This is a post about butts.

May 11, 2020 7:01 AM

This is a post about butts and things that can happen to them, and not in the fun way. probably nsfw, idk, ymmv

Last year I had to take Amlodipine which has among its many side effects a particularly humiliating condition called occasional anal leakage. Yes. Anal leakage. Basically there's an almost daily... Um.. Slime trail? (Oh God) of oily nonsense that leaves my buttcrack covered in a painful red rash. It's either a chronic yeast infection or adult diaper rash or something else I don't know whatever I hate it please help.

To make matters worse I am also prone to swamp butt which is just the mortifying ordeal of having a sweaty bottom whenever it gets hot, aka right now, aka guess who is really miserable and not living their best life in quarantine at present.

I have tried Desitin, which is horrible but works if I really layer it on.

I have tried sitz baths and gentle, genital safe cleansers prescribed many moons ago by my OBGYN. (I am female and possess a vulva.)

These things only sort of help.

They do not stop the slime, or the trail of pain it leaves behind on my behind.

Since the nice people at urgent care are focused on way more important stuff, I am turning to you, fellow havers of butts, for aid.

Please, what can I do to address this situation that prevents me from sitting?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

if it's a yeast infection or some type of bacterial infection, you need an antifungal or antibacterial to really get at the issue of resolving the rash. ones the rash is dealt with, i would try a preventative of vaseline or desitin or another occlusive. have you tried using an absorbent material you kind of line your butt crack with and change throughout the day? something to both absorb but also keep your cheeks from touching each other and rubbing.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 7:22 AM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hi!

There's a lot of resources around the web for problems like yours - I highly recommend asking the people at /r/crohnsdisease for tips, as they often deal with problems like this. Here's a thread with a few helpful comments. https://www.reddit.com/r/CrohnsDisease/comments/6i01w8/serious_i_have_anal_leakage_need_professional_to/
posted by bbqturtle at 7:26 AM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

Are you certain that the slime is coming from your butt and not your vagina? I would try pantyliners to help keep everything drier, diaper rash cream to heal the skin, and perhaps boxer briefs to limit chafing, if that's something that extra moisture is causing.

I agree with you that urgent care is not necessarily the best place for you to receive care for this issue. I would put a call in to your doctor that prescribes the amlodipine, and see if they have any recommendations for ameliorative treatment or alternative medications. It also may be helpful to visit your gynecologist.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 8:06 AM on May 11, 2020

You might try seeing if your doctor can connect you with a wound care clinic or a wound, ostomy and continence (WOC) nurse for a consult. Keeping skin intact in all kinds of circumstances is what they do! Definitely see if your rash needs an antifungal or other treatment, but for prevention, a WOC nurse is the pro.
posted by MadamM at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2020 [6 favorites]

I'm so sorry. This sounds terrible. I can't speak to the actual leakage part. But for the skin irritation, have you tried Calmoseptine? It's the #1 thing we used to prevent diaper rash in a kid with very leaky bowels, and it worked better than typical diaper rash creams like Desitin, it wasn't even comparable. You can get it in giant containers or multi-packs from medical supply companies, and it can be applied with a spatula.
posted by juniperesque at 8:28 AM on May 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

You say you've used Desitin, but you don't mention any other diaper/rash creams. Desitin truly is terrible, but some of the other products are pretty great. A&D ointment gets sold in and out of the diaper aisle. Boudreaux's Butt Paste is popular. Buying three or four and comparing may be your friend here. Some come in trial (or like, travel?) sizes, which can keep costs down.

I can't suggest anything better than a WOC nurse, as mentioned above, for protecting your skin long term. They will not only have tips for your skin, but also for possibly your insides.

Long term, I would suggest talk to a nutritionist and a gastroenterologist to see if it might be possible to get your gut health back on track and/or mitigate the effects of the damage through diet.

I would make appointments with all three, get on cancellation lists in case they have "an opening in the schedule/last minute cancellation" This is a conversation that can be at least started via telehealth.
posted by bilabial at 8:45 AM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Wipe your butt with a flushable wipe for sensitive skin every time you pee. If you don't pee that often, drink more water and/or go to the bathroom just to wipe.
posted by Jacqueline at 8:59 AM on May 11, 2020

I've had some success in using creams designed to treat jock itch (a fungal infection). Also, you can try an over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream (1%) for short-term relief from inflammation and itching, until the anti-fungal cream kicks-in. But the hydrocortisone should probably not be used for more than a week or two.
posted by akk2014 at 9:12 AM on May 11, 2020 [3 favorites]

Another thing you could try is diaper rash sprays. I find them WAY easier to apply. Boogie Bottoms is the brand I see at the store but I believe there are others.
posted by emkelley at 9:44 AM on May 11, 2020

Oh dear you, I'm sorry you have to deal with this. The first thing that came to mind for potential sitting relief are these donut-shaped pillows popular with hemorrhoid sufferers.

