ER completely impacted from top to bottom. Unfortunately they sent me home since I had no medical insurance at the time. A few months later I noticed a lump under my skin on my right bottom cheek towards the top but not right on the tailbone. Again, because I had no insurance at the time, Dr.s treated me with antibiotics, Cipro and later Flagyl was added. I was on them for a total of 5 months, cupro 1000mg a day and Flagyl 1500mg a day. The antibiotics would make the abscess go down but shortly after I stopped the meds they would come back.
So, fast forward to August of 2011. I finally had some insurance and could be seen properly and I chose to see a Gastroenterologist! I went through a battery of tests including a colonoscopy with which the gastro came to see me when i woke and told my husband and i that i defintely had an IBD but when i went for my follow up in his office he said i didnt and that all he saw was a severely looping colon which made the test difficult. He wanted to put me on remicade to help with the abscesses and fistulas but i wasnt too sure about doing that without knowing for sure a diagnosis. I also had a contrast cat scan but again that showed nothing as did all other tests i had done. Nothing ever showed a problem.
So, I ended up in front of a Colo Rectal Surgeon who said I did in fact have multiple abscesses and 2 fistulas as well and needed surgery. I had a fistulotomy in Sept of 2011 and it seemed to do the trick until February 2012 when out of nowhere another abscess popped up, and a huge and nasty one at that. I ended up having to have it incised and drained in the surgeons office under local anestsia. It hurt like nothing I've ever felt! I went home and later that night i had a second absccess pop up out of nowhere so i called the dr.s office and went in to have it looked at the next day. I asked the dr. At that time why this was coming back and he couldn't answer but said he thought I might have perianal crohns. He said basically crohns located only in the anal area which I didn't know could even happen. He put me on more Flagyl and Cipro to help with this one as I could not deal with a second I&D within 24 hours and said I will probably need another fistulotomy and he would need to do a biopsy to see if it's perianal crohns as well.
Yesterday I had an upper GI with small bowel follow through and I got the radiologist report today which says that the terminal ileum appears isolated from the rest of the small bowel and that this can be a normal finding however it could be fibrofatty proliferation (creeping fat) he goes on to say that he does not see findings to suggest underlying Crohns disease but if there is clinical concern CT could be considered. My current Gastro doesn't seem concerned about this in the least and said not to worry about it but she also told me last week that in 30 years of practice shes never seen a case like mine and doesn't know where to go from here so I'm not very trusting in her anymore to be honest.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has just perianal crohns where no other evidence of crohns is present except in the anal area? I do have alot of stomach issues after eating and I have constant constipation and loads of abdominal pain. My biggest issue though is the recurrent abscesses and fistulas.
I hope I've included everything, any insight is greatly appreciated!!
Hi everyone! I am new here though I've been reading through the threads for over a year now. I appreciate the information I've gained greatly from this site and I'm hoping some of you can help me now.
Here's a little history: I'm 35yo female and ive been having issues with this for a year and a half now. The first issue I had was severe constipation, to the point I went to the ER completely impacted from top to bottom. Unfortunately they sent me home since I had no medical insurance at the time. A few months later I noticed a lump under my skin on my right bottom cheek towards the top but not right on the tailbone. Again, because I had no insurance at the time, Dr.s treated me with antibiotics, Cipro and later Flagyl was added. I was on them for a total of 5 months, cupro 1000mg a day and Flagyl 1500mg a day. The antibiotics would make the abscess go down but shortly after I stopped the meds they would come back.
So, fast forward to August of 2011. I finally had some insurance and could be seen properly and I chose to see a Gastroenterologist! I went through a battery of tests including a colonoscopy with which the gastro came to see me when i woke and told my husband and i that i defintely had an IBD but when i went for my follow up in his office he said i didnt and that all he saw was a severely looping colon which made the test difficult. He wanted to put me on remicade to help with the abscesses and fistulas but i wasnt too sure about doing that without knowing for sure a diagnosis. I also had a contrast cat scan but again that showed nothing as did all other tests i had done. Nothing ever showed a problem.
So, I ended up in front of a Colo Rectal Surgeon who said I did in fact have multiple abscesses and 2 fistulas as well and needed surgery. I had a fistulotomy in Sept of 2011 and it seemed to do the trick until February 2012 when out of nowhere another abscess popped up, and a huge and nasty one at that. I ended up having to have it incised and drained in the surgeons office under local anestsia. It hurt like nothing I've ever felt! I went home and later that night i had a second absccess pop up out of nowhere so i called the dr.s office and went in to have it looked at the next day. I asked the dr. At that time why this was coming back and he couldn't answer but said he thought I might have perianal crohns. He said basically crohns located only in the anal area which I didn't know could even happen. He put me on more Flagyl and Cipro to help with this one as I could not deal with a second I&D within 24 hours and said I will probably need another fistulotomy and he would need to do a biopsy to see if it's perianal crohns as well.
Yesterday I had an upper GI with small bowel follow through and I got the radiologist report today which says that the terminal ileum appears isolated from the rest of the small bowel and that this can be a normal finding however it could be fibrofatty proliferation (creeping fat) he goes on to say that he does not see findings to suggest underlying Crohns disease but if there is clinical concern CT could be considered. My current Gastro doesn't seem concerned about this in the least and said not to worry about it but she also told me last week that in 30 years of practice shes never seen a case like mine and doesn't know where to go from here so I'm not very trusting in her anymore to be honest.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has just perianal crohns where no other evidence of crohns is present except in the anal area? I do have alot of stomach issues after eating and I have constant constipation and loads of abdominal pain. My biggest issue though is the recurrent abscesses and fistulas.
I hope I've included everything, any insight is greatly appreciated!!
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