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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 7/16/2010 9:41 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone experienced their crohns/inflammation/etc affecting their vaginal area?  My GI (first time I saw a woman GI because my GI was out of town) said this can happen...Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Posted 7/16/2010 9:44 PM (GMT 0)
what do you mean by 'affecting'?

Recto/Vaginal Fistulas can happen skull
Posted 7/16/2010 9:48 PM (GMT 0)
When the ulcer tunnels into an adjacent organ, a channel (fistula) is formed. The formation of a fistula between the intestine and the bladder (enteric-vesicular fistula) can cause frequent urinary tract infections and the passage of gas and feces during urination. When a fistula develops between the intestine and the skin (enteric-cutaneous fistula), pus and mucous emerge from a small painful opening on the skin of the abdomen. The development of a fistula between the colon and the vagina (colonic-vaginal fistula) causes gas and feces to emerge through the vagina. The presence of a fistula from the intestines to the anus (anal fistula) leads to a discharge of mucous and pus from the fistula's opening around the anus.

Was told by my GI it may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus..... Hope that info helps.
Posted 7/16/2010 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
I thought it was a yeast infection caused by the antibiotic I was taking. I never had one before so I didn't really know what to expect. My gyno thinks its something else and that something else is really scary. But my GI says it could be from my Crohns and I really, really hope it's because of that. I just don't know what to do. It's really scary. All I can do it sit and wait.
Posted 7/16/2010 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
We did have someone here a few years ago with the sort of vaginal issues your doctor described (not fistulas, btw; other stuff) but I can't remember her name now.

If you're very patient, you might have some luck searching back through the forum...
Posted 7/16/2010 10:16 PM (GMT 0)
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=17&m=921771

Thanks for the suggestion Ivy, I found someone who sounds similar to my symptoms. I'm going to check out the article she linked.

It's funny, because when I mentioned briefly on the phone to my (male) GI about how that area was hurting he didn't seem to think of any corrolation, then I see the woman GI and dont even think there's a connection 'cause of what my gyno told me the day before and the female GI was the one who said the crohns can affect that area. I mean, it makes sense to me, seeing as the areas are so close, and my crohns is the worst it has ever been and all of a sudden I seem to be getting new symptoms left and right that are unlike my usual out-of-remission symptoms. But who knows? I hate this. I hate not knowing.
Posted 7/16/2010 10:37 PM (GMT 0)
This is interesting...I get 2-3 absesses a year in the vaginal area, and my bartholin's gland was lanced so many times in my late teens and early 20's I'm not sure it works any more. I have a lot of vaginal dryness which my gyno attributes to this.

I never connected it to the crohn's though.
Posted 7/16/2010 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I'm pretty sure that's her. There might be one other person, too: can't quite remember now.

I reckon most doctors are clueless when it comes to understanding how this disease affects *everything*, not just one set of organs.
Posted 7/21/2010 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
So it wasn't what the gyno thought it was, but that was the scariest most depressing 8 days of my life. I'm just really happy that I happened to have had that female GI doctor last week because I wouldn't have attributed it to the Crohns. Its frustrating, I mean I know gynos can't know a lot about Crohns and all, but she was 100 percent sure it was what she thought it was but it was negative. And she didn't have the greatest bedside manner. That was awful awful awful.

My GI is having me get a pelvic MRI next week. Though I wonder if it's going to affect it being that I'm on the steroids right now so it's kinda putting a bandaide on everything.
Posted 7/21/2010 4:47 AM (GMT 0)
My OBGYN said that area can often become inflamed during a flare because crohns seems to manifest itself in the easily agitated epithelial cell areas and that's one of them.
Posted 7/22/2010 4:31 AM (GMT 0)
I also went through something similar. I was back and forth between the GI and OB/GYN. The person who ended up helping me was a dermatologist. She said basically my skin was tired of all the constant activity and wiping back there and everything just kept getting inflamed and irratated. She was able to fix it with a cream, I have to go through my meds to see if I can find the name of it. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want any more info, I am pressed for time right now or I would explain further what happened. Best of luck!
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