Hello everyone, I'm a long time poster here. I'll share my history briefly. Had a perianal abscess drained on October 31st, 2014 and then had a fistulotomy on January 7th, 2015. It healed completely and perfectly by early April and I've had no more problems. Unfortunately I have a tendency to freak myself out about small possibilities (I have obsessive compulsive disorder) and so I look for things to worry about. Since I had the abscess I've had virtually every test known to man to ensure I didn't have Crohn's disease (despite not having any symptoms). I've had an IBD blood test, a full blood panel, two fecal tests, 3 rectal exams, and a colonoscopy with biopsies at the terminal (?) and the colon. All tests came back normal and apparently my intestines look "beautiful" according to my doctor. However, I've heard that Crohn's can rear its ugly head years after perianal disease. Now, I had biopsies of my abscess and it came back negative for Crohn's, so I don't think I had any sort of perianal disease. My fears sprout from the fact that I have very mild IBS (I poop 2 times per day usually, at 4-5 on the bristol scale) that causes cause and farting, but never diarrhea or constipation. My family DOES have a history of anal/rectal problems, but NO history of IBD. Everyone in my family and extended family has hemorrhoids and painless, benign skin-tags and my uncle had a perianal abscess/fistula 10 years ago with nothing since then. My question for everyone is- has anyone here been far down the line since their fistula? Has all been well? I'm looking for long-term success stories to calm my overactive, worrying mind. What more can I do to put my mind at ease? To the best of my knowledge these are all of the tests. I can't even sleep because I keep worrying that some horrific chronic disease is going to derail my entire life (I am a wildlife zoologist, so such a disease would ruin my career since it involves traveling constantly). Every peer-reviewed medical journal I have read says that only 5% of perianal fistulas are the result of Crohn's disease (even as low as 1% in one study...but nothing higher than 5%). I'm beginning to really irritate the people around me with my incessant panicking and worry. Help!

Wow! What a fantastic job!

It would appear that you don't have Crohn's disease, so I would try to put that out of your mind.

If you are looking for success stories, look no further than the Sub-forum on here. Hope that helps.

You don't sound as if you have anything active right now, but to say 'don't worry' to you would obviously not work...

So, if you think your worry is excessive, I would possibly consider talking to someone about that. I poop sometimes four or five times a day, but I concentrate on eating right and staying hydrated and letting the rest take care of itself.