Anal Itching...Never Truly "Clean" Down There Anymore (Thanks DD!)

[Anonymous]

Gross, but this is what anonymous message boards are for, right?

My anus is very itchy. It's worst at night. The doc says that she doesn't know what's causing it said the usual cause hygiene issues. I was a little offended that she suggested that. I'm a clean/neat freak.

However, since giving birth a year ago, it's true that I can never seem to really get "clean" down there. I've even started using wet wipes. I can get clean, but even after a pee, I wipe again and am dirty. I heard that ladies can leak a bit after birth, but it's been a year AND I had a c-section.

WTF is wrong with me? How do I get clean again? Any other causes of itching that i should explore? Or just to hear that I'm not the only one would be a relief. I feel so gross.

Sorry for the TMI, ladies. My whole f'ing body has just fallen to pieces after the baby.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so this is weird, but I had itching on my backside and (oddly) behind my knees. Turned out to be the yeastie beasies. Have you tried monistat?

[Anonymous]

pin worms?
strep?

[Anonymous]

I like the medicated hemroid wipes. I wonder if those would helP with your itching.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like yeast infection. You might try a little bit of athlete's cream and if that helps, it's yeast.

[Anonymous]

OP here, yeah, tried the wipes.no help. How would I know if it was fungal? I imagine if it was pinworms, fungal or something obvious like that the MD would have mentioned it??

I wonder if it's related to the massive hemorrhoid my beautiful DD left me with?

[Anonymous]

I've had similar problems. I use wipes and frankly take showers more than once a day. However, one thing that has helped me is tinkering with my diet some. I used to eat huge amounts of fruit (I come from a culture where that is normal) and lots of dairy. I think that made the consistency of my BMs less cohesive which added to the problem. I find eating oatmeal every morning really helps with the consistency which makes for less of a mess. Sympathy - I'm also a neat freak so it bugs me too. Try tinkering with your diet and see if that helps.

[Anonymous]

Sounds to me like anal fissures. If you're a "clean freak" you probably wiped too hard after a couple of poos.

Do you ever have bleeding?

Anal fissure. Yup.

[Anonymous]

Probably yeast; get a topical prescription from your doctor and be really vigilant about keeping clean/taking sitz baths to soothe.

[Anonymous]

I have this problem too. It's really annoying. Is it a sign of a problem?

[Anonymous]

If it's intensely itchy at night, it might be worms. I would keep a mirror and flashlight by the bed. Turn the light on and look with the mirror or have DH take a look. They'll crawl back inside when the light hits. Gross but very treatable:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002137/

If it's not that and just the wear and tear of pregnancy, agree with the baths--that's what my gyno told me--a warm bath 10-20 minutes daily. I never get to do it daily, but try. It's a nice way to unwind at night after the kids are in bed.

[Anonymous]

I had this problem and my dr. prescribed an ointment that had anti-fungal and cortizone in it. I can't remember the name. It took care of it within a week.

[Anonymous]

OK OP-- I'll share with you (ALL!!) that I had this problem for a while. We had been heavy "wipes" consumers in my family, but I read an article that suggested that some people might actually find wipes quite irritating. I didn't think this could be me, since my skin isn't generally sensitive, but I thought I'd try laying off the wipes for a week. Lo and behold, my little problem magically went away!

My family has also been through pinworms. If you have a child in daycare (mine was in Kindergarten when we were afflicted), that's quite possible.

[Anonymous]

Time to get a bidet OP!

[Anonymous]

I would kill for a bidet.