Serious pain when wiping

[Blondie]

Hello Everyone!

Here's a question for you...
i started noticing some serious pain when wiping after a trip to the bathroom, and i didnt really think anything of it cause the pain would only be if/when i wiped. Over the last few days i now notice that the pain is pretty much constant, and that walking and sitting aren't the most comfortable things to do!! I have a call into my GI, who has called in a prescription and referred me to another doctor to have it looked at (and of course i cant get into see him until the 14th).

The pain is actually beyond the anus and is a very hard lump that is extremely painful upon touch. I'm thinking abscess, based on a lot of the threads that i have read - ugh!! But there is never a dull moment with Crohn's, is there?!?!

I'm wondering if this sounds familiar to anyone out there?

Thanks in advance!! Jenn

 

[beth]

Does sound like an abscess, but could be a hemorrhoid. Guess you'll find out soon enough :eek2:

Thinking some more; my abscess have been near the surface and were pretty obviously so.

 

[crohnsappleadams]

Abscess, hemorrhoids, or you tore the lining of your butt by wiping too hard.

 

[kello82]

The pain is actually beyond the anus and is a very hard lump that is extremely painful upon touch. I'm thinking abscess

hi jenn & welcome!
yeah, in my opinion, youve got it right. it sounds like an abcess to me.

related to that, it sounds like it could be a fistula getting ready to open up. i remember that feeling, they start off as a small swollen lump, then slowly get bigger and bigger and more sore, and then finally the fistula will "break through" the skin and the pus infecty stuff will drain out. it usually feels much better after this happens as the pressure is relieved.
they can also drain it for you at your doctors office, or may do a small outpatient procedure with you sedated for it. BUT the fistula has to be "ready" for lack of better term. it has to be close enough to the surface for them to be able to drain it for you.

heres a question- if you feel the bump, you said its very hard to the touch. is there a small area in the center of it that is soft? it feels almost like very thin skin in the middle?
thats what my fistulas always felt like before they came through.

hope this helps, good luck!

 

[danman]

Somtimes though Kello, they can be further down from the surface at the start, so the soft part doesn't show for a month or so.

What I always noticed, is that the lump will be hotter than the skin beside it.

It does sound like an abscess, but I can't believe your own doctor couldn't tell you this.

 

[kello82]

Somtimes though Kello, they can be further down from the surface at the start, so the soft part doesn't show for a month or so.

oh yeah youre very right dan.
didnt mean to sound like that was the only criteria for it being a fistula sorry!
clarification:
if the soft spot is there, than it may be an indicator. but if its NOT there, then it doesnt necessarily mean that its NOT a fistula.

 

[My Butt Hurts]

My fistula started out as an abcess. The doc poked a hole in it and let it drain while I was on ciprofloxacin and metronidizole (sp) two antibiotics, it was fine for about a year maybe, but then it was filling faster than it was draining so I had to have it surgically removed.
It could be a hemmi though - I guess only your doc can tell you.
When is your appt? Good luck at it!

*Hey everyone, do all abcesses turn into fistulas? I mean - it seems like they would, but other people who get them in their mouth under a tooth or whatever.. maybe it depends on where it starts? I guess I'm confused.

 

[danman]

Ha, ha... Kello. :lol2:

If it feels like a grape is stuck under your skin, (even though it may feel like a golf ball ), chances are it's an abscess.

From talking to various people, piles are smaller, and they tend to stick out of the skin rather than under the skin.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the fistula Blondie

 

[danman]

MBH,
I think it's the other way around.

A fistula turns into an abscess, on our behinds at least.

The fistula tunnels it's way to the outside skin, then an infection occurs, forming an abscess.
An abscess is an infection, so an abscess on the gum isn't caused by a fistula, simply an infection of the gum.

 

[My Butt Hurts]

Okay so then my edited question would be do all abcesses come from fistulas? Which they don't obviously - but how can you know if the abcess on your butt is going to break through or whatever? Butt abcesses = fistulas? Maybe it depends on the location of the abcess to know what it is caused by?
Hmm.. still confused.

 

[danman]

I know that my abscesses were caused by fistulas. And yours too probably.

An abscess is the result of an infection of some sort, so it is possible to have a butt abscess that is caused by, say, a cut or something similar.

I used to get abscesses on my fingers, but they were caused by ingrown fingernails....!!!!!

But fistulas don't form out of abscesses.
Abscesses are generally the end product of a fistula that begins in the bowel/anus.

We get fistulas because of our Crohn's. they may stay internal, but generally they burrow towards the skin. Once they reach the skin, the skin gets infected and the body reacts by sending it army of white blood cells to the infection (Pus).
This collection of Pus is what we see as an abscess.

Abscesses are simply large pockets of white blood cells trying to kill the bacterial infection. Hence, the antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria, and the need for the white blood cells.

The problem for perianal fistula abscesses, is that there is a constant supply of new bacteria coming through the fistula from the bowel. so the white blood cells cannot finish their job.
Sorry if I can't explain this very well.

 

[terps02]

Which came first - the chicken or the egg? Now i'm confused. I thought the abscess led to a fistula. But danman's comments also make sense.

All I know is the fistula's are bad news for chronies. I'm starting Remicade in two weeks because of them.

Blondie - you probably need some Cipro and Flygl to help with the infection.

 

[crohnsappleadams]

Which came first - the chicken or the egg? Now i'm confused. I thought the abscess led to a fistula. But danman's comments also make sense.

All I know is the fistula's are bad news for chronies. I'm starting Remicade in two weeks because of them.

Blondie - you probably need some Cipro and Flygl to help with the infection.

Remicade + Immuran/6MP = GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLL

 

[beth]

The ulcer probably came first!

 

[kello82]

hmm ok. ill offer my thoughts and experiences here, but i really dont know.
and honestly, i think NO ONE knows. just like much about crohns, its still a mystery.

so. my first fistula was very superficial, close to the skin on my bum cheek. it was surgically opened up and then it healed nicely.
then, years later, i started spiking high fevers. scans and what not found a large abcess wrapped around my colon, they referred to it as a horseshoe abcess. the way i uderstood it was that the abcess forms as a result of severe inflammation in a specific spot for such a long time, that severe tissue damage occurs and an infection brews. especially considering all the germs that are in that area. however, my abcess wasnt IN my digestive tract, it was in the "wall" of my colon. whatever that means....but i guess theres bacteria there too.
ok so, i was treated with iv antibiotics for a long long time and it mostly got rid of it, but then i strictured and the abcess issue kinda went on the back burner.
a year or so later, a fistula formed and popped through my butt cheek, draining a LOT. scans showed the abcess was still in my colon, and the fistula formed from it, as far as i understood.
what i heard/made of things is that when your body has a pocket of infection inside it, it wants to relase the pus. so, a fistula begins and burrows and worms its way through your tissues until it reaches the outside and the pus can be eliminated. its your body's way of getting rid of those toxins.
soon another fistula formed on the other side one hole in each butt check nuxt to my anus, since the abcess was a horseshoe, one tract came down from each side of the C shape.
after butt surgerys and drainings, i was stuck with a penrose drain in each hole which stayed in for months (falling out frequently, but always got them sewn back in), and finally seemed to drain that sucker. i still have the two open tracts, but no more pus draining really.

oh and i had a rectovaginal fistula for a time in there too, i assume was a product of the same abcess.

so? hmmm.
chicken or the egg? i have no idea. my experience indicates that the abcess forms first but really, theres reasons for it to be either way