anal fissure

Gently press the heat pack directly up against your anus and keep it there, the heat forces the muscle to relax and stops the spasms, which stops the pain caused by the fissure. You can use a hot water bottle too as long as you can mold it to place up against your anus. Seriously. This saved me from so much endless fissure pain, it's like a concentrated hot bath focused directly where you need it, but without the inconvenience of running a bath and being stuck in a bath just to get relief. (I know baths are nice and all but not really always practical or accessible)

Best position is to lie on your back in bed, put your knees up like you’re going to do a sit up and then place the heat pack between your legs right up against your bum hole. Sorry for the graphic image but I can't really think of another way to describe it. Just be careful not to burn yourself, you want the heat pack/heat bag or hot water bottle to be hot but not so hot you burn your skin. It helps to wrap it in a pillow case that's soft and then if your heat pack is too hot, wrap it in more layers of the pillow case, which will protect you a bit more if it's too hot at first.

Before the heat packs I was taking dangerous amounts of pain meds to deal with the fissure pain which for me was all the time, including during the nights which were really hard... until I discovered the heat pack. Which thank God I did because they really work. Please try them, I understand this might seem silly and I haven't read it anywhere else but I know the suffering from fissures and this will help keep the pain at bay. Seriously, heat packs, heat bags or a hot water bottle pressed lightly up against your anus and held there, keep it held there and it will work. I sometimes keep it there for 15 minutes or more and then I take it off. Then when the pain starts up again I'll put it back and the muscle relaxes and the pain go's.

Try it. I had tried everything from which hazel oil in my bum to manuka honey in my bum (my wife called me sweet cheeks because of the honey), but the best thing to stop the pain has been the heat packs. Heat relaxes the muscle, stopping the spasm and the pain.

Ultimately though you want to find a solution to heal the fissure once and for all so I suggest the surgery. I've had Botox and that did not work, in fact I was in a lot of pain afterwards, then I got the fissurectomy/sphincterectomy combo surgery and I am finally free from it all. I know it sounds nuts to get a surgical cut to fix a fissure but it’s the sure way to fix it. Conservative methods like Botox and Rectogesic Ointment did not work for me, in the end only surgery worked. I wish I had done the surgery first cause I went through months of pain and hopelessness that I could have avoided had I just done the surgery first.

Though very important, make sure you research and choose a reputable specialist to perform the surgery. Don’t just go with anyone, find and choose the best that you can cause for me it was the 3rd specialist that ended up fixing me with the fissurectomy/sphincterectomy. The first specialist caused the problem, the second specialist didn’t help and made my pain seem trivial until finally I researched and found the best in my area and he, the 3rd guy fixed me. So it’s worth it, pay a little more, travel a little farther if you have to but see the best that you can or at the very least someone with a lot of experience with exactly that surgery. If you’re in Sydney Australia then the Prince of Whales private hospitals “Sydney Colorectal Associates” really have a great team; Dr. Newstead fixed me and I am so thankful for him but he’s part of a group of several specialists there that all seem good.

Until then though, heat pads, use heat pads to relieve the pain.

I’ve come on here to give people this info to help but sorry I don’t think I’ll come back to follow up cause honestly I just want to move on with things, so please take the advice above and save yourself pain and anguish.

Heat pads then surgery.

How I healed my fissures was to immediately go on a 100% liquid diet (no fiber and all -- and no, I did not get constipated!).

I drank

1) bone & fish broths which my family made for me with lots of vegetables (not potatoes - too starchy) and seaweed. Of course, this was all strained out and I drank only the broth.  For beef broth or other fatty broths, strain and refrigerate them so the fat congeals.  Scoop off the fat first. You don't want to eat this or you wil be pooping out balls of fat, which you want to avoid.  There is lots on the internet about the healing power of bone broths for the gut.  Fish broths can be made by putting the carcass, including head and skin, in water and simmering for hours and then straining.

2) slippery elm bark tea with some (strained) lemon juice and pure maple syrup - kind of like a modified Master Cleanser drink.  I drank up to 1 cup of maple syrup a day like this- this was the main source of my calories.

3) lots of water and mint/other herbal teas

4) fresh vegetable juices (organic carrots & kale), again strained and in small quantities.

I also mixed 2 Tbsp olive oil with 10 drops of calendula essential oil (you can also add some geranium, lavender, eucalyptus) and morning/night/after bathroom squirted some of this (using a dropper) into my anus.

Also, squeeze your anus muscles a few times a day. This increases circulation, which promotes healing, and gives you an idea of how tears are healing.  I also slept with a hot water bottle against my ass - the heat helps promote healing.

I was on a completely liquid diet for about 3.5 weeks.  The mistake I made the first time was to start eating too much too soon - and I was in agony and pretty much back to square one.  The desire to eat is so great -- but you must take it slowly!!

The second time, after about 3.5 weeks of only liquids, I started with one teaspoon of applesauce and waited until I passed it.  If it was not painful, I increased this to 2 tsp and again waited.  I began to add teaspoons of avocado and banana.  It requires so much discipline to proceed this slowly, but I had the painful experience of what happened the first time I tried to eat too much, too quickly.  So I made sure I did not eat any more than a teaspoon, until I had passed the last one.

It is a slow, slow process, but this was the only way I was able to heal. Now I am back to eating normally and have a great respect for my body and feeding it only the best foods.

Suzanne

Drink 2-4 glasses of miralax and 2-4 glasses of water daily and you'll heal in about 2days to a week. It softens your stool to the point that your bm no longer hurts.

I just healed myself from a fissure of 2+ months.

1. a bunch of organic carrots.

2. at least 2 beets

3. apples to sweeten

Use a juicer and make enough juice to drink all day long. If you must eat, eat spinach apples and carrots. Stay away from meat, pasta, rice, etc. Only veggies if you MUST eat something!

In about 3 days the pain will be considerably low. Now here is the key, just because you are starting to feel better doesn't mean you can go out and eat anything you want. It takes a long time to truly heal a chronic anal fissure. When the pain is gone, slowly, and I mean slowly start to put food back in your diet. Stay away from starches, processed food, alcohol, meat for a while. Even when you are juicing it is very important to take stool softeners while healing. That way the leftover hard food wont re-open the fissure. Use ibruproben to keep the rectal area from swelling too much. I take it in the morning before my first movement with a bottle of water (which helps get everything moving). Take a bath immediately after your movement. MAKE SURE YOU FINISH POOPING before you jump up. Your body with keep trying to push out the poop and that is SOOOO painful. Thats why the stool softners are so important. Ive fainted during my bowel movements but nothing compares to the constant throbbing of your rectum trying to still move. Stay juicing for a long time. I did it for a couple months. I wanted it gone. If you do something stupid and eat and drink the wrong thing and your fissure comes back, start all over again. Understand that you rectum is pernamently weak now, and you will have to alter your eating and drinking habits for the rest of your life. Drink lots of water and exercise. MAke this a lifestyle change. You must eat as healthy and pure as positble. White flour, sugar, processed food is no longer your friend. Alcohol is extremely limited (none while juicing and healing). Good luck. This is a very painful thing you are going through. 

Hi everyone

I have just been diagnosed with an Amal fissure.

I don't just read all your posts about this and feel relief that I'm not on my own and at last there are other people out there that know how excruciatingly painful a fissure is.

I'm going to try lots of the things on here that people have suggested and am hoping this severe pain and trama will subside and I can begin to live my life again, it really does stop you in your tracks and you can't focus on anything

M

I have been suffering from an anal fissure for the last six months, after giving birth to my daughter. I had Botox injection last week and I do not feel like it has improved any, if anything I feel much worse.