Vaginal-Urethral fistula causing issues

[mish2575]

Man O Man, I have a fistula that goes from my vagina to right under my urethra. My urethra is generally hooded so the fistula openning is where the very sensitive skin is. It caused a red raw area that is very uncomfortable, in addition to making me feel similar symptoms of a UTI. I did a salt bath last night, washed with hibiclens then lathered on my home made diaper rash remedy (aquaphor and cornstarch). It really helped with the raw skin.

I am also feeling very run down an sick today. I had very bad poops yesterday (a mini flare) and even had the pass out pain while pooping yesterday - but i was able to keep from passing out or laying on the (public) bathroom floor. :eek2:

I have a GI appt on Tuesday, so I'm going to try to wait it out. Any additional advice would be great, but I'm pretty sure there is nothing else i can do.

I feel very very drained but I've kept my breakfast down/in and am on my second bottle of water. I also took my vitamin this morning. I did have a very small amount of blood in my stool yesterday but i'm pretty sure it was just from a hemroid. AND my last Humira dose was on Friday so I should not have this fistula open and such a flare (i've been eating well lately).

 

[Grumbletum]

Oh Mish, that sounds awful :-( I had a small bowel to bladder fistula and I know how wearing and distressing the symptoms can be. The time waiting for appointments can seem so loooooong.
Drinking plenty of water should help and cranberry juice and lemon barley water are good for reducing the acidity of you urine. I also became very addicted to my hot water bottle to soothe the pains in my back, stomach and groin area from the constant UTIs.
Sorry I can't offer more help. I hope they can get this sorted for you.

 

[mish2575]

My skin seems much better today with the ointment. It was a miracle ointment for my babys' diaper rashes - suggested by a pedi nurse and it seems to have worked to heal my skin, very quickly.

I'll pull out my sitz bath tonight, so i dont have to fill up the tub and will do at least one more sit and spread therapy.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi mish2575, sorry you're going through this. That sounds like a long time to wait for an appointment when you've already started passing out and passing blood. Did you call your GI and let them know about that? It's possible that they may want some testing done sooner before your appointment or may want you to go to the hospital depending on how serious they feel it is (or if it continues, especially more blood and/or passing out again, then it would be a good idea to go anyway).

I hope your GI will have answers for you when you're able to talk to them. I've never dealt with a fistula myself so hopefully more people will come in and share their thoughts. Keep us posted on how you're doing and how the appointment goes. I don't know if this link will help but it does talk about treatment options for certain types of fistulas: http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/relatedconditions/a/fistula.htm