lateral internal sphincterotomy…. boom!
Posted , 26 users are following.
Instead of getting in on existing conversation I have hopes that this post will get read more as a new topic.
I, just like anyone on this forum am a sufferer of chronic anal fissures. Im a 30 year old otherwise super healthy and fit male. Ive been suffering from fissures for 12 years. Let me clarify that over the 12 years it wasnt a constant ordeal. Some years id only be affected for a week, two weeks, or maybe three. In the beginning it was a little blood here and there and a sore rear for a couple of days. As the years went on the occurances became more frequent and heal times were growing in length. Battled it with the common suggestions: lean light diet, high fiber intake, supplemental fiber, and gallons of water. All are great things but when the problem becomes chronic the requirements to obtain health (in my case) were more than that. This year has been the worst... i own my own small business and am fourtinate that things had been going exceptionally well (and im penny mc pincher and save every dollar i can) because 3 weeks ago i reached a point to where i could not work any longer. A year ago in my mind surgery was out of the question. Im a control freak (hence me working for myself) and the thought of being put under while someone with a scalpel operates on an area that is of up most sensitivity was out of the question. Plus the fear of the unknown just scared me to death. 3 weeks ago i came to the realization that there were no other options... unless i could make a living doing construction while laying on my couch... Went to my general physician because i needed a refferal to get to a specialist. No problem there, he hooks me up with a surgeon and i make a consultation appointment. That appointment took place this past Monday at 7 am. I meet him, instantly like him. Hes a busy man so he was to the point. That was fine with me. Didnt need a hug from a doctor, i needed a doctor to look me in my eyes and tell me he could help me. He did just that, in fact he told me it would only take him 15 minutes (the procedure ended up taking 20 becasue i had a polyp he removed as well) to help me and that i was going to be very upset with myself for letting this rob me of my quality of life over the last 12 years. Since the procedure is so short he scheduled me for the next morning at 7AM. He typically didnt get to work until 8 but wanted to help me so he began his day an hour early to take care of me. What a blessing! I was there early, got hooked up with a good nurse and at 7:15 they knocked me out. I woke up in what felt like 5 seconds but was actually 2 hours and it was over. I didnt get to see the surgeon again because he was so busy but he told my mom that i was in much worse shape than hed originally thought. Told her he didnt see how i was living my life! By 1130 AM i was back at home on my couch!!! Nauseous from the drugs but local numbing shots had the rear end feeling no pain at all! They gave me a perscription of 25 325 MG hydrocodones (not super strong) pain pills. I know that pain pills can and will constipate you so i went into this whole thing with the goal of ONLY taking them if i absolutely NEEDED them. if you have a fissure youve dealt with pain. so the day of the operation i ate nothing, didnt want too. Numbness wore off that night at 930 and it was rough but nothing i hadnt dealt with before. Actually i defined it as a 7/10 as to where the day before i was an 8 or 9/10 after a bowel movement. I took one pill that night (they wanted me taking 1-2 every four hours) to go to sleep. Day two still didnt eat. Some of that was fear of making myself go to the bathroom part of it my stomach just wasnt feeling it. Day two i did not go to the bathroom either. Had me super nervous because im SUPER regular. I go every morning within 20 of being awake. I chocked it up to the fact i hadnt eaten either day and that i hadnt eaten much the two days before the procedure. I was also soaking in the tub 3 times every day... tub is amazing! I took one pain pill night two to help me sleep. Day 3 i woke up and could tell i was headed in the right direction. Ate oatmeal for breakfast and bounced from the couch to the tub. That night i did use the bathroom some. Of course i was scared to death, new stitches, a sore in an area thats been miserably painful! Just like he said, the feces never once hurt my fissure. Sure, it felt weird going having stitches there and yes there was some blood at the incision site but after the BM i got in the tub and it helped relax it all. I also ate a huge salad that night. If i am taking stool softners i always take them before the meal then a serving of mineral oil after the meal. Never took a pain pill on day 3. Day 4 i woke up and the bowels wanted their regularity back. Scared to death but cant hold it in for ever (hahaha) i went, and i went a lot. Again, absolutely NO fissure pain. Just that odd pressure from having the stitches. That specific BM took me 50 minutes but it wasnt anything more than a 3/10 on the pain scale! Then, 30 minutes after that BM pain hit me. But, id just really stretched that area out for the first time so it was to be expected. I instantly took two pain pills and got in the tub. Sat in the tub for 45 min. By the time i got out of the tub the pills were working and it wasnt a big deal. probably a 4/10. The rest of the day was all good. Tub to couch, couch to tub. I didnt even have to take a pill to sleep and slept pretty good. Today is the 5th day after the procedure and the bowels were regular again this morning... went a lot again. So instead of waiting on things to hurt again i took 2 pills and a bath. Boom! same result. Now its 6:15 in the evening, my pain hasnt been over a 3 today (last week every freakin day was a freakin 8!!!!!! a 10 being my a$$ is going to the hospital). Yesterday i ate a squash fried in heavy olive oil and today ive eaten a big salad again. Its crazy where i was mentally (where you all are now) a week ago. Just the fear and the lack of trust is what kept me from doing this years ago. If your problem is chronic i find it very doubtful that diet, fiber, and water are going to fix it. My problem... plain and simple... my hole was too small. Nothing was going to fix that except for a surgeon and a scapel. Im a big believer in God and prayed heavily on this for a long time. The way it went for me was sent from him. Everything from start to finish. I tell you what else helped me a lot, i met someone two years ago on a job and he saw me drinking my fiber and asked why i did. long story short he had the same problems and had the surgery 6 years ago... hes never had a problem since and he swore to me that the surgery (if performed correctly) was absolutely nothing compared to dealing with it daily. He was 100% right and i was very thankful to have him on my side. Ive bombarded him with questions and hes been amazing about it. Very thankful for him.
