Help or advice please. Buttock / Perianal Abcess

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hello,

I have read a number of comments on here so I thought I would share my experience as it may help others plus the fact I could do with some advice.

Here goes....

Over the last 3 years I have had a lump appear and disappear on the inside of my buttock near the anus. This lump would occur about 4 times a year and then vanish after a week or two and always appeared in the same place. At it's worse it would be about the size of a golf ball. When I saw my GP about 12 months into having it they said not to worry - unless it caused severe problems. I got used to having it and although it was sore it wasn't anything too bad. (My lump never came to the surface it was always under the skin).

That said, in January this year it appeared again much bigger and much more painful. I was extremely tired, had a a fever and felt very down so I visited a local Walk In Centre who referred me straight away to the hospital. The hospital performed a procedure the next day under general anaesthetic. They opened the skin and drained the abscess leaving me with a hole and a packed wound that needed daily dressing for two weeks. After three weeks it was healed. I thought I was cured! The recovery wasn't as bad as I expected and I felt better very quickly.

Fast forward 8 weeks after the operation and the lump is back in the exact same spot. I feel tired and this week I've had a very bad fever, diarrhoea, cold chills and generally sick. After seeing my doctor they said it could be a fistula and have referred me to a specialist next week. They are likely to do an MRI to see it and decide the next form or treatment.

Can I ask if anyone else has side effects like fever, chills and severe lack of energy with this?

The confusing thing is that the lump seems to have calmed down now and isn't hurting but still I feel terrible.

Any help is appreciated.

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi James,

    A fistula is almost certainly present and this is very common after an abscess. When I had my abscess it never 100% healed but it came close (just a tiny bloody dot) and I was told it was a fistula. They performed a fistulotomyu and that was that...it's been 2.5 years now and all is well. But the diarrhea you are having can be a concern if it doesn't go away. Are you still having diarrhea? The fistula can cause a fever and chills if it is infected. That is fairly normal. But it shouldn't cause diarrhea. If the diarrhea goes away then just get a fistulotomy...they have an extremely high succcess rate. However, if you continue to have diarrhea then you need to get checked for Crohn's disease. While around 90% of perianal abscesses are not caused by any disease, it can have a strong correlation with Crohns.

  • Posted

    Hi in my opinion you must go Back to the Drs as soon as possible it is possible that you may have sepsis, in no way am I trying to scare you at all but this is exactly what happened to me, again please I am not a scare monger but my husband took me to A&E as an emergency and was told if he had waited another 48hrs it would have been a very different story. You must go and get checked just in case for your own good 

  • Posted

    Thanks for the comments. It's appreciated. I've had an MRI now and just waiting for surgery on the fistula. I don't have any pain at the moment but the fatigue is so severe. Is that normal?

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