u/FillPuzzleheaded5601

I wonder if someone can tell me if they also have had similar problems. I have had IBS with alternating constipation and diarrhea for 15-20 years (since my teens). This has led to me having bleeding and soreness quite regularly, and i have had some problems with fissures. For the last two months i have had soreness, swelling of a tag/hemorrhoid (gp called it that at least) and some oozing of fluid after bowel movements. It has generally gotten better after being very careful, regularly using stool softeners and avoiding excessive cleaning. The swelling and most of the soreness is gone, but i still see some yellowish or pinkish fluid coming from the area around the skin tag/hemorrhoid after bowel movements. Also i have soreness for maybe 1-2h after bowel movements, but it then resolves. I’m worried i have a fistula because of this oozing, but it’s such a small amount of fluid that that also would be weird somehow. And i don’t know how common it is for other anal problems to produce fluid. Are these kind of issues common for people with IBS?

I wonder if someone with experience can tell if my story sounds similar to theirs. I have had a problem around my anus for about 2 months. It started with pain, mainly sharp pain during bowel movements and soreness after. I then felt that a skin tag i have had at the posterior part of the anus for some time was really swollen up and tender. I went to my gp who said it’s an external hemorrhoid and gave me steroid ointment and rectogesic. He could not see or feel any abscess and CRP was negative. Over the next days it fluctuated and eventually a small sore opened at the base of the skin tag.

This sore has not really healed since. It seems to heal for a couple of days, but then it starts oozing fluid again if i have a day of difficult bowel movemets (i have IBS). My condition has otherwise improved; bowel movements don’t sting anymore, swelling has almost completely gone away and i have days with basically no symptoms. I don’t really have pain, but more like burning and soreness for a couple of hours after bowel movements which then settles again. The fluid from the sore is very scanty and i only see it when i wipe it with paper. It doesn’t stain underwear or anything.

The reason i think this might be a fistula is that this ‘’sore’’ hasn’t gone away in so many weeks. My GP says it’s unlikely to be a fistula since i never had a clear abscess episode first, he could not see any pus coming from it, and he rather thinks it’s a chronical irritation from my IBS issues (i have alternating diarrhea/constipation, and have had fissures and bleeding repeatedly for years). But he refered me to a CRS and i’m going there in 2 weeks.