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Crohn's anal skin tags or hemorrhoids?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 10/11/2010 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, how do you tell the difference between crohn's anal skin tags and hemorrhoids? Do those skin tags hurt or would that be a roid? This is flesh colored and it hurts.
Posted 10/11/2010 11:14 PM (GMT 0)
Mine are flesh colored and they bleed a lot, but im told they are skin tags not hemmies. Sometimes they get really inflammed and hurt but for the most part they are just kinda there and dont cause much pain at all
Posted 10/11/2010 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
I thought I had hem. and self-treated them as such- but in fact my numerous tags were irritated and my dr confirmed that it is a very common complaint of CD patients. Best treatment for mine includes soaking, using creams (hydrocortosone was prescribed to me) and wipes (not toilet paper!!) and the pain decreased and eventually went away- the tags won't go away though but they may just resort to just being there and not bothering u. I have had them since my dx in 98- they are flesh colored and they only get painful when i have frequent C. I have a few amd hate them all- but if there is no pain I can ignore them.

So in my experience the tags act like Hems but r not the same thing. Sounds to me like u have tags and they hopefully will not hurt all the time.

Hope this helps.

B

B
Posted 10/12/2010 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
well, despite all my symptoms and positive ASCA test, they swear I don't have crohn's. So far, my biopsies have not shown crohn's. I guess I'll have to call them to tell them I have this thing now.
Posted 10/12/2010 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
Here's an excellent link that shows pictures (first set of pics is hemmies) set of pics below that are perianal crohn's skin tags which are completely different from hemmies...I have perianal crohn's skin tags, that's actually how/where my crohn's disease started with me (very rare BTW) and mine have never bled, unless I had fissures but that was the fissures bleeding not really the skin tags, the skin tags shouldn't bleed, if you're experiancing bleeding it's either from fissures or internally (maybe your CD is affecting your rectom {proctitis} and that's where the bleeding is from or you may have internal hemmies causing bleeding issues).  I've had perianal crohn's skin tags since my teens (well before I actually got sick internally with crohn's, in my teens the tags just came and went on their own, after I had my first baby they stayed and were mistaken for hemmies and I had them banded (that's how they treat hemmies to shrink them up) this doesn't work with perianal crohn's skin tags, it has caused mine to stay permanantly for almost 20 yrs now and in those 20 yrs the tags alone have never bled.

you should have your GI or colon/rectum doc check them out asap!

Check out the pics and the explanation(s)....

http://www.emedmag.com/html/pre/fea/features/011504.asp

Posted 10/12/2010 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
p.s what you're describing jeanneac, with them b eing flesh coloured (as you'll see they are in the link I provided) they are likely perianal crohn's skin tags and not hemmies....mine hurt often and that's one of the reasons docs thought it was hemmies so the treated them like hemmies (big no no).


Remember, my CD started out with these tags in my early teens, but I didn't actually develop full blown internal crohn's until my early 20's about a yr and a half after having my first baby. That's likey why your tests haven't pointed towards CD but that doesn't mean anything especially if you have those crohn's skin tags.
Posted 10/12/2010 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
my tags have never bled- it was only when I had a fissure that I had bleeding. But the pain seemed to be the same as hemmoroids (this was purely my assumption and was not a dr who advised me to treat them as hem... ). Just to clarify what I shared above. Also jeannmac u didnt mention bleeding, just pain, same as me.

Oh and like pb4- I agree- it should be checked by your dr- thats who clarified for me what I was actually experiencing and got me on the road to feeling better.

B
Posted 10/12/2010 2:37 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone. I will call my colorectal surgeon tomorrow. It might be an infected gland or something but I think they should see it. I have no idea what hemmies look like, so I really don't know what it is for sure. They are the same color as everything else down there. LOL....
Posted 10/12/2010 7:06 AM (GMT 0)
jeanneac,

Check out this link, it will show pics of what hemmies look like (first set of pics) and pics of what perianal crohn's skin tags look like (set of pics below the hemmie pics)...

http://www.emedmag.com/html/pre/fea/features/011504.asp

Bectoria, I was refering to sooper saying his/hers bleed :)

Posted 10/12/2010 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
Are the skin tags soft or hard? I have skin tags on other parts of my body and this is not like those. It feels soft. I wonder if it could be a blocked gland or infection. Honestly, if it isn't one thing, it's another!
Posted 10/12/2010 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
I would say soft...

