Rectal abscess not healing?
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi,
About about four weeks ago I began to experience severe pain during bowel movements. Occasionally there was some blood, so I assumed that I had a fissure. I did occasionally have constipation and always strained a lot so a fissure made sense.
I went to the ER, they couldnt find the fissure (the pain was internal, maybe 1.5 inches into my rectum) but gave me nifedipine cream to help. Now i also had mucus/pus in my stools.
The fissure healed almost spontaneously after I added a ton of fibre to my diet and drank more water. However, i then started to feel a lump under the skin near my anus, and it caused severe pain. It worsened into a fever, chills, feeling weak, etc., so I went back to the ER.
They did an ultrasound and CT scan and found the abscess (ischiorectal) I met with the surgeon and he said it is not big (maybe 1-2cm) and he gave me antibiotics (cipro and metronidazole) to take for 10 days. He said lets try this before we resort to surgical drainage.
It has been 8 days, the fever and pain is gone but I was just feeling around the area and the abscess is still there, I feel the lump. It has gotten maybe just a little smaller. I have no pain, no fever, etc., and I feel pretty good. But if the abscess is still there, what should I do? There is no more mucus or pus in my stool so I think it stopped draining. I am worried the fever and pain and stuff will return.
Does this mean I will have to have it sugically drained? The surgeon booked me in for a follow up on April 1.
Thanks
0 likes, 1 reply
pippa58442 jameson43913
Posted
The abscess may have healed since you don't have pus, pain and fever; the antibiotics may well have dealt with the infection. It may take time for the residual swelling to go down. Since it has slightly reduced, this may suggest improvement is setting in. Give it a week and if the swelling gets bigger after this point or your other symptoms come back, ask your doctor to bring forward your April follow up appointment.