Doc thinks i may have crohns disease. The fissure is big and not in a normal spot.

What kind of treatment regimen are they recommending for you?

Hi, He put me on 5-ASA drug called canasa for inflammation. Its a suppository so I'm not sure how well i'll get it in. I have an appt. for next week. still doing the nitro which i think helps. He wants to numb me up to get a good look inside. scared to death of that. Dont want him to aggavate the fissure. He says its big and the skin tag is growing. After doing some research its possible i may have crohns. I do have loose to watery stools at times but i just attributed it to poor eating and stress. Unfortunately i read that crohns patients dont respond as well to the surgery. Its all so overwhelming as I'm sure you all know. Does anyone else on the board have a diagnosis of Crohns?

I'm sorry you are having to go through this. I googled Crohn's disease after you posted just to read a bit about it. I wonder if they can give you oral anti-inflammatories to calm things down.
I think it makes sense for them to take a look under sedation. There are a few of us here that have had that done with fissures and it did not seem to injure or make it worse.
I am sure getting this diagnosis is not what you need right now. Hopefully someone else will be by who has some knowledge about this.

I posted this in another link, but it maybe helpful here. Just a question though--do you have Kaiser. I have been taking note taht a lot of people have been misdaignosed as having Crohns by drs at Kaiser.
"I read up a lot on Crohn's because the drs. insisted I had it for a while there. I didn't believe them because I had no symptoms and the meds they gave me made no difference to the fissure. What did make a difference was them actually lancing the abscess they swore I didn't have....but enough about that.
Crohns is basically a patchy, chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. The patches of inflammation can occur anywhere between the mouth and the anus. Things like cold sores can be a symptom, as well as intestinal abscesses and anal fissures. When the intestine inflames, it not only causes abdomenal cramps and soreness, but also the intestines can not digest nutrients. So when the food scrapes by, it not only causes discomfort, but it scrapes by fast without being digested, and you often get diarreha. Since different parts of the intestine digest different nutrients, people often end up with various sorts of malnutrition, which can cause secondary problems like wierd substances in urine, arthritis, eczema, etc....
"Dr. don't know what causes Crohn's. They only know the syptoms. Genetics seems to play a role, but I suspect that Crohn's sypmtoms are due to three primary things in combo with genetics: 1) low-grade food allergies to a common food like wheat, oats, tomatoes, red 40, etc; 2) a bacterial infection, which does not respond to usual antibiotics like erithrmyacin or amoxycillin; 3) a viral infection or parasite, which again does not respond to usual antibiotics like erithromyacin or amoxycillin.
"There has been some success in alleviating symptoms with the probiotic VSL#3, but I have never tried it, and syptoms often return I you stop taking the expensive probiotic. Others by word of mouth have said they had success by figuring out and avoiding trigger foods. Most people manage the disease through sulfa drugs, steroids, surgeries, and immuno supressants."

Thanks for the info. Its a possibility that i may have crohns. I didnt see anyone from Kaiser. The doc told me he wouldnt be able to tell if I had crohns until he could get a look inside and possible biopsy. I dont have the upper GI symptoms at all but I do have some of the lower - including chronic eczema which is associated with the lower. My whole system is out of whack now - 2 days ago i had diarhea and went 4 times, so yesterday i ate that new yoplait plus yogurt with fiber and probiotics and i had the most explosive gas and then areally thin BM. The yogurt is all i ate yesterday so it had to be it. Anyway, I think I'll start on a food diary and see what upsets me. I did have a good system going for the past two weeks where i was eating only fruits and vegetables and a little bread and going every other day. Dont know what thru me out of whack.
Its funny how quickly your life can change. 2 months ago i was eating hot wings and thai food with out a problem. Now I cant even eat freakin yougurt with out issues!

Yes, it is amazing how your life can turn on a dime. It is very frustrating to say the least.
I think the idea of a food diary is great. You may be able to pinpoint triggers and develop an eating plan that works for you. I did want to make sure you were getting some protein in your diet the days you are just eating fruits, veggies and bread.

Thanks, i forgot to mention i was drinking lots of vitamin water and instant breakfast juice with whey protein. not trying to starve myself but going to the bathroom now really sucks so less in means less out. I also cut down my coffee from 2 to one cup. LOVE my coffee, the stronger the better but I read that it can be irritating to fissures. So i'm trying to wean myself from it. Anyone have bad experiences with coffee?

coffee always makes me feel sick. It doesn't directly hurt my fissure, but I think it causes slight intestinal inflammation, which makes it harder for the fissure to heal.

Dear Paingosouth,
I completely understand how you feel : (. Just 3 months ago I was like Energizer Bunny doing 10 tasks at once, eating whatever I wanted , going out , having fun, have friend over - now I can hardly make myself get up out of the bed in the morning because i know how my day will look like - probably wouldn't be able to go even to the grocery store just around the corner due to my physical and emotional exhaustion and pain down there. One of my CRS told me that even if fissure does not heal for whatever reason in some people, the pain is gone! It is
muscle spasms that give us so much pain, not fissure itself. If you really have Chron there are so many different treatmants today for that condition, I am sure you would be able to manage it. I wish you fast recovery and stress is a killer - can mimic so many conditions and cause even more. I have hard time distressing myself too, it is easier said than done : (.
Take care and I wish you all the best XOXO