See a specialist
Make sure you like your specialist (as soon as i met mine i liked him)
If they can confidently look at you and tell you they can help you let them help you
Pray ( you should do that every morning and night anyway 
)
Ive used Calmoseptime ointment a lot, before going as a lubricant, after going as a soother. Ive even been using it after the procedure because it is a skin protectant from infection (get it on your finger one time and youll see what i mean haha).
Be strict about what you eat, that has never been a problem of mine but im sure it is for some people. If you put it in the top its gonna come out the bottom and you can control what goes in, in turn, means you can control what comes out. You eat salads daily your gonna be better off than eating steaks daily... duh. Good luck everyone! Tomorrow morning i start my 6th day of recovery and I havent had a smile like this on my face in months. GET THE SURGERY
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0 likes, 121 replies
elizabeth71069 eric_87904
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eric_87904 elizabeth71069
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You're welcome. The MAIN thing to me was meeting a surgeon I liked. Fortunately the first one i met I liked. Just getting a general read on someone can tell you a lot about them. Trust me, if I met a doctor and I thought he was a dummy there's no way I'd let him operate on me. The "DR." Before their name doesn't mean they're all great, or good hearted, just means they passed Med School. But I can tell if I like someone enough to let them work on me. The getting put under was no big deal. They gave me a Valium 30 min before procedure and it chilled me down lol. I turned straight comedian after that. Ha. Just trust... On many levels! And be optimistic as possible but I knew I had 0 chance of healing on my own. I had no other option, so my scariest lowest point was just before i DECIDED to have surgery. From that day on mentally I was better. Then by the day the procedure came I was happy about it. Scared but happy! You just gotta be real with yourself. I mean 12 years of putting up with that... Who was I kidding? I was not able to fix it. The last 4 days I've been super active. Caught myself actually forgetting about the whole thing yesterday as I was driving down the road.
elizabeth71069 eric_87904
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eric_87904 elizabeth71069
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I was out and about 7 days after surgery. Not like I was laying in pain all of the days before that because I wasn't. Just didn't want to rush things. Surgery was a week ago this past Tuesday and I'm still taking it easy. I feel amazing but won't go back to work until next Tuesday. But my job is very physical.
green59 elizabeth71069
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Liz it's taken me 15 days to be able to drive my car and walk outside for an hour only. However today I spent 2-7pm all outdoors and driving. It really differs person to person but one thing for sure is that you feel an amazing difference after and don't need to rush to drive and venture outside. I have been signed off work for one month which shows for some you can't just go back to work because you can't sit down too long in fact you can't sit, well I couldn't for 12 days as it felt quite bruised but nothing that you can't handle.
Remember if you are already experiencing a chronic fissure it can't get any worse after surgery
nima2000 eric_87904
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Hello dear eric. I'm so happy that surgery went well for you. I'm in the point thar the pain is killing me right now!
I'm suffering from the pain for 2 years and I can't continue like this. I want to do the surgery but I'm really scared
(
eric_87904 nima2000
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Have it done. I'm only 11 days recovering and it's ridiculous how good I feel. The ONLY thing I feel is the puffy looking tissue left after almost any incision. It's sensitive but nothing like you're going through. I promise the day before my surgery was way worse than any day after it. The pain only nearly reached what it was before the surgery ONE time. Two pain pills (small ones) and 45 min in the tub and it was gone! I'm telling ya.... Coming from one of the biggest wuss ass non trusting most stubborn humans on earth... The sore mainly hurts because of the tightness of the muscle under neath. Let someone cut that muscle back. 20 min.....
eric_87904
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You can handle pain... Clearly. If you're living with this you're going through worse pain than the surgery (as long as it's performed correctly). Just make sure you're Doctor does them regularly and believes in the need for them.
nima2000 eric_87904
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Thank you eric.thank you so much for your advise. I'm gone see the surgen tomorrow and do the surgery this week.i should have done that a year ago.
