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Hidden abscess?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 6/25/2017 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
Anyone ever had this? I've had my gastro doc, a colo-rectal surgeon and an mri both with and without contrast and no one can find my abscess. I am certain it is one, however. I've had one before and these symptoms are the same - chills, fever, sweats. I'm now symptom free except for the most excruciating ass pain I've ever had. It's so bad oxycodone barely takes the edge off. Hot baths only work for as long as I'm in the bath. When I went to the doc, my bp was 150/100 and I'm usually 120/78.

Anyway, I go in for "exploratory" surgery tomorrow and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this and how it went. Honestly, I realize this is a short post (I'm in so much pain and have been like this for over a week and have had some symptoms for over a month), but I probably just need some forum sympathy even though I don't get on here nearly as often as I should. I've been really lucky with my Crohn's, but this is insane. It's the kind of pain where I go from thinking I'm going to die, to wishing that I would die.

Anyway, thanks for any replies.

Steve

As an aside, I've been taking pictures of all of my different doctors and replacing the family photos in my office with pictures of all of the people who have been up my arse. It's a real conversation starter. (Not true, but my friend suggested it - just posted it with the hope that it makes someone smile). Also, I'm pretty doped up on pain meds right now, so sorry if that was inappropriate. I'm just so fed up.
Posted 6/25/2017 11:35 PM (GMT 0)
Steve,

I think they usually do a CT to find the abscess. Not sure with a rectal, but regardless, they should locate it tomorrow. Will they put a drain in or a seton? Hope you get thing under control soon.
Posted 6/25/2017 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
That's the shocker - MRI and two docs saw nothing. My colo-rectal doc said that I had bad proctitis, but that that should not cause the pain I'm having (like a 9 on a 1-10 scale).

Tomorrow they are going to just go in and have a good look around. If they find something, they'll fix it. If they don't... honestly if they don't find anything, I don't know what I'll do. I've worked like 4 days in the past month.
Posted 6/26/2017 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
It wouldn't surprise me. A friend of mine I met here on the forum (some of you might remember myWOWgirl, she hasn't been around here in a while) showed 3 abscesses on her scans. When she went in for the surgery for them, they ended up finding EIGHTEEN.
Posted 6/27/2017 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
So I had the surgery today. No abscess found. He removed an "angry" hemorrhoid that he said was bruised and found some other body that he removed that he said has some puss that he drained. I'm pretty doped up, but if this isn't better, I don't know what I'm going to do. When I was in pre-op, he came in to talk to me and told me that he may not find anything and I broke into tears. The idea that this is just pain I'll have to live with is not really an option. When I got out, he said that I should have some relief, but that what he saw should not be causing the pain I'm in.
Posted 6/27/2017 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
I was thinking I had the same thing, but after a CT scan and then two MRIs (one full body, another pelvis) showed nothing but inflammation. A few GIs - I got multiple opinions - suggested my inflammation was presenting itself in a way where I could feel it in my rectum.

I was offered the 'opportunity' to have an observation under anesthesia, akin to what a surgeon would do if an abscess/fistula needed to be removed, but both GIs said the MRI gave them more than enough confidence to say this wasn't needed. I opted to avoid this and just get going on my infusions - over the past 3+ months, I've had an abscess drained, fistulotomy, sigmoidoscopy, TWO CT scans, TWO MRIs, an anoscopy and more doctors calls/visits than I can count off the top of my head. I decided it was time to believe my doctors and get treated.

So in conclusion, Stevo68: I am glad to hear nothing was found and relieved in a way, because it seems we were both concerned about imaging/doctors disregarding physical symptoms when in fact we just weren't sure what was causing them. I'm hopeful we'll both get better fast without requiring any additional rectal surgery smile
Posted 6/28/2017 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
Stevo68 how are you feeling? I have had unexplained extreme rectal pain for 2 years now. It's left me housebound and steroid dependent. I hope you found out what's causing your pain!
Posted 6/29/2017 1:32 PM (GMT 0)
Oh gosh Rose, I'm so sorry. I honestly don't know how I'm doing. I woke up this morning (three days after surgery) and literally had no pain. Then I pooped. I'm at a 9 right now. Like writhing in pain and it's non-stop. I just took two Hydrocodone and it's doing nothing at all to take the edge off.

How do you live with the pain? I mean, I hope beyond hope that this is just surgical pain that will go away, but if it remains after the healing, I don't know how I would stay in the world. I just can't even function.
Posted 6/29/2017 3:09 PM (GMT 0)
Stevo, yes hopefully your pain is just from the surgery. I don't know how I live with the pain. Just moment to moment. I have extremely poor quality of life. the steroids take some of the inflammation down but not all, and they have destroyed my health as well. I have been to multiple specialists and no one has been able to help me. I pray every day for answers. Keep us posted on your recovery <3
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