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Has anybody had a Sphincterotomy?

Posted , 102 users are following.

ianee
ianee

Hi All, I've been advised to 'seriously consider' a Sphincterotomy following Botox, which doesn’t seem to have worked. Although I'm booked in for a second round of Botox, my consultant advised me to have the 'risky' op The risk he says could result in incontinence and this is what scares me. Has anybody had this procedure, what was the recovery time and did it work, without the incontinence? Thank you.

4 likes, 260 replies

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  • happyending
    happyending ianee

    Posted

    I had LIS (lateral internal spinchterotomy) on 4 days ago and can report the following:

    My procedure was done in the office, only local numbing. I was in and out of the doctor's office within 1 hr. There was the option of full anestisia, but the wait would have been a few weeks. I was scared like sh**t, but in they gave me valium and then things were fine.

    I came home after surgery and as the numbing wore off it became painful. i took one ibuprofen and one norco, which took the pain level down to a 3-4. Bearable. I slept and woke up the next morning completely pain free, and that's how it has been ever since. 

    The first bowel movement, the day after surgery. Again I was scared like hell. Took a norco just preventatively and one valium. I went to the toilet, and, to my amazement, zero pain. All I can say is, from a pain perspective this was a 100% immediate success.

    However, the downside is that I now have humongously swollen external hemorrhoids on one side. Never seen or had this before. And they have not reduced since after surgery. They are not very painful, but definitely uncomfortable. Also, I am having 3-4 bowel movements a day now, basically after every meal. That is unusual, as I normally only have one a day. On top of that, these bowel movements have been on the hard side involving straining. That's also unusual, because with the amount of fibre and softener I am taking it should all be super soft.

    Third: I am incontinent to gas. I am not woried about this though. It's common, and usually goes away after a few weeks.

    Just 4 days after surgery is too early to draw a "bottom" line. But judging from how it's been going so far I would do this again any day.

    • Sawagoose
      Sawagoose happyending

      Posted

      Hi happyending,

      Thank you for sharing your story because I have so many similarities. I am on day 9 post surgery. I have three to four bowel movements a day. I used to only have one a day pre-opt. Some of the BMs involve straining, which I do immersed a bath because it takes the edge off. My bathtub has been my savior. A question for you is are you experience blood with your BMs? Only lately (Day 8) have I noticed more blood and even what look like clots passing with my BMs. The office nurse said not to worry unless you're bleeding enough to soak a maxi pad. I'm not quite there but it's still concerning. How's the incontinence now? I hope you're feeling better. :-)

  • graham82620
    graham82620 ianee

    Posted

    I had in 2014, I was 47 year old male at that time. No incontinence for me, just flatulence, more and a bit harder to control but still ok. Main problem for me was recuperation, I had it bad. Each patient is different, surgeon has no way to predict how long you will need. I could not work for 10 weeks. First week was agony, from second week felt like improving 2% every day. I had no effective pain management support but I had days where I was literally punching the walls. So very important to have a recuperation plan, they make it seem like you leave hospital and everything will be fine but this was absolutely not the case for me. You need a plan.
    • aliaa1993
      aliaa1993 graham82620

      Posted

      Hey Graham,

      I can relate to you. Though my surgeon said the wound should be healed from 4-6 weeks, I am off surgery almost 3 months and I can notstill feel 100% back to normal. I don't suffer bleeding but I still feel the tightness when I sit for at least a whole hour even with my foam pillow. Sometimes I feel a slight needle like pain between now and then. But so far BM is much better. When did u feel 100% normal Graham?! Just I am in need for some encouragement sad(

    • graham82620
      graham82620 aliaa1993

      Posted

      For me it was probably five months until I was absolutely 100% better. From three months on it was obviously improving day by day, whereas for the first two months I couldn't feel any improvement. Towards the end of the third month I was no longer in such pain that I needed to lie down after the BM's, and I could walk around but with a deep pain in my ass. Probably after five months that pain completely disappeared. I was lucky because I had the luxury of time, as I was in between jobs at that time, and my partner have a job so could support me. Not sure if everyone else is in such a situation. Also, try lidocaine on the affected area, my doctor only told me about this after I burst into the surgery wailing in pain one morning.....

