Hi everyone! I have come to this site a lot in the past and found it very helpful. Since the beginning of January I have had lots of Rectal pain. I couldn't figure out why so I had my doctor do a scope and he said the pouch had a small ulcer on it but other than that it looked fine and he couldn't figure out where the pain was coming from. The pain only got worst and I developed a uti as well. The day I went to see my internal medicine doctor about the uti I also noticed swelling in one of my labia's. She sent me to a obgyn who confirmed I had an abscess but with my history wasn't comfortable draining it, since it wasn't very big anyway. I made an appointment to go by to my colon and rectal doctor so he could look at it and drain it. Over the weekend it had grown three times in size so he agreed to drain it. After he cut into it he noticed that it was a fistula going all the way to my rectum and put in a seton drain. I have had some pain and discomfort from the drain but I thought I was getting better. Then last week I started leaking a lot more and even had a few accidents while I was out. He wants to get a CT to look at things but I'm concerned that I might have another fistula. I had some pain in my left butt check near the anal opening and at first it was barely noticeable but now it's starting to hurt a lot more and the pain has spread to my other labia. How do u know if u have a fistula in ur butt check? What does it feel like because the pain feels like it's coming from deep in the tissue. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. My doctor is also concerned that I might have crohns now. I was originally diagnosed with UC.��
First things first. Get the CT so you can find out if there are other abscess pockets and where they are.
It may or may not be Crohn's. Perianal disease is common with Crohn's, but they also can be a complication of the j-pouch surgery. If the the fistula arises from the ileoanal anastomosis (suture line), then you really cannot jump to the conclusion of Crohn's (at least not yet). It is worth attempting to figure out since Crohn's complicates things. But, in the long run, your treatment will likely be the same regardless.
Good luck on sorting this mess out. There are quite a few members here with fistulas, sinuses and abscess complications, so you are in good company. I had a huge presacral abscess about a month post op, but I never had fistulas, so I consider myself lucky.
Jan 