need info about abscess and fistulas

My apologizes I had also meant to ask what are the typical symptoms of a fistula? How is it typically diagnosed? Thank you again for any help and advise you can give.

Ivy6, Thank you very much for the info.

With me during my first surgery (actually took 2 weeks of me returning to ER stating something was wrong) anyways don't want to relive that. Yes during the first surgery with the incision she made a gush of infection...the surgeon said she had never seen anything like that before....so naturally she thought she had puncture the abscess...NOT! Went back again to hosp she just did a freezing and tired to pop the abscess with a pointed instrument. No go. So at this point I'm sent home again and actually thought I was going to die. Scariest thing ever! I could no longer walk.....the pain now climbed all the way up and down my spine. My daughter...my angel took me to another hosp where I was told to wait in the waiting room. The waiting room must have had 50 people in it. I'm in a wheel chair cuz I can't walk and of course don't want to be sitting on my bum...so my daughter helped me lay on the floor. Guess what I was put in a room just like that. So they have me on morphine which I tell them doesn't work on me but you can't tell the nurses that. The one of the interns comes in to stick her finger up my bum and I screamed...I can handle pain but that was torture. So they decide to rush me to surgery. Have the same surgery again. Of course the weeks go by and not very much infection is coming out...and I can actually feel the bacteria eating its way through my insides down there. So after 3 months of complaining to my Dr and 2 surgeons I get surgery again...guess what I now have 2 fistulas. So he put in 2 seton cutting bands. Woke up after the surgery and my beautiful daughter asks me why I have a black eye. ???????????? What the???? So call the surgeon the next day and with a chuckle states oh that must have happened when we had to cram a breathing tube down your throat. Nice. So the stage I'm at now is the tightening process for these seton bands.....oh wait yah went in on a Thurs to have them tightened and he had found that the original knotting he had put in was gone......so I was more or less put back weeks in the cutting process. So with the nurse in the office he had to go inside the incision to retie and pull of the setons. Was send home with no pain meds...and was in sooo much pain for 2 1/2 days then I woke up to have a pee on the 3rd day and found that both the seton bands had fallen out. What the hell!!!! So started having an emotional breakdown cuz the surgeon said I would return in 6 weeks to have them tightened. So I have an appt with him next week GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR. My surgeon seems to think I'm healing up nicely and that the seton bands feel out because they had done their job. But with the pain I'm still experiencing he's sending me for another MRI. I have a feeling a fistula has made its way along my labia and I have swelling and the feeling of another abscess.


With my experience with fistulas they felt like a throbbing feeling and could actually feel the bacteria eating its way trying to find an exit. Also you can get a zit like mark that feels strange and will come and go from day to day.


June 2011 - My symptoms felt like I had 100 haemorrhoids, fever, major calf cramps at night.
July 7th 2011 - first surgery for perianal abscess with daily home care nurse to change packing....which never stayed in.
July 25th 2011 - Second surgery home care...no packing.
Sept 2011 - Colonoscopy ruled out crohns, colon cancer, polyps - since I have a family history
Home care nurse 3 times a week- mentioned to them that I thought I had a fistula
Nov 7th 2011 - MRI
Nov 30th 2011 - Surgery for 2 fistulas - seton banding (cutting)
Dec 2011 - Surgeon found bands not tied...retied.
Feb 16th 2012 - Surgeon founds bands untied...tightened and retied.
Feb 19th 2012 - Bands both fell out.
*At this point I’m not taking and meds
Feb 29th 2012 Surgeon sending me for another MRI (Mar 9th)
Given Nifedipine to put on incision and perianal area.

Post Edited (jobell) : 3/4/2012 5:48:09 AM (GMT-7)

I tend to have constipation instead of D with my crohns. I cannot believe that a dr. will not test just because you don't have typical crohns symtoms. I think that is really ignorant, and I would be finding another dr. But that is just my opinion. My first gi, was horrible, and by the time I could get into another gi, I was really really sick. So, please don't let this go too long before you find someone who will help you. Draining abscesses in the dr. office will not get rid of them. They need to be surgically drained in an operating room, cleaned out, and then left open to heal from the inside out. While your surgeon is in there, he should use an anoscope to look for any inside connections which would indicate a fistula. There is about a 50% chance that a fistula will form as a result of an abscess. I have had numerous abscesses and a few fistulas.

Dreaming is supposed to be *** dealing****. Sorry

Thank you for all the help. Just having a place where I can ask knowledgable people for advise is really nice. I am so happy I found this site.

You need to go somewhere else then, if you don't have the doctors around you that you need. Maybe once you figure out what is going on and get the help you need then your small town drs. may be able to handle it. Crohn's is nothing to mess around with. An abscess bursting inside of you can kill you. I'm not trying to scare you, but you really need to get on top of this.

Mother2010 - can you call your doctor's office - today? - and request a pelvic MRI?  This would give you and your doc a better idea of what you're dealing with and how to treat.   I agree with Chroniemom, you don't want to mess around with this.  Unfortunately, fistulas don't repair themselves on their own - that I'm aware of.

I have a rectal-vaginal fistula (3, actually, but with only 1 exterior opening, I think anyhow), and yes, the draining is very unpredictable which can really mess with your head (it's getting better!  No -- it's getting worse!  Wait, it's getting better!  No ... etc.)  I don't feel any pain with my fistula(s), although there was serious pain with the abscess that developed prior to the fistulas.

Keep us posted!

 

I meant to say I hope that the drainage does not go completely away by the time I see the dr, sorry for they typo again

Mother - that's not a bad idea to contact your GP. In fact, my GP is the one who ordered my MRI for me and discovered the fistula.

Hi everyone, and thanks for all your responses. I have seen a surgeon, but he is a general surgeon. When I went the area that has been bothering didn't really look that bad. I am going to see him again next week. The only thing he suggested for the C when I saw him last was to take more fiber, drink more water, and take colace.... Which has really upset my stomach, and actually caused the C to get worse.

LAC-NY I'm sorry to hear it took so long to get a diagnosis. I am fearful that if I do have crohns, that's the whole reason my GP referred me to the surgeon so I could get a colonoscopy but he didn't want to do one right now. I'm hoping he will reconsider, but like in your case it may not show anything right now. Did you have any other symptoms of crohns besides the abscess/ fistula at first?