Anecdotally, I was dealing with a candida-fueled kind of thing at the opposite end of the body: angular chelitis in the corners of my mouth that would come and go and flare up and cause all kinds of misery (treating the area with some OTC clotrimazole and/or hydrocortizone creams helped a little, but not enough). I decided to cut dairy, gluten, and sugar out of my diet and start taking a probiotic; after about a week and a half of those changes, I've had complete and utter relief. If you're inclined to tinker with your diet a little bit, you could try phasing things out to see if it makes any difference.
posted by missmobtown at 9:44 AM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hello! I have inconvenient and soft poops sometimes, because I don't have a gallbladder.

One thing that helps my butt a lot is using a bidet to clean the area. It doesn't have to be fancy; I use a portable squeeze bottle one. This definitely cuts down on the need for TP for me, and consequently, butt soreness from excessive wiping. Here's a link to some models: Best Portable Travel Bidets.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:07 AM on May 11, 2020 [3 favorites]

Call your GP and see if they can give you something other than amlodipine. I was taking something (can't recall at the moment) for hypertension and it gave me a dry cough, so I asked and got my medication changed. The dry cough wasn't nearly as annoying as your situation!
posted by sarajane at 11:11 AM on May 11, 2020

Since the nice people at urgent care are focused on way more important stuff, I am turning to you, fellow havers of butts, for aid.

Please please please don't deprive yourself of necessary medical care just because you think others need it more. Whether you seek care by calling your doctor's office, setting up a telemedicine appointment, or visiting urgent care - the folks there will triage you. They probably are dealing with more urgent and important stuff - but in that case, they will simply put you at the bottom of their list, and you'll wait for them to help more critical patients before helping you. But don't prevent them from helping you altogether!

If it's hard to think about that - it was very hard for me to wrap my head around this when my household had a recent health scare - you might consider which of these two scenarios is more burdensome to the health care system: (1) Calling your doctor for help now, or (2) Doing nothing now, and later acquiring some sort of severe infection that requires way more resources to treat.

Be well.
posted by shb at 12:58 PM on May 11, 2020 [9 favorites]

If you are overweight, diabetic or someone who eats a lot of sugar the first thing I would try is a clotrimazole cream. If you can't get any for a few days because shopping is complicated, wipe the area a few times a day - say every time you go pee - with a solution of vinegar mixed 1:1 with water. Keep a jar full in your bathroom. Let it air dry or dry inside you clothes rather than patting it dry after you swipe it with the vinegar solution.

If there is no improvement in three days you'll know it's not yeast and can try using something like a Dettol solutions. It's probably yeast or fungus.

If you are comfortable lying on your face to read or watch videos, I would try sunbathing indoors also in front of a sunny window.

Plain old petroleum jelly is cheaper than diaper rash ointments and works pretty well. Some people find it easier to apply also because it is softer and you don't have to scrape so hard to get it to stick.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:19 PM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

You are probably already going to great lengths to keep the area as clean as possible. But I wanted to 2nd the suggestion of frequent cleansing with a portable bidet/peri bottle. Even just using water instead of paper or wipes may give you some relief without the need for topical treatments. And nthing that you should ask your doctor for alternative treatment options.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:31 PM on May 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Wipe your butt with a flushable wipe for sensitive skin every time you pee.

If you do this, please don't flush the wipes. Whilst technically "flushable", they do not dissolve like toilet paper and wreak havoc in municipal and septic tank sewage systems. They are basically single use plastics.
posted by smoke at 5:46 PM on May 11, 2020 [5 favorites]

Just a note on the calmoseptine:

This shit is hardcore and awesome for wet skin issues and as such it does not come off with soap and water. Use mineral oil to clean it off your skin.

(It helped clear up my partner's dermatitis on her butt from being bedridden.)
posted by E3 at 7:01 PM on May 12, 2020