Need Advice - What sysptoms for those who have had an abscess?

[metahi]

Hi All

I was diagnosed in 1993 with Crohn's of the terminal ileum...I am 34 and up until recently flares have consisted with pain and vomiting for 24-48 hours and then feeling "fine" - my doctors have always thought it was atypical of a Crohn's flare, but hey we are all different right!?

LLS - in the beginning of October I started having pain and chills no fever and over all feeling like crap, CRP became elevated, anemia diagnosed etc...same length - 1-2 days feeling crappy but no vomiting, no distended belly, just intermittant pain and the chills but again no fever. In the middle of October my GI put me on Entocort. Pain in belly went away, but I started getting burning pain, atypical to the usual, above my belly button which would produce some belly tenderness and one of those days I had a very low fever, 101 with an ear thermometer. I called GI - he ordered CT with Contrast which came back confirming active inflammation with thickening of bowel and there was an iffy spot that could be an abscess....b/c of one very low fever day my GI wants to put me on Cipro/Flagyll.

Symptoms now - Feel great (knock on wood) - formed BM's, no chills, no fever

Questions:

For those who have had abscesses - are my symptoms similar?
Was your fever constant?
Was pain constant?

I have a call into my GI, no return call as of yet but I have an issue pumping serious antibiotics into my system when I feel very good.

thoughts? sorry for long post!

 

[Rhonda]

Keith's abscesses and fistulas are peri-rectal. His experiences have been increasing pain when standing or walking, fever and exhaustion. They become necessary to open up within 4 days of first noticing it. I'm sure we're all different, I just wanted to share one experience with you.

 

[Crohn's 35]

Yes it is common with crohns to have an abcess. They couldnt control mine outside the hospital so I ended up with surgery. One thing you dont want is for it to get worse of leak. Hope you stay on track with feeling ok at the moment.

 

[kskitt]

For 2 of my abcesses i had a red patch above my hip and it was warm to the touch, and got quite a bit of pain when i moved, but for the 3rd one i had no idea i had it

 

[Cookie]

I have had abcesses, but have never gotten a fever with mine. I live on Cipro and Flagyl, though. If I am not taking flagyl, my abcesses become sore and infected. Never to the point of fever though, but mine are external, so I can actually feel and see them, so I know when it is time to take the meds.

You need to be very, very careful when you have abcesses. An untreated infection can lead to serious problems including sepsis. If you decide not to take antibiotics, I would suggest that you go to the ER if you develop a fever over 101 and let them know you have an abcess. They will probably give you Flagyl and Cipro through an IV. I am not a doctor and this is just my opinion, but if you continue to notice discomfort in that area, you should really consider taking the antibiotics, especially since you know you are prone to abcesses. They are not something to mess with.

 

[shazamataz]

Hi there,

I have only had this once and so am no expert but I had chills, fever, bad night sweats with my abscesses.

I also had very active inflammation, constipation, ongoing pain in lower back and felt really ill. Mine was in the ileum area as well. It's hard to know what to do if you don;t want to take the antibiotics. i don't blame you but perhaps you are lucky in that you don't feel that ill whne you are infected?

 

[Jennjenn]

I know we all have different experiences with having an abcess. Mine happened shortly after my third surgery. I went for a follow up a week after my third surgery and complained about a stabbing pain in the area. I said it just did not seem normal. My biggest mistake was saying that it was tolerable. The surgeon told me I was just healing, and I should be ok. That my body just underwent three surgeries in five weeks and it will take time to heal. I went on for the next 3 weeks and was ok and pain did go away to an extent but not all of it did.
One day I woke up and got dressed went to the store and completed a few errands I had to do. When I got home my temperature started to go up. I started feeling really sick and started to feel pain in my lower right abdominal area. Within an hour my temperature went to 104.6 and I was screaming in pain. I was screaming, crying and felt like I was dying. I couldnt walk or move because any movement I made caused more excruciating pain. The ambulance was called but they said they would not take me to the hospital I needed just the nearest one which most people stay away from in that town. I was then carried to the car and was driven to the hospital I usually go to. I was immediatly given dilaudid and couldnt even keep the contrast down for the cat scan. I threw up everything. They did the cat scan and it was a large abcess. The doctors told me that they could do another surgery, I refused. I still couldnt walk or move and was stabilized there but still couldnt walk or move and the fever was staying at 102 after 4 days. The meds that I was on seemed to stabilize me to that point so I kept on refusing surgery. They transfered me to Mount Sanai where I had my surgeries and I still refused surgeries. They did another cat scan and they said the abcess shrunk a little. I still got mentioned the option of surgery and still refused. I was there for almost 3 weeks but it did close on its own with the medicine they were giving me. And I have not had another one since and it has been 3 years. Sorry that it this was kind of long, but it was just a nightmare when I had that abcess. I am glad that I did refuse surgery.

 

[mike_gmservices]

abcess

i had both a rectal fistula and also a abcess where i had my appendix removed you will feel a lump like if you had a herneia and if you had one rectal well you would know surgery removed both of mine