Bathroom Difficulties - Anyone like me?

I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's and understand everyone is different. I want to see if anyone is like me and am curious what works for them or if anyone has any insight on things I could do to feel better.

I am going to be a little graphic so if that sort of thing bothers you...stop reading now.

I have been bleeding and having pain (sometimes major - feels like i'm being stabbed) when having a bowel movement for something like 5 years now. It started out once/month, then once/week, then when I finally asked the doctor about it (last august), it was probably 50% of the time or more. Not a major amount of blood...sometimes just spots on the toilet paper and sometimes several drops in the bowl - usually more pain resulted in more blood. I had a colonoscopy and MRI and have ulcers throughout my colon and inflammation in my terminal ileum. I was on Asacol for a month. I told the doctor it didn't make a difference. I was then switched to Apriso (been on it for almost 2 months now) and 6 MP (just started in early March). I never had any stomach pain so can't tell if anything is different in that aspect but going to the bathroom is worse now. Before I would go through periods where I had pain for awhile then no pain. Now I have pain with every bowel movement. I do not bleed anymore but I am pretty certain it is because I take a stool softener everyday. I took a stool softener daily before being on any meds and it stopped the bleeding. Once on Asacol I tried stopping the stool softener and started bleeding again so now I just keep taking them (against my doctor's advice - but I don't see the harm in taking them). I have 2 anal skin tags, I think that's what they are, and I'm pretty certain there is an open wound on the inside of one of them. Also there is a bump that swells and gets hard after bowel movements. Could that be an internal hemorrhoid? My GI gave me Canasa which made me feel like I was on fire. Then I tried proctofoam which helped with itching at night but not pain during BMs. I do take baths after BMs if I'm at home which helps a bit with swelling, but the pain always comes back. Any suggestions on meds? Or anything else that might help? Also, is there anything I can do to stop the growth of additional skin tags? They seem to be getting larger.

Thanks for reading!

I really don't have any advice, just a wish sent your way that things get better soon.

I am wondering if you have internal hemmoroids that are causing the bleeding. Could be the pain after the bm is caused by a fissure. I would push more with your doc about this. You shouldn't have to suffer so. Hugs!

I highly suggested some study of your rectum. Catch it now if you can. For many years I was on cortememas and rowasa enemas which seemed to help quite a bit--as did hot sitz baths with salt in them, so comforting and relieving. AFter the sitz bath, I'd use a hair dryer to get really dry and applied corn starch.

(My rectum wound up perforated and fistulas had eaten through it but this had been over 20 years of activity and the worst of it at the end--pun intended!)

Jenny,
I'm sorry you aren't feeling well.
If you have spots of blood when you go to the bathroom, the bleeding is coming right at the end of the rectum or colon. If you're actually stool has blood it is that means that somewhere farther up you're GI tract is bleeding.
I also have skin tags and they're unpleasant. They can especially painfully.
I once had a skin tag removed and my new GI said that's a big No-No. Needless to say I still have them.
If its really painful to go (fiery sensation), I would recommend this:
Draw a hot bath, doesn't have to be alot; just enough to sit in.
Go to the bathroom
And jump right into the tub.
It helped relieve the pain for me.

Hope this helps and all is well soon
Best wishes,
Kim

Thank you everyone for your responses. There are definitely some good ideas that I will try and I'll also ask about Calmoseptine too.

I am actually switching to a new GI in 2 weeks. When I brought up the issue with my old GI, she acted like I should be happy that I don't have worse symptoms and she showed no interest in examining me when I told her I thought I may have a fissure and that the pain is more consistent now than ever. Hearing your responses makes me realize that I shouldn't have to deal with this forever and that I'm not crazy for thinking my GI should have been more interested in finding out the cause and a treatment.

There was no mention of a fissure in the colonoscopy report, however that was back in December and things got worse after that. Is it possible for one to grow in 3 months?

Also, does anyone else take a stool softener daily? I find them very helpful with not making things worse. My old GI told me to stop taking them, but she didn't give me a reason why.

Thanks again for all the support!