Anus problems

[Bruhoof]

Hi, I have a leakage from my anus. It's clear and doesn't smell like feces but does have an odor. Sometimes it's not very noticeable but sometimes it seeps through my underwear and shorts and can be very uncomfortable. It got to this point a few weeks ago after I put the handle of a vibrating tooth brush up my bum. It did happen once before but I don't remember what could be a cause for it and it seemed to go away after a day. It would be a huge relief if there was a fix to this or if it should go away with time. Since it has lasted more than a few weeks I'm very afraid that it could be permanent. But I would still be happy to atleast know what this is. Thanks.

[Paxiled]

Life is hard.  Welcome to it, you'll be living with that for the rest of your life.  Okay, if you're an adult, even if you're still on your parent's insurance, you no longer should need their permission to schedule an appointment as long as you have your own insurance card.  That's how it was when I was your age.  When I went off to college at 17, I had to make my own decisions about when to seek medical care obviously as I wasn't living at home anymore, and no doctor ever asked me to bring in my parents even though I was still on their insurance (I also had available to me student health at university -- are you going to college?)  So I'd get on the phone and call your family physician and just schedule an appointment.  Don't tell your parents.  When you get with the doc, tell him what happened and that obviously you don't want your folks to know what you did and could he please not list it on the bill in particulars but just as a general diagnosis, which your parents are unlikely to understand.  If they do notice it when they get their statement, it won't say what you did, it will only list a doctor's visit and the charges, and you can tell your parents anything you like.  The invoice will not list the details of what you did, it will just list that a doctor's visit was had that day and what it cost and if anything more is owed on it depending on the co-pays in your policy.  Another alternative, if you have a job or source of your own money, is to bite the bullet on this one and pay for it yourself.  You can make an appointment with any doctor you want and this way if you don't use your parent's insurance they won't see a bill, you will.  You will in fact probably have to pay up front.  It won't be cheap, but it won't be prohibitively expensive either for a diagnosis from a primary care physician.  Are you able to scrape together a couple hundred dollars?  Is there a free clinic or other community health facility near you?  They are cheaper.  Now, if you need treatment, that can be expensive so then you'll have another decision to make, but at least you'll know what you're dealing with.  No, you can't legally just take an antibiotic, you can only legally get one with a doctor's permission and you wouldn't know which one to take because the right one is the one that treats what you have.  But you may not have an infection at all, in which case you'd just be harming your immune system for nothing.  Take it as a lesson learned -- you're going to have to find a different way to have fun.  You've developed a habit that you now know can cause you harm and I'm hoping this will lead to you finding safer ways of turning yourself on.  There are lots of ways to have fun out there.  Not that I know what you did caused this, but it sounds like it did.  I wish we could tell you what you have, but we can't.  Only a doctor can, and if it's lasting, you need to see one, but you also need to see one to learn if what you did was the cause to confirm to you this is something not to do anymore.  I can tell you, this happened a long time ago, but when I started having wet dreams at age 13, my Mom was so clueless about sex -- I have no idea how my parents ever had kids -- she thought I was wetting the bed.  Eventually she took me to a doctor, and I guess because of the nature of what he suspected it was he saw me alone without me asking.  That's very likely something that might happen with you without you even asking.  Be optimistic, this will work out.  Peace.

[AnnieBrooke]

It could be from an infection (how clean was the handle of the toothbrush?) or see the following list from a different website:

____

Mucus-based (clear) discharge from the anus can be caused by:

- Infection due to food poisoning, bacteria or parasites
- An abscess due to infection or an anal fistula (a channel that can develop between the end of the bowel and anus after an abscess)
- Hemorrhoids (piles) – swellings of blood vessels inside or around the anus
- Digestive conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease), irritable bowel syndrome, or food intolerance
- Sexually transmitted infections, including genital warts, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes simplex and syphilis
_____

Because you seem pretty clear that this came from the action with the toothbrush handle, that would seem to rule out digestive conditions and STDs, but if things don't straighten out, see your doctor.

[Bruhoof]

Thanks for your response. It could be an infection but this isn't very viscous like I would think mucus would be. I'm also not sure that an infection would last this long. It could be something other than the handle but it would be pretty coincidental with how it happened a day after. It's definitely not an STD and it shouldn't be crohn's disease because this is my only symtom. I have no pain, I have had a very very small amount of blood after wiping but no bloody stool, no fatigue, fever ,etc.

