recurring abses

Hi Remicade is a biologic and yes it helped me with a small fistula it healed, and remained healed ,but it was in the abdominal area. It did not heal the large one from large to small bowel.

Hope you get some relief soon and are you doing any sitz baths to help your sore spots? We had another person on not long ago had one and she was in misery for awhile but have not heard how she made out with it.Apparently the antibiotics helped some. Are you running a temp.?lol gail

Hi your right hoping is good but results are better. lol gail

Sorry to hear of your suffering. I can definitely identify with this pain. I was in hospital at the start of November with a peri-anal abscess which was apparently ‘self draining’ but refused to pop after a month of agony. I was put only antibiotics for a week (flagyl and another, both through IV) and was on these for a week before it miraculously popped, exposing a fistula. Depressing stuff, I know. It is so debilitating when you can’t move properly due to the pain and the pressure, and even more depressing when the antibiotics don’t work.

I didn’t have a seton inserted and have been on antibiotics ever since, to try and keep inflammation down. I know this is not a long term solution and to be honest I am scared as anything of coming off these antibiotics. The flagyl made me SO SO sick, I was on it a couple of days before going into the hospital and it had me bed-ridden and nauseas. In the hospital, it made my blood pressure drop so low I was on the verge of passing out every time I stood up. I have started on the flagyl again today and hope that it is not so severe on me this time. I have heard flagyl is good for healing fistulas, so desperation has led me to try the killer-med again. I know it does not have a negative effect on everyone, but it made me so sick during and prior to hospital!
My GI is pretty hopeless with the abscess, and has not even taken a look at it, let alone referred me to a surgeon. I hope you have a better doctor take care of you, and that you have some relief soon, via a seton or drugs that work. I am with you and feel your pain, I am similarly miserable and scared, especially since I am job hunting for a new job at the moment too.

P

Hi Wendy,

A seton is a thin flexible plastic rod that goes through the fistula in the rectum and out the fistula opening in the skin. The doctor ties the ends together. Kind of like a loose twist-tie that you use to close trash bags. What the seton does is keep the fistula from closing. Unfortunately, peri-rectal fistulas typicaly don't close cleanly -- meaning fecal stuff gets trapped in the fistula as it gets smaller and you get another abscess. Not fun at all, as we know too well.

Setons can be in long-term -- like mine. I'm not a good candidate for surgery because my two fistulas starts too high in the rectum. I would be incontinent if they did the normal surgical procedure (cutting open the fistula and letting it heal), and the advancement flap technique is only 60-70% sucessful in CD. So I will live with my two setons rather than risk surgery. In fact, I am rather fond of them now because they keep me from abscessing in those spots.

As to living with them, I wrap a piece of guaze around the seton ends to pad them and prevent rubbing. Within two weeks of getting the setons, the whole area was much, much better. What was happening before was infection was getting trapped and I had massive cellulitis. Constant infections left me feeling like one big ball of pus. The setons let the ***** stuff drain and antibiotics took care of the rest. I am now off antibiotics and the whole areas has really calmed down. I really can do just about anything. My family just visited relatives for Christmas and I just sat in the car for two days straight with no discomfort at all -- before I literally couldn't sit for more than 15 minutes (if that long!) and felt like crap. I do love my seton friends!! Several others on this forum have setons too. There have been several posts in the past where we have talked about living with setons. If you get a seton, check out those posts.

Take care.