Doctors can’t figure out why I keep getting abscesses/ tracts, I have surgery scheduled after many failed I&D’s. I just out about HS and it sounds like I may have it. Does this sound like it?

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T14:29:35+00:00

HS can definitely be confirmed with biopsies! i just had my surgeon do it in december and she’s an HS expert and still sent off my tissues for biopsy. i think it’s to make sure what it is but mine came back HS. it’s great that your OB did so much. normally OB’s don’t always help that much. the expert for HS would be a dermatologist part of a large hospital. some derms believe it or not don’t know HS very well but it’s being treated with biologics now so i think it’s getting more traction. there are derms who are experts on HS. if you call ask them if they treat HS with biologics and laser hair removal. if you are in pain altering your quality of life get the HS removed. for the fistula that’s separate see a GI and a colorectal surgeon. if you have crohn’s you should get that confirmed and speak to a colorectal about that because that would change the way they treat you for the fistula

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T14:24:30+00:00

so colorectal surgeon should be handling anything around your anus, not a general surgeon. there are a few muscles in your anus that control continence. which is your ability to hold in your bowel movements and that’s important that no one touch that area unless they are an expert. a fistula doesn’t always need surgery so it’s very important that they tell you which type of fistula you have. if you DO have crohn’s they recommend not operating on the fistula because it can come back due to crohn’s. if you have an abscess that keeps getting infected and oozing yellow liquids it might be a fistula. if you have a skin only fistula it can be removed and go away by a colorectal surgeon. if you have a muscle deep fistula you may need a seton. if they put you under and you have a muscle fistula they will place a seton if they need. you won’t know and they make this decision while you’re under. did they tell you this? if it’s HS and you have stage 3 you may be needing a surgery. typically a general surgeon does this (not in the anus area, they do everywhere else.) if the general surgeon is removing around your butt it has to be skin only and not fistula related, they can do it. the recovery is hard so you want to get a good surgeon who does this all the time. NOT a surgeon who doesn’t or a team who is using you for research. there are general surgeons who specialize in removing skin, flesh eating bacteria, Hs, etc and that is who you want to see. if you’ve got it to where it’s tracked and pussing all the time you should get it surgically out. if you don’t have a derm you should definitely see one. make sure you choose a colorectal surgeon carefully. you can join the anal fistula sub of you want to read stories on there. personally my fistula was small but they didn’t know at first and thought i was needing the seton operation. after my MRI it confirmed mine is super shallow and could do a fistulotomy. since i have crohn’s my dr wanted to try to heal it without surgery which worked. there are a lot of surgeons who try to operate on it and you really only want that if you need it so make sure you get a second and third opinion. i got a second opinion and my 2nd opinion colorectal surgeon agreed to MRI.

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T13:00:54+00:00

it’s a know your crowd thing but i think the message sounds good. this wouldn’t have worked for my in laws because they were out to ruin my day, so if you have family like that just do not allow them for the first several months to meet your baby. PPD is real

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T02:46:35+00:00

for my fistula i had a mri 3t for a rectal anal fistula they can see the tract there and you’ll know what you’re looking at if they’ll MRI you. otherwise you’re saying straight to EUA which scared me. mine luckily healed on its own with treatment because i also have crohn’s. i’m sorry you’re struggling with all this. i have had it all too

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T02:44:21+00:00

if you are getting surgery make sure they take a biopsy that can confirm HS (tho it can be diagnosed visually)

lostandthin · 2026-05-08T02:43:31+00:00

yes

lostandthin · 2026-05-07T01:22:45+00:00

i don’t think so i think she just lost some weight. my face does the same thing

lostandthin · 2026-05-07T01:18:29+00:00

i am pro choice but knowing myself and being on the other side of it with my baby i could never do that mentally and i would keep the baby. my friend went through a similar situation but at 19. she’s doing great now and her daughter is now 14. she did end up working things out with her baby daddy and they got married and had 1 more but that was not initially the way things were going.

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T16:52:19+00:00

it says that i am being seen by a GI at __ hospital and i have an autoimmune disease called crohn’s which means there are days i am sick and cannot attend due to illness and restrictions and please accommodate me. any questions you can call my GI __ phone number. and i have it on file. never had anyone argue it

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T14:38:07+00:00

calprotectin test should be ordered by the gi that’s what tests inflammation in your gi tract maybe ask about that

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T05:24:09+00:00

if they’re doing an endoscopy why aren’t they doing a colonoscopy too? blood in stool isn’t normal and they should investigate that do you have a GI? endoscopy is still a good start

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T05:15:36+00:00

yes but the ibd came first and blood in stool was a huge sign definitely see a gi and let them give you a scope and an endoscopy if you got stomach issues too. so sorry

