My 14 yr. old son had his take down 7/07 and has had a very long and on going road to recovery. He had a case ofalmost constant stabbing anal pain,(which turned out to be fissures and cuffitis)along with pouch-itis in 12/07, he spent 14 days in the hospital on antibiotics and TPN. He has had NO appetite since his take down! We have been told he is very malnurished.If for any reason he can't eat well for a couple of days he starts going down hill really fast! His albumin(2.8) is low,his hematicrit(29.9) and hemoglobin(9.2) are low( we have them checked every week and they are slowly increasing) among others. His ESR is 66. The Dr. put him on TPN at home for 12 hours a night 1/13/08. He still runs low grade fevers (99.0-100.5)something he started after his take down surgery. I am at my wits end trying to figure out what to do!! I try to get him to eat but it is SO hard!! Heis still dealing with anal fissures that can be so painful that he doesn't want to get up and move around much. We have tried so many ointments and either they don't work or he's allergic to them. We do have some good news! His cuffitis seems to be doing okay. We started doing kefir, 6-8 oz. 3 x a day when he started to flare and within a couple of days he was ok and that was back at the end of 12/07! Any ideas or advice for us would really be appreciated. Thanks so much.

Kitty,

Tell your son I'm sorry to hear that things have been going so poorly for him. It's got to stink to be 14 and dealing with this instead of having fun and just enjoying life.

What does the doctor say about his fevers? Does he just blow them off? Or attribute it to the pouchitis? Seems like a long time to be running a fever, and would seem to indicate a possible abcess? Perhaps the antibiotics are keeping it at bay enough to keep it unseen? Just a thought. I know sometimes they can hide out in there and are hard to find.

The ointment I settled on for my bottom pain was Gold Bond Anti-Itch ointment. It's got menthol and a pain reliever in it, along with Aloe and a few other things. Mind you, you have to put the stuff up inside the anal canal with a finger for it to do any good - since that's where the real pain is (not on the outside). Some people buy a box of gloves to use - it's either that or wash really well after. Gross, but it stops the pain and itching. And there are similar products to Gold Bond.

Also, when things are really bad it's not unheard of to take some pain meds (narcotics of one variety or another). Dulls the pain a little, makes you happier, and slows down peristalsis to make the BMs more bearable.

And tell him he's got to eat!

Steve

I would think more diagnostics are in order. I think that low-grade fevers could (that's could ) be considered normal - but I don't think that applies to fevers that last for seven months! Because of the location of his pain and how it's presenting, it seems like it could be something else in addition to the fissures. It's very difficult to detect abscesses - but it sounds like that's something that should be explored. I think that people here who've had fissures mention that it's excruciating when they go to the bathroom - not a constant thing.

I agree with Steve - this just sucks that your son can't be enjoying his childhood! Please let us know how he's doing.

kathy