B
Posted 10/12/2010 7:30 PM (GMT 0)
I'm sure it varies (like everything else) for each person whether the skin tags are hard or soft, mine are most often hard (but remember I had mine bannded as if they were hemmies, big no no)....don't confuse the ones on your anus with ones anywhere else on your body, they are completely different. The ones on your anus (from perianal crohn's skin tags) are diseased tissue).
Posted 10/12/2010 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
Do those things stay around for a while? I have an apt on the 21st and wonder if it can wait that long? I find it sad that they treated the skin tags like hemmies. I'd be po'd about that. I thought about trying to take a pic of it and call my doc to see if I could e-mail them a pic. Then, I realized we could all possibly get arrested. Ha, ha, ha......
Posted 10/12/2010 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
I have had mine since 98... so I assume they stay around. But you aren't sure what yours is so we dont know if it will. If it is significantly painful maybe you should check with your dr soon?

Yeah and like pb4 said I would think some are hard and some are soft- I say mine are soft but that is just the easy answer... truthfully I could go into more gorey details but the longer ones are softer than the shorter ones... lol... what a topic. ;)

B
Posted 10/12/2010 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
Yea, it is embarassing for sure!
Posted 10/13/2010 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
Well I am immune to embarrassing conversations since my husband (bf of one year at the time) had to wash my body before taking me to to ER after explosive bloody D and internal bleeding back in the bad times when I was 20. We just have no boundaries now. lol

So has the pain improved? Do you think you'll wait til the appointment?

B
Posted 10/13/2010 3:40 AM (GMT 0)
Well, I've had some of those embarassing moments too Becktoria-:) My husband is a trooper too and I am so grateful for it!!!!!

It's not too bad today. I wonder if it is a blocked gland because I got so dried out from antispasmodics. I will go to my PCP about it to see what they say. I have an apt next week with the surgeon. It seemed to come up so quickly, I am thinking it isn't the tags. Today, another thing turned up in the female area that is tender. I've had those before that were little blocked glands. Even my sinuses were all dried out and almost infected from all the donnetal I took last week. I really hate that stuff. I'd just rather take a pain pill, that works just as well or imodium.
Posted 10/13/2010 6:23 AM (GMT 0)

jeanneac said...
Do those things stay around for a while? I have an apt on the 21st and wonder if it can wait that long? I find it sad that they treated the skin tags like hemmies. I'd be po'd about that. I thought about trying to take a pic of it and call my doc to see if I could e-mail them a pic. Then, I realized we could all possibly get arrested. Ha, ha, ha......

 

I found it sad too, it caused me more grief because of them treating them like hemmies...when I was a teen they would come and go on their own...after I had the srugery and soon after got sick with full blown internal CD I was sent to a colon and rectom surgeon who explained that had I not had the surgery done on them that a script of cortifoam rectal meds may very likely shrunk them back down to tiny little bumps/tags and then they could have snipped them off (as they wouldn't be in a flared state) but when they are large/inflamed then trying to remove them would be detrimental to them as they would not heal and remain an open wound...so for as bad as my luck was it's actually a good thing they didn't try cutting them off or I'd be in even worse shape with them and they're bad enough as it is.

 

I hate them and they are embarassing and certaily stop me from feeling sexy even though hubby says he still is very attracted to me regardless of the anal tags it still makes me feel very self conscious as I'm sure you all understand.

 

Please be careful with any advice you get from a doc regarding these tags, I don't want you to end up in my situation or worse.

Posted 10/13/2010 1:39 PM (GMT 0)
I am thinking I will wait to let the colorectal surgeon see these next week. He should know if they are tags or hemmies, right?? With my positive ASCA, I would think they would be careful, biopsy etc......... Should I call my GI instead???? If it turns out to be crohn's all bets on a surgery would be out and they would start me on the other drugs.
Posted 10/13/2010 3:18 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the link PB4! It answered my same question! Mine appears to be a skin tag as well. Its hidious! lol
Posted 10/13/2010 5:24 PM (GMT 0)
jeanneac, Yes, I would hope your colorectal surgeon will know the difference...mine didn't 19 yrs ago and that's why she went ahead and banded them, so just make sure you point out that you are aware of perianal crohn's skin tags and how they can be confused with hemmies and hopefully that will keep your doc on track...needless to say I was quite disgusted at my surgeon for not knowing the difference between the 2.

You are very welcome debbikay, for yrs I tried to find pics online of perianal crohn's skin tags (especially in comparisson to hemmies) and when I finally fond this link I had to bookmark it so I could show others incase they had the same issues, perianal crohn's skin tags happen mostly in those of us with the colon involved with our disease, like you, I also have crohn's colitis (CD affecting the colon).
Posted 10/13/2010 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
Yea, I hope the surgeon will know too. I may ask for a biopsy or something. I would suspect they would not want to do surgery on me if it is crohn's.
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