I've been experiencing some leakage of stool both in the day and at night. My main concern is that I'm not sure where the leakage is coming from.

I had a bartholian abscess about 8 months ago which was surgically drained. Now the area is tender again, but no lump or swelling. I'm not sure if the leakage is coming from this or my anus.

Is there any way to tell for sure where it is coming from? My worry is that the abscess may have been caused by an overlooked fistula. I've had drainage from it continuously since.

Put a tampax in your vagina and then if it is coming from the B-gland you will know.

I too had an abscess which was originally suspected to be a fistual but turned out once they were in there to not be able to be confirmed as a fistula so they treated it as an abscess. I live with it now wondering whether or not it will ultimately become a fistula or if I might get lucky and have it have just been an abscess and have it not recur.

My abscess drainage area gets tender, sore, slightly swelled when I am having my rough days/stretches. When I was on a great stretch of over a month the whole area sunk down and was almost unnoticeable to me except the clear scar tissue. Since then I experience it alternating between being sore vs. feeling ok. And I too have experienced when I was having leakage not knowing if it was the "yellowish" fluid that I pass sometimes with watery BMS or whether it might be abscess draining.

When I have asked surgeon or his "fellows" "residents" about this they have always countered with "do you have a fever?" "do you have nausea?" My surgeon said to me he wouldn't be treating it anymore unless it clearly "declared itself" to be something .......

my point is my understanding from my docs is that unless it gets to a point where it really starts to puff up again like it did before with a pronounced swelling and/or I get the feverish/nausea that they always ask me about... I get the idea I'm supposed to just deal with it. And unless it gets to a point where it clearly declares itself as a problem again I have gathered I'm not supposed to worry about it. I'm hoping with time, it will become more of a barely noticeable area vs. the contrary.

?? just passing on what I have gathered from my docs................

Gloria - I will try the tampon. I don't why I didn't think of that except that since the surgery it has been difficult to insert one. I will deal with it just to figure this thing out.

Mike - The response your doctors/surgeon gave is pretty much the same as what mine have said. I just don't want to wait too long if there is a problem.

Karbear - I had an abscess (now fistula) in probably close to the same area as yours is(?) To help manage the drainage, I use those little cotton rounds used to remove makeup: I fold it in half and stick it over the fistula opening. If you're having problems with tampons, you might try this - if drainage appears on the cotton round when you remove it, you should be able to get a better idea as to where it's coming from.

Sure have been honing my detective skills over the past 19 years, as so many of us have ...

Thanks NancyAnn. It's definately coming from the abscess area. Not sure if there is stool there or if it's just some discoloration over time on the pad. I love your idea and will pick up some rounds tomorrow.

I hope it's not a fistula causing this abscess to go crazy. It was surgically drained and they left the incision open so it would heal with a hole. This way any future drainage would just keep running out and not swell up and get infected again. Thank goodness for small favors.