Perianal abscess

Hi all,

I'm looking for help on perianal abscess. I haven't been diagnosed with Crohn's disease though I'm going to the gastroenterologist for an evaluation.

I had my first abscess outpatient surgery about six months ago. Despite my best efforts at taking care of the area post-op, the doctor told me at the follow-up visit that a fistula developed. The fistula has been a nuisance but nothing I thought that called for surgery. What I didn't expect was to have another abscess develop and rupture about three months later. I went back to the surgeon after it happened. What is strange is that the second abscess developed about the same time as I was going through two weeks of feeling really sick: diarrhea, intense rectal pain, abdominal cramps, fever and nasty painful cracks/sores at the corners of my mouth. At this point, I was advised to get evaluated for Crohn's disease.

This past week I developed a third abscess (that i know of). After a week of intense rectal pain and feeling poorly, I suspected it was another abscess. This morning I could barely sit on the train or at work the pain was awful. I took some Advil to alleviate the pain. A couple of hours later, the pain was subsiding. I went to the bathroom only to find that the abscess or whatever it was had ruptured and (please excuse me) a heavy discharge of brownish yellow fluid. By this time, the pain had lessened to soreness in the area. Later in the afternoon, when I went to the bathroom again, the fluid had oozed out even more. When I got home this evening, there was still a lot of yellowish sticky fluid but this time the entire area was bloodied as well.

I guess I'm trying to figure out what to do now. Is it another abscess that ruptured or is it the fistula acting up? Should I see the doctor right away or wait til Monday when I have my gastroenterology appointment? I really don't want to bother seeing the surgeon because I don't think there's much he can do now. Are my symptoms in keeping with a ruptured abscess and how should I best treat it?

Thanks for your help..sorry for the long post!

I agree that you should call your doc right away, I wouldn't wait until Monday if it were me, not with the issues you're having...BTW, you should know that Advil and other asa's should be avoided if you do have an IBD (crohn's or ulcerative colitis) as they can exacerbate bleeding in the intestines....stick to Tylenol type pain meds...the asa in Advil type pain meds are not the same as 5asa meds used to treat IBD.

Good luck, hope you feel better soon.

I totally agree, please go see your Dr. right away, that is not right. Is it really stinky? I wouldn't chance anything, call your Dr. I hope you feel better soon

Honestly, I might go to the ER. Whenever an abscess ruptures, you risk the chance of becoming septic. Especially with the fever. Keep us updated!