Thank you again
eric_87904 nima2000
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You're welcome. In my opinion if you haven't been healed up in a long time and you have confidence in your surgeon and they agree that you need it go for it. I swear I think I will be back to completely normal a week from now. Like work 10 hours then go to the gym then come home and shoot my bow. those are the things I was dreaming about doing two weeks ago. Plus eating a wider variety of food lol. I'm still taking it easy in that department tho.
nima2000 eric_87904
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Sure I definitely go for the surgery.in just 2 month i have to leave my town for My MSc and I can't deal with this pain in university.wish me luck with the surgery
.
I hope nobody ever face fissures in their life.It's horrible
Thank you again eric.I hope you become healthy completely again.
green59 nima2000
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Please go for it
I had it done 18 days ago. Questions to ask at the consultation include:
- risks, I was really worried about being unable to hold my stool after as that's a risk but it was explained that the surgeon will not go anywhere near the muscle that control stools. Get that confirmed!
-bowel movement after surgery and what will be given to you to avoid any risk of constipation due to strong painkillers given whilst recovering
-foods to avoid
-medium to long term medication. Especially note what painkillers you will take home. I managed to avoid any constipating ones and went off only with naproxen that's for anti inflammation. If you can avoid pain killers avoid it and stick to the likes of naproxen
-recovery time needed, this will vary person to person it's taking me longer than predicted for me but the good thing is I feel fantastic because I was at my worse before this surgery.
Good luck you will feel great.
jennifer_15117 green59
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More good info thank you!!
nima2000 green59
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Thank you green59.Im so happy that you feel great right now.wish me luck with the surgery.the pain ruined my life for 2 years.i can't deal with that anymore
nima2000 eric_87904
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eric_87904 nima2000
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Don't be scared. The surgery was a breeze. I left home at 5:30 am and was back home at 1130 am. What you're going thru now is worse than what you're going to go thru. Not bed ridden, no. The day of the surgery was easy because they gave me local numbing shots too. They literally lasted ALL day. Main pointers from me... Drink something to clean you out. I didn't and I should have. That way after the surgery is over you don't have anything in you to come out. Buy you a BM free day or two. Don't RELY on pain pills. If you're not taking them now then I can't imagine you NEEDING them other than a few nights to help you sleep and after your first BM or two. They prescribed me 7 a day!!! I took 7 total throughout the whole recovery. I'm back to work 100%. Worked 36 hours in the last 4 days out in the sun and heat. My a$$ isn't even on my mind. And I've been eating food like I just woke up from a 3 year coma . After procedure I ate salads and oatmeal for like 4 days before I gave my body anything else. If you're taking stool softeners and mineral oil and eating those things.... You aren't having a big hard stool.
nima2000 eric_87904
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Thank you for caring about the comments here.i really appreciate it.
Pray for me please.I hope that you never face that problem again.
eric_87904 nima2000
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You're welcome. I just know it helped big time having someone to converse with. Tomorrow is 21 days since procedure and I just can't believe it. When I left post op check up Dr said he shouldn't ever have to see me again. Prayers going up /\
elizabeth71069 nima2000
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nima2000 elizabeth71069
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Thanks Elizabeth.I hope you'll get better with out surgery.mine is for 2 years and I can't continue with this problem in university nexr year.
Sure i will tell you about the surgery as soon as i feel ok after the surgery.
I'm so happy that i can talk to you guys and feel better.
jennifer_15117 nima2000
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Praying for an easy surgery and recovery! We are all with you in spirit! I have been 6 months in pain and fear and I am so exhausted on all levels from this nightmare. It has healed a lot but not the last part of it and it is so discouraging . I am finding the courage to have the surgery even tho I have chemical sensitivities and am so afraid of the weeks of sickness I will have to deal with from having anethesia !! That is my biggest fear that and that the surgery won't work but after hearing Eric and Miles story I am so encouraged and hopeful and a lot of fear has left me and I think it will be worth it !
I wish you the best we will all be waiting to see how you are! Keep us posted
nima2000 jennifer_15117
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Thank you jeniffer.i hope you will get better but if don't,i think surgery is the best to go.Tomorrow is the surgery and I will post here about it as soon as it will get possible for me.
Thank you guys.
nima2000
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Hi guys.my surgery is set for tomorrow.it should be today but they told me thay have some changes in their programs in hospital.something amazing happened today!! I had ordered a Sudocrem and it arrived today!
I will do the surgery anyway but for those who are suffering from this pain,I recommend to use it!!!
It's amazing!!!it looses the pain really good.
jennifer_15117 nima2000
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