    • marcushe
      marcushe aliaa1993

      Posted

      Thank you for this reply - it is good to hear someone else in my exact situation. I am at 3 months with my sphincterotomy as well after trying the botox twice. I am worried that it is not going to work. I still have a small tag and discomfort when going to the bathroom. Also, I have had pain in my testicles related to nerve damage from the anal fistula that got better after the sphincterotomy - and that has been coming back some. I have no blood on tissue but had my checkup a month ago (at two months) and my physician was not very happy or confident with the results. It had been healing OK to that point, but my physician told me that the sphincterotomy effects usually heals in 3 months. So now I am at 3 months. I have been shoveling fiber down my throat for three months with two large stool softener pills a day. I have found that Trader Joes makes great high fiber cerals, and two bowls a day morning and night can be a fantastic help and most of your fiber amount. Bananas, Carrots, Raisen Bran cereal, and double-fiber bread slices for peanut butter and jellys are all great and really help.

      But I was considering asking for a second sphincterotomy at 3 months to extend the effects to 6 months which I feel would almost certainly heal me.

      I'm afraid that if I don't have the sphincterotomy again, I will just be back all the way to 0 again one day after a bad movement.

      For now I've have drastically changed my diet for fiber and am hoping for the best.

    • marcushe
      marcushe

      Posted

      Also some more fiber foods are:

      Broccli (been having beef and broccli from the local chinese takeout)

      Whole wheat spagetti

      Whole wheat bread on sandwhiches from places like Subway / Jimmy Johns

      Fiber gummies (Amazon / Target) - max of five per day as they double as laxitives

    • aliaa1993
      aliaa1993 graham82620

      Posted

      Hi Graham

      oh my, I am so glad you are ok now and feel normal again!!! It is everyone's wish here. I guess we learn that health is not to be taken for granted anymore.

      i am sorry for not replying, these months I keep feeling a pain near my tailbone. Sometimes it is mild and other times it is killing me. One of my two fissures was located near the tailbone before the surgery. I thought that there is a problem in my tailbone but my dr told me it is a fissure pain radiating to the tailbone, that is why I feel the "hitting" pain, in addition to another one below it. So I did the surgery. However, I still experience the same pain location. I don't feel much pain in the second fissure location except occasional sting or burning. However, I still feel the pain in the tailbone, though the BM is now easier and I stopped any stool softeners cuz I get watery or gassy stools. I am 3 months and a half now and I am so worried about this tailbone pain. Could my BM get better even without softeners and the fissure is not healed yet radiating to the tailbone?! Have you experienced any tailbone pain or almost near it, as if you have fallen on it ?!! Nothing is apparent on the outer skin and the dr did an external examination and told me everything is normal. Could it be part of the healing?!!

  • tamara15502
    tamara15502 ianee

    Posted

    I had very bad anal fissure when I was around 16, the pain was unbearable. So I went to the doctor and then sent me straight to a specialist who basically said I NEED Sphinctrotomy. Now when he mentioned "surgery" and "general anthesia" I panicked. I instantly thought I was going to die! He reassured me that it is a straight forward surgery and I would be under the knife for no longer than 60 minutes, and that he had done many of these pocedures but not on anyone as young as me, now this alarmed me slightly. Non the less I proceeded to go ahead with the procedure! My main worry was I was going to be asleep the whole procedure and the whole thing kind of cringed me out!

    Day of the surgery I was very worried however the doctors and nurses where very calming and were very reassuring before hand. I don't cope with being put to sleep and being intubated very well I makes me very ill after however with this procedure I didn't really feel any of that like I did with my previous surgerys and the recovery wasn't to long I was back to my normal self going to the gym etc. After around 2 months post op. However it was very painful to pass for few months after.

    Relasp. I am now 18 and I relapsed a few weeks ago and just had the surgery all over again and it wasn't any different however I did feel very groggy from being a sleep for over 2hours due to complications

  • russel69537
    russel69537 ianee

    Posted

    I have just had a sphincterotomy and excision of 2 hemmeroids. The surgery was 4 hours ago and I am still under anaesthesia so no discomfort. I have just had a bath and the hems appear to still be there! Is this normal and due to swelling ? I know it's early day!

    • pnberg64
      pnberg64 russel69537

      Posted

      Russel,

      i had had my Operation on early morning Monday, (this is Thursday, just around noon). 

      I did, in fact find what looked like hemorrhoids just post op - they went away in a couple of days, and thus were probably operational swelling - perhaps from the removal of hemorrhoids.

      i still have one very sensitive piece of tissue "hanging down" which is external to the external to the anal opening - I suppose it might be related to the sphincterotomy, and have called the Drs office to check in and ask. I will tell you that after my first BM (which was constipated from anesthesia I think), life has improved considerably. The pain is not much more than I had prior to surgery, and in some ways quite less. Still a ways to go, though - swelling, tissue healing, frequency and control are all still resolving.

      best of luck to you!

      pn

    • russel69537
      russel69537 pnberg64

      Posted

      Thanks for that!

      It's sounds like you know your business, as I also called my Dr who said it is post operative swelling!

      Kind regards

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