Hi guys I have just been to the doctor and he has said I have pruritus Ani what are people's best remedy for this, doctor has given me creams to help so hopefully I'll be on the mend soon.
Good Luck with those creams Craig ... but in the meantime i suggest you make the time to read through MANY of the threads here (have a pen n paper with you so you can write things down!) Not to discourage you but most of us have tried various lotions potions and ointments from doctors which in the end may have given temporary relief but in the end it comes back. One of the creams i was prescribed made matters worse and my entire butt broke out in a rash! Also certain ones can thin the skin and the area we're talking about is already so thin and sensitive so you have to be careful how much and how long you use them. We're all different and i think the "cause" isn't always the same for each of us so that's why it's important that you do your own research and this is a great place to start. It's an internal issue ... but what actually causes it is the mystery. The creams etc don't address the root cause.
Did you really wait 11 yrs before you saw someone about this issue??!!
Tbh I was embarrassed to go and see a doctor and just lived with it as I was young and niaeve but it got to the point where something had to be done, went to doctor last year about it and they sent me to hospital (camera up there) HD said I have a skin tag. Went back today as the itching at night is unbearable and he has directed me to this website and told me what the condition was.
Wow i'm impressed that your doctor actually told you about this web site! That's a pretty good sign!! Ya it's an embarrasing thing forsure... I seldom have to see a doctor so having to expose my butt of all things was tough but when you're desperate that no longer matters!
(in-"bare" assed!! no more) Hope what he gave you helps ... btw let us know what he prescribed for you .. but as i mentioned the best thing you can do is start reading .. reading ... reading.
Doctor has given me zerobase emollient cream to apply three times a day and also trimovate cream to be applied once at night for 2 weeks
I went to doctor because I thought it was a hemorrhoid. Nope. He said it was PA. Said there was nothing I could take for it, but I could change bathroom habits and look at my diet. Certain foods can irritate the area and I'm sure your doc gave you a list. But as for bathroom habits, I use baby wipes sans alcohol for initial cleaning, follow up with balneol or drugstore brand- CVS has a generic that is cheaper, and if necessary use A&d ointment for protection. I've been doing this routine for last several years as it scares me to go back to straight tissue. It really helped me and it didn't take too long to notice an improvement. I never did an experiment with my diet to see if that was cause. One last thing doctor said I could try to soothe area is a suppository that you get without prescription but pharmacy may have to order- Calmol. I tried those and it helped a little. Even though it is marketed for hemorrhoids.
kurious nailed it Craig. This conditon has almost as many "cures" as it has possible causes. Creams, lotions. antiboitics, fungicides, dosing for threadworm, diet and even capcasin didn't help me, although others on the forum have benefited from one or more of these. One common thread seems to be cleanliness. I, and a lot of others on the forum, use a hand held shower head when we bath each night. After that I used to apply a barrier of Calmoseptine but later switched to dusting with talc. I even used a hair dryer to make sure all moisture was evaporated before applying the talc. Both worked but more recently I just blot it dry (no rubbing) with toilet paper after my shower. so far so good! Waking hours are a little more problematic as not many people can take a shower after every bowel movement. I just clean as well as possible with a non greasy cleansing lotion. You will see Balneol mentioned frequently on the forum and it is good--but expensive. I have since switched to Cetaphil moisturizing lotion and it seems to work as well. Again--this is just what controls mine. It may not work for you, but as kurious said, there are many remedies that have worked for others on the forum--an short of anal tattooing none of them have any serious downside (although capcasin does burn like hell). Good luck!
Thanks very much guys for the advice I will keep you all updated on how I get on
I know this is going to sound insane but truly it works... Don't scratch !!!! You need to fight that urge trust me if you scratch it will get worse. If it's really bad just put pressure on it or ice but FO NOT SCRATCH ... Use damp tissue when wiping
Night 1- never woke up during the night to itch which is a massive bonus, felt the urge to itch at night before went to bed but put cream on and it settled down, itch is still there but don't feel the absolute need to itch it, it's a start
Fifteen years of suffering, bleeding skin, saw four doctors, prescrition creams are only masking symptoms. I changed my laundry soaps, my undergarment fabric to cotton, sleep with ice packs, tried every natural home remedy including Apple cider vinegar and now finally I am not just in relief I am cured! I started taking fish oil supplements and it's been months and it completely disappeared! No itching, no bleeding, no irritation, no desire to scratch. Please give it a try. I was at my wits end and I finally got a normal life back. I noticed results in less than a week.
Fredthecat ... are you currently taking the apple cider vinegar and if so how much and how often .. and do you feel it was the fish oil that made the difference? The ACV seems to be a cure-all .. great stuff.
What the dr has given hasn't worked will try the fish oil supplements and see how I get on
Hello Kurious,
No the apple cider vinegar did not help. I use only fish oil suuplements. I take Bayer Pro ♥️ Ultra Omega -3 two soft gels a day. They also contain vitamin D however I had been taking D for years so I knew the vitamin D was not curing the itch. It has to be the Bayer Pro. I just ran out of my first bottle and went straight to the pharmacy for another one. I am not planning on trying any other type, as I itched so bad before, it would bring me to tears. I am a female and mine started around the age of 43 and as I said it's been fifteen miserable years until two months ago when I started taking these. I took them for heart health not itching. The result was I cured my itch!
So good luck and give it a try. I would try and find what I used just in case other fish oils don't work. Read about fish oil - it has many health benefits. Best of luck to you! Let me know if it works!
I use Bayer Pro ♥️ Two soft gels a day- contain Ultra Omega 3 - EPA- DHA. - and vitamin D. Best of luck to you - please let me know if they help.
Iam in the same boat and seen 3 doctors for th past 5 years of this and iam going crazy...
It dosnt help its this plus fissures on and off
Was soooo random the ointments ive a have done nothing but mke mine worse and mext is referral to hospital skin something lol
Noticed theres heaps of random things doctors try so something to do with steriod injections.
I don know but im ready to try almost anything
I just completed a visit to a third dermotologist in an effort to find the root cause of my itching. I completed what is called a skin patch test- not to be confused with the standard testing done by an allergy Doctor. Since my itching stopped with fish oil supplements, I was convinced something I was eating was the cause. It turns out my patch test shows a nickel allergy. Nickel is found in many foods so according to my dermatologist, what goes in must come out, and apparently my skin around my bottom, didn't like the nickel. That I believe is the cause. The fish oil must somehow protect my skin around my rectum, as now I do not itch. I had an idea it was from my diet somehow, as some days it was so much worse than others. My advice to anyone is to see a dermotolgist, get a biopsie. That is where I was diagnosed with contact dermatitis. Had that doctor who found the dermatitis ordered a patch test, I would have saved my self a year of grief. She however did not, she prescribed cream. I then saw two more different dermologists. It was hard to see all these different doctors because
this is such an embarrassing issue.The second one sent me to the third one who did the patch test. It proved to me that not all doctors are interested in finding causes, just prescribing creams to mask the root cause. I found an amazing Doctor and I now feel I know exactly what caused my problem once and for all! So don't settle, keep pushing till you find out what the culprit is. There is an answer,
Okay Fred, how have things been the last two months?
I have 30 years of this and have probably experimented with over a hundred different approaches. If I can seriously take a fish oil pill and have this stop I would be in heaven. What do you take and how often?
Sorry...... should have kept reading. I will check that out. Hopefully it works!
Keep reading further. Found root cause- nickel allergy. See my most recent post