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Rectal abscess?

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Posted 2/15/2013 6:42 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry if any of this is gross! It kind of grosses me out and that's not easy to do! LOL

How can you tell if you have a perirectal abscess or if it's just ingrown hair, boil or zit? The reason I ask is that the other day it was sort of hurting when I sat down but I didn't really think much of it. So yesterday in the shower I felt down in that area and I felt a large quarter size bump which was painful. My husband looked at it yesterday and he barely touched it and it opened up. A bunch of yellow/green stuff came out. Since then, it has felt better (only mildly hurts when touched) but the bump is still there and it's sort of leaking a clear/bloody type discharge if I touch it with toilet paper.

I'm prone to boils and such but I've never had one down there before.
Posted 2/15/2013 6:58 PM (GMT 0)
Well anything I get near the anus is usually a rectal abscess,used to get them alot,if you take probiotics that seems to quell the frequency,have not had one in awhile. But anytime I feel a lump I get on the sitz bath right away,and put topical antibiotic on it. If they get out of control real dangerous,had emergency surgery once,for a golf ball size one. At anyrate that is what I do now,once they come to some sort of a head you can puncture with a sterile needle.
And yes the green yellow real thick pus,is the usual type of pus.
They can be pure pain. I have other ways to break them,such as bouncing in a boat,no cushion.
These things need to be kept open so all the pus can drain,then will usually heal.

They usually start internally,and the sitz batch help to bring them out, what happens is the skin gets thinner

and thinner,then they are ready to break,but they might also get bigger before this happens.
Old Mike

Post Edited (Old Mike) : 2/15/2013 12:10:06 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/15/2013 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
Did it look like a pimple or boil? If it didn't, I doubt it was an abscess. Mine never made a head like pimples usually do. And it hurt like a mo-fo. I've had boils on my bum before, and the abscess was many, many times worse. I think it made that whole area down there hurt worse than I hurt after I had my son (vaginally), and I even had a small tear.

Mine also didn't really feel at all like what a pimple or boil feels when you touch one (as in, what it feels like on your finger). The lump was much more internal, if that makes any sense. Sort of like there was a lump/knot *under* the skin and not on top of it.

Also, it likely would have been super close to your anus, and not over more on your butt cheek.
Posted 2/15/2013 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
fruitgirl: Your discription of how it hurts is right on.
Old Mike
Posted 2/15/2013 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
I hope you don't know what a sore "down there" feels like after childbirth, though! haha :)
Posted 2/15/2013 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
Nor do I want to know.
OM
Posted 2/15/2013 7:57 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know what it looked like before it broke. I didn't take a look-see but it's closer to the anus than the butt cheek. This also felt like a "knot", sort of hard? Under the skin.
Posted 2/15/2013 8:36 PM (GMT 0)
Better get it checked out asap. These things can get worse/bigger if left. Also, i thougt that abcesses happended only in those who have crohn's or severe flareups of UC. Do you have a flareup right now Sherry? Do you take probiotics?
Posted 2/15/2013 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Nope, not flaring but I've read that they can happen in both CD and UC as well as with people with Diverticular disease (which I have).

Yes, I take probiotics.

I am under the impression though that if its an abscess that it would hurt more? This doesn't really hurt unless I touch it.
Posted 2/15/2013 8:42 PM (GMT 0)
Ive read that abcesses are quite painful and also feel hot to the touch..not sure how painful though..
Posted 2/15/2013 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
I think that if its still there by Monday, I will call my GI just be on the safe side.
Posted 2/17/2013 8:59 PM (GMT 0)
Ok so I'm not alone. I've been having this itching, burning, and sometimes painful area on my bum. I even had my GI check the area and he couldn't see anything, but could tell me for sure that it wasn't hemmis. They tend to itch the most when I have D, but hurt and burn when I'm flaring. Steroidal cream doesn't seem to do much for it. There's just a slight swelling at the anus that when I have D burns like hellfire. I want to cry sometimes.

Red what you're describing sounds like what my husband has...it took 13yrs for him to tell me that he had such a thing. He says it's an ingrown hair he gets between his bum and the twig and berries. <<is that safe to say here?? Not sure how else to put it? Surgery seems to be the only way to eradicate those.
Posted 2/17/2013 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe it's a hemmi? I had some kind of "boil" thing on my butt once. It hurt really bad. I went to the GI and she laughed at me because apparently it wasn't a boil, it was just a regular ol' zit. I was going crazy washing and I was scared to touch anything because I had read all this stuff that said I would get more boils. It was terrible. Did you get it figured out? I am curious what it was...
Posted 2/18/2013 1:20 AM (GMT 0)
It's still there but "flatter" now. It still sort of hurts, but it's not bad. I don't know what it is yet. I haven't spoken to my GI yet since its the weekend.
Posted 2/18/2013 4:16 AM (GMT 0)
Maybe it's just a pimple. I had a really bad butt burn this morning. What the heck causes that? It lasted 5 minutes!!! lol.
Posted 2/18/2013 1:41 PM (GMT 0)
Sherry, how's the bum today?

Also, since it sounds like whatever it is ruptured, it's not surprising that it doesn't hurt much. Mine felt a million times better after I had it drained.

I developed my perianal abscess (which turned into a fistula) when I was in complete remission. Both my GI and my colorectal surgeon think it had nothing to do with my UC, though. A fair number of people in the general population get the sort of abscess/fistula that I had. I'm just that "lucky."
Posted 2/18/2013 1:48 PM (GMT 0)
Perianal abscesses are actually fairly common among non-IBDers too. I had a roommate in the ER once who had one and I felt soooo bad for him, he was on morphine and still in terrible pain :(
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