I get one of those every so often. Usually what happens is, my gut is kicking off, I wash particularly thoroughly thus clearing away all the different types of harmless skin bacteria that live around the anus, and wham, suddenly I have a red (I assume !
) inflamed tender spot that grows until it feels like I am a princess sitting on a pea. (
That's putting it politely of course, we wouldn't want to be explicit on this forum here now would we folks !
)
Usually what I do is give it a good wash with something antibacterial, to get rid of any S.Aureus or other pathogenic bacteria that have moved in to colonise the empty area, then wash and rinse with just plain water as often as I can. If the swelling doesn't disappear (which it usually does, in a few days to a couple of weeks) then it will get worse, until eventually it is ready to be burst like a zit, exuding white pus then yellow fluid and finally, a tiny amount of blood. After that happens, I repeat both steps, and it goes away. ( Hot compresses work well.)
There is one place it has kept on popping up...usually not that bad, it's just a slightly firmer spot that feels odd, sometimes a bit tender...I often wonder if it is not a harbinger of an abcess/fistula should things ever get really bad.
I can't comment on how well the antibiotics will work, personally I steer well clear of them, on the basis that anything that wipes out any of my gut flora is likely to just make things easier for the aggressive nasties to fill in the gaps; in the absence of any medications, diet and probiotics are what I use to keep my stomach from flaring too bad, and it seems to work.
As you describe it so far Linn, this is far from being a serious issue at present. You have to keep an eye on it, but (dare I say it, I cannot resist the pun
) don't worry, typical Crohn's, it's just a pain in the *rse !
