Hi all,

Back in July 2014 I started feeling some anal discomfort in perianal area after having months of stomach problems that eventually went away (bloating, cramps, heart burn). I did a poor job at describing my symptoms to my CRS so she diagnosed me as having a fissure even if she couldn't really spot it. I spent months applying nitro and other fissure creams to that area without any progress. Eventually I decided to go in for Botox and when I was in the operating room they couldn't find any fissures.

I changed CRS at that time and he mentioned that the perianal area was very red and thought my symptoms were caused by pruritus ani. After that I realized that my discomfort really felt more like a rash. It never hurt when I went to the bathroom, only later would it start flaring up. So I followed -all- the recommendations for that: no overzealous cleaning (I started using a hand bidet), elimination diets (I'm pretty much just eating water, chicken, rice, soups, veggies), bulking up my stop, change of laundry soap, etc, etc. Nothing seemed to have help so I had a biopsy of the irritated skin. That came back with nothing.. just some thickening of the skin but no bacterial or other type of problems like yeast. At this point my doctor has nothing else he wants to try except waiting to see if it eventually goes away.

The only patterns I've found are that the anal rash gets worse after I have an upset stomach (which is not often). It also all started about a month after I started having weird stomach problems. But like I mentioned earlier these went away. I've never had any food allergies or problems like this in the past.

"rash gets worse after I have an upset stomach"
... which suggests a definite connection here. Something in your poo is irritating your anal region. What causes the stomach upsets? Have you pinpointed that yet? With tummy upsets, food does not get properly digested and anything acidic eaten could come the other end out still acidic, likewise digestive enzymes all come out too quickly and so can be irritants.

Have you been properly tested for food allergies like gluten (via blood test by doctor)?

Do barrier creams like zinc based nappy creams help soothe the skin? Have you tried applying petroleum jelly before a bowel movement to protect your skin? I take it you only use products for sensitive skin for washing your clothes and bed linen, and you skip the fabric softeners?

"weird stomach problems" sounds like irritable bowel syndrome- perhaps you could research that as I have no direct experience of it.

All the best!

Cuzco, I don't know what your rash could be but what have you tried to treat it? I have good luck with a zinc-based diaper cream. In Canada, this is what I use:

http://www.penaten.ca/

http://zincofax.ca/home?gclid=Cj0KEQiAu ... lsrc=aw.ds

Daphne,

I still haven't been able to figure out what causes my stomach problems. The doctors I've seen have also said its IBS. I've done elimination diets and nothing sticks out so far. I'm scheduling a bunch of allergy tests this week. Barrier creams do help a bit, but I'm hoping to switch from Calmoseptine to something without mint.

msimon,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to try that next.

You are very welcome Cuzco. I hope you find something that helps.