[Paxiled]

An infection lasts as long as it lasts, and if it receives no treatment can not only last a long time but keep getting worse.  That's not to say I know it's an infection, just to say that, no, an infection doesn't just go away.  That depends on your immune system and the virulence of the infection.  See a doctor.

[AnnieBrooke]

They differentiated the kind of discharge in the other website by describing clear discharge, red discharge and brown discharge, and used mucus-based as a way to discuss clear discharge. It didn't sound like they were saying that if the discharge was clear it had to look exactly like mucus, only that it wasn't from you bleeding (like hemorrhoids) or from stool leakage (like with encopresis).

Anyway, as we've said, this sounds like a diagnosis for your doctor to make.

[Bruhoof]

Honestly I just became an adult and don't have any way of seeing a doctor discretely. Otherwise I probably would've seen one already. Could I maybe just take an antibiotic? Or could I deal with it and hope it goes away?

[Bruhoof]

Also I've been doing this sort of anal stuff since before 10 years old. Why would I get something now but none of the other hundreds of times I've done this? Why did it happen to me before the toothbrush and went away? It's all so confusing to me. I've tried looking it up and nothing seemed to fully fit this. That's why I came here.

[AnnieBrooke]

If you're an adult, legally your parents don't have the right to sit in on your medical exams. If you tell the doc you'd like the exam to be private, they are required to leave. The doctor is also not permitted to discuss your case with your parents, even if you're still on your parents' health insurance. Basically, you have medical privacy. In your shoes, I'd get an appointment (if your mom asks what for, just say "it's private;" she'll go off on a red herring of worrying that you have an STD and will not think of anal discharge, I promise).

[Bruhoof]

Thank you for taking the time to try and help me. I'm now thinking of ways to see a doctor, but I don't have a driver's license and I don't schedule appointments. So it would be very weird and awkward to ask for things to be private. Especially with how my parents think it's weird that the doctor will even ask the patient if they want things to be private. I would have to tell them if I were to do this. So because this would be extremely embarrassing  for me. Do you think it would be OK to deal with it, since nothing seems to be life threatening so far?

[AnnieBrooke]

OK, now come on. Seriously. I have a 14-year-old son. If he were to say to me, "Can I get a doctor appointment and not have you in the room when I'm examined?" I'd get him the appointment and drive him there. I might be curious, but I'd also be a little amused, in that "My baby is growing up!" way. Your mother just might surprise you. (Anyone who's been a teenager will know that there are some things a teen won't ask a doctor in front of their parents, even if they really want to know.) I guess if your parents are very demanding that you disclose, you could open the conversation with "Did you ever want to see a doctor when you were my age, but your mom or dad insisted on knowing why, so you didn't even ask to go?" That should snap them out of it -- they do want you to be healthy, even if they can't satisfy their curiosity. And believe it or not, parents don't want to be those snoopy, interfering parents.

About their commenting on the legal emphasis on patient privacy  -- this emphasis is new (and wasn't part of your parents' upbringing), but if YOU say you'd like to ask the doctor some questions in private, they will take it better than if the doctor just reads a set of standard privacy questions at an appointment.

Another possibility if you really can't stand it, is to look up some unembarrassing ailment, like a kidney infection or encopresis or a hernia or a UTI, and look up the symptoms so you can say you have some of them (they have to be something Mom can't check at home by taking your temp). Then ask for an appointment, and only when you get to the exam room door, say you'd prefer to handle things without them coming in with you, and ask them to wait outside. Again, they are more likely to take this as a sign you're growing up than as something to cross-examine you about. Then your only problem will be summoning the nerve to tell your doctor what you did that might have led to your discharge. (Ps -- You don't have to admit what you used, you can just say you used an object.) If you think a doctor will be shocked and embarrassed by this, think again. They have truly heard it all.

I will add, throwing up a smokescreen of symptoms in order to get an appointment is a complicated way to do it. A bigger sign you're growing up is to just tell your parents you'd like to see a doctor without them there. It's your right, after all.

Good luck. The timing does seem suspicious for the toothbrush handle, but for all you know, it could be something entirely unrelated, and you'll find you're able to tell your parents freely what it was, once you get a diagnosis. Also, if your mom is the one who does your laundry, she might already have a clue anyway that something is off.