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Abscess draining over 6 months and pain

I have an abscess open wound in my lower left hand quadrant of my abdomen. It's probably half an inch open. This thing has been draining for a very long time, I have crohns and colitis for over 15 yrs. This pain is so deep and welling, beyond any pain I've had. The pus that drains out is whitish most of the time. I change gauze pads and tape about two times a day. It can be hard to walk. The doctors have been of no help.

What would be any suggestions, OR is this "normal" and should just get used to this?

Please any input would help.
 

KWalker

Moderator
That is NOT normal and you need to get it checked out ASAP. I had an abscess for about 3 years that I left, and it didn't end very well. Check out my "lots of blood/pus" thread. It might be able to help you.
 
if you have an abscess that has been draining for a long period of time, then u might have a fistula connected to it. a fistula is an abnormal tunnel with two openings. the outer opening is through your abscess and the internal opening is somewhere in your rectum. the reason it keeps draining puss is because it's continuously getting infected. feces pass through this tunnel and therefore the infection is non-stop. go to a colorectal surgeon for an examination. if not treated soon, the tunnel can branch out and cause abscess on other parts of your buttock.
 
I had the same thing! First week in hospital Dr put in a drain to abcess, 2 weeks later back in, and Dr. made a 1 inch cut over the abcess and it fricken drained. Bad pain as it was right on my waist line. Surgeon talked me into getting things fixed and this was the best thing I have ever done. I have had Crohns for 19 years and finally things got really bad. The abcess was leaking poision into my body and I was really sick for about 2 months, luckily my work let me go out sick on full pays! You really need to get things fixed as it will get worse and not better. I am 1 year post surgery and I am a new man! I can eat anything and feel awesome, so I def recommend getting things fixed, let me know!! Billy.
 
Just to clarify, this is not anywhere near my rectum. It is in the front lower area of my waistline. What do you mean, surgery, Billy? I definitely want to keep all of my parts and not have to suffer a worse fate such as a bag. I had a temporary ileostomy because a doctor put a stent in my intestine during a colonoscopy... Nightmare... The ileostomy I could barely live with, it was AWFUL.

I contacted a GI doctor and they said they're going to have to do a colonoscopy. My body went into a cold sweat when he said this. I guess we'll see what happens.
 

KWalker

Moderator
You should check out my "lots of blood/pus" thread. I had an abscess draining for 3 years before it got to the point where I needed surgery for it. I ended up having two surgeries for it actually within a month. I had a 7.5" cut for mine as a reference for size so you can imagine how bad mine was. I did not get a bag because of my abscess either so I don't think you'd have to worry about that, but if I'm not mistaken the reason some people end up with bags because of abscesses is because they find excessive infection inside and its usually just temporary so the area can heal itself. I wouldn't worry about that though.

Sorry for my ignorance, but are you a boy or girl? Some girls get an abscess near the vaginal area, and it could be completely unrelated to crohns. Your doctor would be the one to determine that I think though. Abscesses can happen anywhere, arms, legs, stomach, etc.
 
I'm a guy. There's this intense pain in my side above the surgery area, so I'm guessing it's the part of the colon that is infected is the only part I've got left. I tried to read your post, but it made me very anxious. I am extremely empathic. I could barely handle anything that's happened to me so far. I'm highly anxious even now over a simple colonoscopy. If they rupture me again, and I have to go through any more nightmares... Let's not go there.

:/
 

KWalker

Moderator
Oh ok, I just wanted to ask to make sure to rule out the infection in the "girl parts" lol. Honestly, mine really wasn't very bad until about 6 months ago where I couldn't stand the pain. My abscess was on my butt so the part that hurt was sitting, and as everyone knows, that's something you can't avoid doing. It would get like a blister though and it was like it would build up and then get to a point and actually pop itself and the relief in pain was amazing. I've actually had many instances where I was on the way to the ER and it would pop in the car ride there so I just turned around and went home.

The reason I needed surgery was because it just got too bad that I couldn't physically manage anymore with it. I would have definitely left it if I could have, although I don't recommend that... I'm just a huge chicken when it comes to surgery and stuff.. I too have a colonoscopy coming up and I hate the thoughts of doing it.
 
I suffered with the same thing for months, and I still rode my mtn bike 5 days a week, changing the gauze everytime. Finally had 12 inch of small intestine removed and the abcess closed up. Surgery is often needed to fix such issues, and I have had the best year since getting fixed! Sympton free is way worth being laid up for 6 weeks. Billy.
 
Man, I've already had surgery, and I don't have much large intestine left, it really boggles my mind that anyone would go for surgery eagerly like that. So much pain and torture!
 

KWalker

Moderator
It's much better to deal with the pain from surgery for a week rather than deal with this for 6 months.. Yours must be that bad if that's the case. I was the exact same as you, I put off surgery for THREE YEARS and dealt with my abscess. Eventually it got to the point where I couldn't walk, and I definitely couldn't sit. I spent my day laying in bed. It was probably the worst thing I've ever dealt with in my life.
 
I have an abscess open wound in my lower left hand quadrant of my abdomen. It's probably half an inch open. This thing has been draining for a very long time, I have crohns and colitis for over 15 yrs. This pain is so deep and welling, beyond any pain I've had. The pus that drains out is whitish most of the time. I change gauze pads and tape about two times a day. It can be hard to walk. The doctors have been of no help.

What would be any suggestions, OR is this "normal" and should just get used to this?

Please any input would help.



I would find a dr to fix that.I dont think it is normal.
 
I meant is it normal to take this long to heal. The doctors said they had no idea what it was and kept having me visit them, only to repeat the process of prodding my drain, $380 a visit. Kwalker I think that this is way different than your condition.
 
I'm confused, when I look at the definition of abscess, it says it's only treatment is to get it drained. So maybe I'm not dealing with an abscess anymore, and this is why I'm confused. Whatever it's called, either way, I'm getting a colonoscopy next week, and hope it's nothing medicine can't heal.
 

KWalker

Moderator
In most cases surgery is the only solution to abscesses, and then you're often given antibiotics (I was on Flagyl) to help with the infection. From what I understand an abscess is external, where as you can't see a fistula, but I could definitely be wrong. There is a possibility yours isnt even crohns related hearing where it is.
 
Okay so I have an infection that's been draining pus through my surgery open wound drain for over 6 months. That's scary. I'll post what happens after my colonoscopy.
 
Okay so they said it looked severely diseased but couldnt find a fistula... They couldn't go all the way in because of inflammation. So thankfully I'm going to get put on medication and hopefully watch this thing NOT take over my life... Whew.
 
Now working towards getting remicade. After colonoscopy, my surgery area has been in constant pain. It feels like it'll never end, I think they accelerated my condition since doing the colonoscopy. What an awful way of life. It'll probably be weeks until finally I can say I have gotten treatment. And my car died so I have to walk a lot, which makes the pain worse.
 

KWalker

Moderator
Well hopefully they speed up the process so you can get some relief! Did they give you any specific results from the scope?
 
Nothing beyond "looks like it's crohns ". Really. I've been in much more pain and pus drain since the colonoscopy. Now waiting on paperwork so that I can start remicade. My primary care Dr, just got one,got me on Vicodin because I'm in a lot of pain.
 
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