BENGALURU: When it comes to bowel movements, there are way too many overpowering emotions to let you speak up. More often than not, a sense of embarrassment prevents people from openly talking about problems in their anal region. Shyness to open up about it, fear of getting it checked by a doctor and a general laziness add to the problem. Pooping might be a private thing, but imagine sitting on the pot for an agonisingly long time with no results. You’re sure not to like that, but you also console yourself thinking it’ll happen later. When this becomes a routine and the longer time also transforms into a painful affair, you definitely know something’s wrong.
What could be wrong?
To begin with, there could be several things causing you trouble. One of them could be anal fistula. As scary as it might sound, you need to understand that it could just be the preface to bigger issues lurking behind it.There are several glands that make up your body. Obviously, your anal tract is also made up of them. These glands contain fluids and serve several purposes, which we could talk about in another blog. There are times when these glands get clogged, causing a bacterial build-up inside. This causes swelling, trapping the fluid inside.It’s almost like a balloon, of course, of a much smaller size. Now, imagine, if you keep filling the balloon with air, what is likely to happen? It can no longer contain the air and will end up bursting, right? In this case, the filled-up part, also known as an abscess, will find a small opening in the outer surface and begin oozing the fluid. The channel that connects the abscess and the punched opening is what is called a fistula.
Take medical help
If you have an anal fistula and you’re still mulling on whether you should go to the doctor or not, here are some reasons why you shouldn’t be wasting any time at all. First, it’s an extremely painful condition. It prevents you from excreting well, which eventually will impact your diet, too. This could lead to not just painful pooping, but also to tiredness and acidity due to the insufficient diet. That’s a whole other problem altogether.
Why you should immediately book an appointment is also because an anal fistula could be hiding some really bad news. Even though this part of the blog might feel like just another Google search with says every small symptom could be of cancer, yet, we’ve got to say what we have to say. Anal fistulas could be a sign of cancer and you won’t know till you go to a doctor.
While an anal fistula may be a symptom of a cancer existing elsewhere in the excretory system like the colon, anal fistulas in themselves may house the cancer. This means, the tract with the swelling could have the cancer. In fact, cases of chronic fistulas could be indicative of cancers. Leaving an anal fistula untreated is also known to lead to cancers. Therefore, it’s best to consult a doctor and clear the air as a precautionary method.
The author is chief, Smiles Hospital