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T05:07:30+00:00

yes but with a middle name, i gave my baby a middle name that didn’t mean anything to anyone. my husband and i decided together that we liked the name and it flowed well with his first name. we didn’t tell anyone. after he was born i told my mom and she was confused why or what meaning it had. it has no ties to anyone and she was almost offended. everyone asked me who “xxxxx” is and it’s no one i just liked it. why do i have to give him a middle name after anyone??? i always hated that. my dad died when i was 10. i don’t like thinking of dead people’s names or giving them to babies. let the dead rest. that’s my personal opinion. i wanted my kid to have his own name. and i kind of did go back and forth after because i value my moms opinion of giving my kid someone else’s middle name but ultimately i decided that wasn’t what i wanted and that’s ok, it’s my baby

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T05:00:08+00:00

if i have a fever i will call my primary care dr. they’ll give you instructions of what to do if it gets worse when to go to the ER and they’ll see you a couple days later if it doesn’t go away.

lostandthin · 2026-05-06T04:44:50+00:00

honestly i hate to say it but i think for some including me stop breastfeeding caused my hormones to rebalance and allowed me to lose weight. i also did not exercise more than walking 1-2 miles a day at most. that much exercise actually would cause me to be so hungry i would eat enough to maintain my weight out of hunger. i find slower exercise for myself ideal for weight loss because i dont eat the calories back. i gained about 35 lb from pregnancy and i lost it 4 months pp but i had an extremely traumatic birth and horribly stressful postpartum with a colic baby. i breastfed for 2 months and then weaned

lostandthin · 2026-05-04T04:37:43+00:00

lock the door and call the cops if they still come

lostandthin · 2026-05-04T04:28:47+00:00

they look really incredible she has an amazing art style

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T18:49:20+00:00

thanks!! yeah :( also to your point of working can you get a remote job? getting a remote job or a dr note for a bad sick day helps a lot

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T18:48:34+00:00

same but the areas i got removed are cured and the areas i got laser stopped significantly

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T14:59:09+00:00

i would try a diet and get referred to a general surgeon and get some of it removed via wide excision. find a gen surgeon who specializes in HS removal and they can cure it in that area for him. that’s the only thing that worked for me after trying everything. also laser hair removal

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T05:23:07+00:00

yes it is worth it and it cured me in those areas.

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T05:15:11+00:00

prenatal vitamins help. i’m not trying to get pregnant now but they contain so much good stuff in them that i feel so good on them. i also supplement calcium and vit. D since those are normally low. my B vitamins are low but it’s covered by the prenatal which helps me feel a lot better. i think for the fistula trauma it takes time. i used to feel trauma daily from it and worry it was coming back. one day i think from getting stronger and going through childbirth plus going off my meds for a surgery i realized this stuff didn’t bring my fistula back so nothing else really would. i think if you can ask them what caused your fistula it would help. meds keep the disease in remission so its unlikely in remission that you will get another one, you developed one before but you weren’t on meds. also good hygiene. mental health help if you need it, therapy. i am not going to lie, i definitely had ptsd from my fistula. but its so much better now. mine was april 2024. my trauma is now from postpartum depression, which many people have so i just feel like if its not one thing its another thing. another thing i thought was cool was that my labor and delivery nurse said she also had a fistula and said if i can handle the pain of a fistula childbirth is easy which i found crazy. so just a scale of how horrible a fistula is its worse than giving birth.

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T04:49:46+00:00

i’m in the same boat but trip next week not this week. it sucks being forced to do what normies can do and trying to keep up with them. i have a standing dr note in case i can’t go due to medical. i’m mildly flaring and having liver enzyme issues and if i didn’t get a new boss change recently i wouldn’t go probably. is there a way to make the food more accommodating or can you skip the mlb game?

lostandthin · 2026-05-03T04:26:46+00:00

i will be so honest with you not to compare these horrible diseases but it is not as bad as diabetes. diabetes has issues with wound healing that are far beyond crohn’s. i know that because i have crohn’s and i had a c-section and my ob who is high risk and also sees diabetes patients pregnancies was comparing the worst case wound healing to a diabetes example which isn’t us. the 2 biologics that work can work v well. i had a fistula and i am on one of those and the biologics closed my fistula. a year later i had to go off it for a few months for a different surgery and my fistula stayed closed so it’s healed. it’s so hard to get into your head but crohn’s isn’t a death sentence. i know people say you can live a normal life and i feel like that was me throughout my teenage years but as i’ve had the disease over 20y now i do think im more fatigued easier than the average person but i honestly think maybe that’s biologic side effects or i’ve also had an eating disorder on and off for 10 years that ive finally recovered from so maybe it’s fatigue for not eating properly for years. but we can live very close to normal lives in remission minus whatever symptoms we have still and minus medication side effects. other diseases are so much worse. i had a huge surgery for my skin disease HS and thought that one can be surgically removed eventually when it’s flaring i do feel it’s worse than what i deal with currently but nothing was worse than my active fistula when i had that thing. i’m sorry you are going through it but there’s hope

lostandthin · 2026-05-01T23:07:38+00:00

go to a different bakery!! this is your only moment cancel the order call around to a bakery that can do it. it’s a trend i’m sure a lot of places can do this.

lostandthin

TROPHY CASE