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Any other mothers of a child w/ perianal fissures?

Posted by concernedmomof5yrold @concernedmomof5yrold, Jul 30, 2023

We started at CHOP, Philadelphia (child was 4 y/o at the time) misdiagnosed and told had 2 anal fistulas. Attempted seton placement and still not discovered, just said it didn’t work. After flying son to CHOP Colorado for 2nd opinion discovered no fistulas but very deep fissure tears that have now broke through skin and feces coming out of the tear in skin. Son is in excruciating pain so tries to withhold which worsens condition. Finally found doctor who was willing to do Botox injection into spincter muscle and just had that done 7/18/23 but still in pain. Anyone had any success with this condition for their child? I feel as if I have no where to turn while I watch my son scream out in pain, can’t sit on his bottom and is afraid to now let anyone touch him.

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casey1329 | @casey1329 | Jul 30, 2023

How horrible, it's a mom's worst nightmare to see her child suffer. I'm not a medical person so I can only tell you what I do when faced with an unknown problem, google it. My husband had a lot of medical conditions last year, was in the hospital twice and saw 4 neurologists and got 4 very different diagnoses. I spent hours on the computer going down one rabbit hole after another. Finally, presented my thoughts & info. to the 4th neurologist who more or less went along with it and today my husband is fine. I wish all the best for you & your dear son.

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Valerie | @lacy2 | Jul 30, 2023

...am also sad to read of your child's pain and wish I could help... it's not a solution but do you think he might get some relief by sitting in a sitz bath of warm water placed on toilet bowl? ( I had to stop doing this because the warm water relaxed bowel and feces came out, but led to germs getting into female bladder and UTI .... but don't think this would affect a male - best be sure and check out first) if worth trying? .... best wishes for complete recovery and agree about the comment about checking Internet... J.

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concernedmomof5yrold | @concernedmomof5yrold | Jul 31, 2023
In reply to @lacy2 "...am also sad to read of your child's pain and wish I could help... it's not..." + (show)
@lacy2

...am also sad to read of your child's pain and wish I could help... it's not a solution but do you think he might get some relief by sitting in a sitz bath of warm water placed on toilet bowl? ( I had to stop doing this because the warm water relaxed bowel and feces came out, but led to germs getting into female bladder and UTI .... but don't think this would affect a male - best be sure and check out first) if worth trying? .... best wishes for complete recovery and agree about the comment about checking Internet... J.

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Thank you. & yes, we do sitz bath 3x day. I rotate each day either using baking soda and iodine in water because want to keep the skin from becoming infected. We literally are just changing his diet to an alkaline diet (but that is a job in of itself- I spent 2 days of just researching things that he can eat lol). But at this point, I’m willing to try anything that would help him.

For you, not sure if you are aware but they have the stem cell research that seems to be yielding very promising results. He’s too young as it seems like none of the trials offering this will take anyone his age. Only older teens.

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concernedmomof5yrold | @concernedmomof5yrold | Jul 31, 2023
In reply to @casey1329 "How horrible, it's a mom's worst nightmare to see her child suffer. I'm not a medical..." + (show)
@casey1329

How horrible, it's a mom's worst nightmare to see her child suffer. I'm not a medical person so I can only tell you what I do when faced with an unknown problem, google it. My husband had a lot of medical conditions last year, was in the hospital twice and saw 4 neurologists and got 4 very different diagnoses. I spent hours on the computer going down one rabbit hole after another. Finally, presented my thoughts & info. to the 4th neurologist who more or less went along with it and today my husband is fine. I wish all the best for you & your dear son.

Jump to this post

Thank you! What you did is exactly how I got him the Botox injection into the spincter muscle. I am hoping that this does for him what it did for others in all the research I came across. It’s too soon to tell right now but I am praying.

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1 reply
Moderator
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Aug 2, 2023
In reply to @concernedmomof5yrold "Thank you! What you did is exactly how I got him the Botox injection into the..." + (show)
@concernedmomof5yrold

Thank you! What you did is exactly how I got him the Botox injection into the spincter muscle. I am hoping that this does for him what it did for others in all the research I came across. It’s too soon to tell right now but I am praying.

Jump to this post

Hi @concernedmomof5yrold, I'd like to add my welcome. I added your question to the About Kids & Teens support group as well as the Digestive Health support group.

While not pediatric specific, you might also be interested in this related discussion:
- Anal fissure: What helps it heal?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anal-fissure/
@astaingegerdm might also have some tips to offer.

Concernedmom, it is so hard to see our children in pain and to feel helpless. It's near impossible to explain to a 4 year old that holding back so he doesn't poop only makes things worse. His reflex is to everything to avoid pain. I really hope the botox helps.

Are you able to get fluids into him to help keep the stool soft? Kids love watermelon, especially at this time of year. Might that help?

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