This woman was told she had haemorrhoids but her real disease led to much worse

Thanks to TikTok, everyday we learn new things. While the app is often talked about for its viral dances and silly (or dangerous) challenges, some content creators on the app are actually producing educational content.

This is the case for Paula Sojo (@paulasojoro). The creator who has over 200,000 followersshares her recovery story after she had to undergo a colostomy. The NHS describes this as ‘an operation to divert 1 end of the colon (...) through an opening in the tummy.’ This ‘opening’ is called a ‘stoma’ and it is common for people who get this type of operation to have a ‘ pouch placed over the stoma to collect your poo (stools).’

So how did Paula Sojo get there and how did this disease lead to her losing her 'butthole'?

Blood in the toilet and an impression of having something ‘in there’

Sojo’s story started when she was 18, in 2020. According to her TikTok, she lost a significant amount of weight quickly. More worryingly, she noticed that when she would go to the toilet, a lot of blood was coming out.

Because of those symptoms, she called her family doctor and described a weird sensation that she had.

I remember describing to my family doctor and to everyone who was taking a look at my butthole that it felt like there was something in there.

She describes that even though she couldn’t explain where this thing was, it felt like she was holding ‘onto a golf ball.’

Even though her symptoms were serious, her family doctor only diagnosed a case of ‘really bad haemorrhoids’ leaving her to go home with just a cream to apply.

Medical denial

After talking to her family doctor and following their instructions, Paula Sojo explains that she felt even worse and that she couldn’t get out of bed. As any young person would do, she decided to Google her symptoms and that’s when she stumbled upon ‘perianal Crohn’s.’

At first she was in denial but she continuously felt bad so she asked her mother to take her to the hospital. The ER doctor, once again told her that she had haemorrhoids and proceeded to ‘put them back inside her’ but that was far from the solution. After that trip to the ER she continued to feel terrible. She explains:

I spent the next couple weeks at home, absolutely bedridden. At this point, I don’t think I was eating one full meal a day. My appetite was gone and my energy levels were nonexistent.

By some miracle, her mom had the great idea to reach out to a colonoscopy clinic. Unfortunately, before she could even get there, she fainted and was taken back to the ER where they told her she was fine and had to wait for her colonoscopy appointment the following day.

A tragic diagnosis

When Paula Sojo arrived for her colonoscopy appointment, she had a fever of 41 degrees and, only at that appointment was she checked properly.

Nobody f***ing listened to me until this GI which I was just meeting for the first time, and said: Paula you don’t have haemorrhoids, you have Crohn’s’

As soon as the diagnosis was given, doctors realised that Paula had a severe infection and had to have immediate surgery. After the surgery the doctors said to Paula that not only did she have an infection but she also had an ‘abscess the size of a baseball.’

However, Paula kept feeling terrible and this was just the beginning of a year of regular trips to the hospital where she had to get surgery. The reason behind it was simple: she had ‘tunnels going from (her) butthole to this pocket, that baseball, so that anytime (she) would go number 2 the bacteria would go through these tunnels’ therefore creating the infection again and again and again.

Things got so bad that:

One night, during those hospitals stays, I was quite literally dying. That’s when I registered in my brain that this could be it for me.

Finally, after spending months trying everything they could, doctors had to tell Paula that she would have to get an ostomy bag. In February 2022, she ended up back in the hospital where doctors found even more abscesses. Paula decided to go ahead with a final surgery and that is how she lost ‘her colon, her rectum’ and she now no longer has a hole.

More info on Crohn's Disease HERE

Read more:

⋙ Disease X: The truth behind this mystery malady revealed, does it really exist?

⋙ Covid-19: Picking your nose could increase your chances of catching the disease

Sources:

NHS

TikTok