Had haemorrhoids for years, or so I though. But having successfully treated topically the site of irritation is moving around.

Hi there. This is an awkward thing to describe as it may sound a bit like I'm getting worked up over nothing, or maybe seeing things where they aren't. However, I assure you I'm not.

Throughout the last ten years I've suffered from regular bouts of anal irritation. My anus regularly feels raw and itchy and the condition of the skin around my anus weeps and is red and inflamed. This has always been accompanied by a few spots of blood when I wipe.

For ages I thought it was a fissure, as there were no protuberances of veins or anything,

I've tried to treat it in a few different ways. It has responded to anti fungal cream in the past, which prompted me to try treating it as a candida albicans problem, perhaps due to a food allergy. I tried modifying my diet - cutting out sugar. It made no real difference so I stopped that. I've also practised keeping the area very clean - washing it after a bowel movement with soap designed for sensitive skin or wet toilet tissue if in a public toilet.

The upshot is, during the years and through trial and error, I've established two things. 1. No treatment has ever worked consistently and 2. my arse is very sensitive! Even the bleach in toilet tissue can irritate it - so I stopped wetting it to clean my anus. I seem to be intolerant to onions, spices, red wine and garlic, which make my butt crack burn and the skin break down and weep right up the crack.

If I cut these foods out of my diet and wash the area at least twice a day the problem seems to limit itself to just my anus, and greatly alleviates even that. But it does not disappear completely. And if I lax in my cleansing routine it quickly becomes worse.

So I started to think in a woolly sort of way, could this thing be an auto-immune complaint of some sort - similar to eczma or psoriasis perhaps? One of those ailments whose cause and remedy aren't really understood. This is when I visited my doctor, to try and talk about what I had found. I also think I finally got tired of putting up with this low-level discomfort 90% of the time, wanting finally to do something about it!

My doctor didn't physically examine me, but asked me 'Do you see blood on the toilet tissue when you wipe, but not mixed in with your stools?'. I said 'yes'. 'It's just haemorrhoids' said the doctor. So I left the surgery feeling somewhat reassured by this simple, straightforward and robust diagnosis! But also a bit baffled it hadn't occurred to me sooner. And even a bit doubtful, as if in my gut (excuse pun) I doubted the solution was so simple. But I bought some haemorrhoid cream - called Anusol - and tried it...

And it worked! The area of irritation around my anus cleared up completely!

However, after a few days completely symptom free - horror of horrors, I started to get an itchy rash either side of my anus, on the normal skin of my butt cheeks. My anus itself was fine, but the rash around it burned and came up in weals.

So I treated this with antiseptic and also plucked the hair from the area - which greatly relieved the situation. While also still treating my anus with anusol daily, as I was kinda scared the haemorrhoids would flair up again as well as the rash! After 2 weeks though the rash had cleared up and the haemorrhoids were still absent. I had another couple of symptom-free days

But then... most recently I've been experiencing Tenesmus symptoms - a feeling of pressure inside my back passage, as if I want to empty my bowels, regardless whether I need to or not. Like something pushing my intestines from the inside out. I've NEVER experienced a feeling like this before. It's been here consistently for about three days now.

I know Tenesmus is a symptom of a few things but one of them is colitus. I also have a friend with Ulcerative Colitus whose life has been blighted by it and I know some of the symptoms. So I'm worried I may be in the early stages of a bout of colitus or some other irritation of the bowel. Perhaps you'll understand why I would rather be cautious and raise my concerns early.

I make no secret I have a sort of inbuilt fear of getting Colitus based on my friend's experiences. I'm feeling a bit superstitious and silly at this point too: I've tried so many ways to alleviate my sore arse and the site of irritation now seems to be moving around and evading my attempts to treat it! The thought I have some sorts of 'bad humours' creeping and migrating around my body has got lodged in my mind. I'm worried this area of irritation, having been turned out of its home in my anus, having attempted to migrate down south as a rash only to be thwarted has now set its mind on burrowing north - up my anal canal, infecting me with colitus!!!

I know, it's a ridiculous idea. Phantom 'bad humours' with some sort of malignant intelligence! Once again I crave your pardon. But... is it all that silly after all??

Are there some sorts of autoimmune responses that can move around in this seemingly coordinated way?

Or could there be any other pattern to what I'm experiencing, that I've missed entirely? Or am I just being rather unlucky and/or going quite mad?

Please help. Thanks so much, Bob.

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