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My experience with a chronic anal fissure

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Hi all

I thought that I would post this as a lot of people appear to be going through the same agony that I was going through for over a year.

Anyway, I was at uni and going through a bad time in my life, whenever I get stressed my guts go into turmoil. As a result I was off uni for a week with severe rectal pain and feeling lower than a snake's belly. I booked an appointment with my GP as I had experienced similar symptoms before.

My GP recognised the symptoms immediately, I thought I had piles, she said I was too young so had a look. The digital examination wasn't fun, in fact she said she had never seen anyway change colour so quickly but it was worth it because I was refered to a colo-rectal surgeon.

I took my sick note back into my tutor and as I was doing a clinical degree, he said straight away that fissures were worsened and sometimes caused by stress. The penny dropped.

As I said I was going through a very very bad time in my life which necessitated me going on antidepressants (Cipralex) for my emotional state. When this was added to wall climbing agony due to fissures I was near breaking point. I remember after one bowel movement almost fainting with the pain, I was lying at the top of the stairs at my mum's house and clawing at the wallpaper with my fingernails - I have had a broken leg and in terms of pain that fissure was far worse, trust me.

I went to see the colo-rectal surgeon a few weeks later, I was terrified, but he was a lovely man, very very considerate. He told me that I had a large fissure that could be helped with an ointment. I told him my background so he talked a bit more openly and said that fissures are an incredibly debilitating condition. He once had a 16 stone rugby player openly weeping on his consulting couch with the pain - I can understand why.

I was prescribed GTN ointment and started using it as directed. I had a slight headache which I could live with, but this was far better than the agony of the fissure and this headache was pretty much gone after the first week. After a week of use the pain from the fissure had also subsided to nothing. After six weeks I went back to the surgeon and I was healed.

I wish that was the end of the story but it isn't, I have probably had four or five bad flare ups since and dozens of other twinges, spasms, bleeds and itches since but I am nowhere near as bad as the first time - I can live with this now. I have seen the surgeon twice since and he has offered surgery but my frame of mind precluded me from that, I was simply terrified.

My GP is very understanding and I can get GTN on prescription whenever I need it. I was prescribed Anoheal by the surgeon as well but this didn't work as well as GTN for me, but I have seen cases in work where this has been incredibly effective.

As I said earlier, I was doing a clinical degree, which I have now passed, so I feel that I am pretty well qualified to offer a bit of advice, so here it is.

1. Go and see your GP. Don't be embarrassed, your doctor has seen dozens of these - they are very very common. If you get fobbed off or feel that you haven't got anywhere, go back and tell him/her that you are not happy and you will go elsewhere i.e. change your GP. Changing your GP hits their bank balance, and as GPs are notoriously greedy, they will do something. Nobody should have to suffer with this.

2. Take something for the pain but NOT codeine. Ibuprofen worked best for me.

3. Drink plenty of fluids and lay off the alcohol while you are healing.

4. Eat lots of fibre and fresh fruit and veg, switch to brown bread and have something like Weetabix for breakfast. This softens stools and makes them easier to pass - less pain and less damage to existing fissures.

5. Use a stool softener, one Movicol sachet daily really really helped me. You can buy these over the counter from your local Pharmacist but tell them what it is for. Alternatively get them on prescription from your GP.

6. Lay off the red meat, there is some science to this as meat increases the residence time in the gut and predisposes to harder stools. This really helped me and I have seen a few accounts here where sufferers also say that.

7. Try to relax, easier said than done, but try simple things like having a hot bath instead of a shower. If anything helps you, no matter how crazy or off the wall it may sound, carry on doing it. Going out for a drive helped me. Staying active also helps constipation and makes you feel better. Don't stay in and stew - stay positive.

8. Stick to the doctor's directions of any drugs you are given. If you are told to apply a cream for 6 weeks into the anus, then make sure it goes into the anus for 6 weeks. And into the anus means into the hole - not nice, but a lot nicer than the agony from an untreated fissure.

Remember you are not alone, these things can be cured. You will feel terrible and you will feel like nobody else understands what you are going through but believe me, these things are very very common.

And if all the above doesn't help there is a simple operation that can be done on a day case basis that has a 95% chance of curing it for good.

If you are reading this you are no doubt feeling horrible but believe me, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Good luck with your pain in the ass.

15 likes, 216 replies

216 Replies

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  • October-T
    October-T Guest

    Posted

    I've been dealing with my Fissure since January 2nd.

    Dr gave me since beginning...

    1-)Diltiazem -Stool softener

    2-)hydrocortisone cream

    3-)lydecane / anestol

    4-)Rectiv

    5-)Zinc for rush cream (because Diltiazem and Rectiv made a rush around my anus!

    And this is the list i tried after tons of searching from internet,

    1-)Coconut suppository

    2-)olive oil pads

    3-)vazelin

    4-)ice pack

    5-)warm bath

    6-)recti care

    7-)Calmoseptine for rush

    8-)Daflon tablet for swallow veins

    9-)eating tons of garlic

    My diet /life from beginning,

    NO= Alcohol,bread, potato,rice,eggs, red meat, fish, pork, spicy food,fried food, fast food, soda, hot sauce, peppers, tomatoes, sugar, chocolate, caffeine (just one cup in the morning), salt and anything with salt, avocado, pain killers, banana, pasta, peanut, iced drinks, paste, mayo, mustard, ketchup, pickles,ice cream, quince, green plum, vinegar, not more than 1 Apple daily, transfat, ham/pepperoni/sausage.

    DONT= Bike, strain(bm), wash with cold water, heavy duty, lift heavy stuff, wash with soap, push hard (BM), ignore Bm, stress.

    Purchases what saved my life;

    1-) squaty-poty (its step stoll for BM time helps me squad and relax)

    2-) freshSpa hot/cold (its toilet fossit you maintain in to the toilet and there is hot and cold version i am using this asa im seting to toilet. Running hot water to the my anus and ones gets warm and soft im passing my stool super easy no pain at all. And after im sitting for like 10 minutes making that area super clean and super soft feels sooo good highly recommended)

    3-) water minder (reminding dring water it works perfectly especially when im super busy at work) (purchased from App Store)

    Every day rutins ;

    5:30am wake up 17 oz drink water with stool softener.

    Wearing gloves putting vazelin in to my anus.

    8 oz prune juice

    6:00 am going restroom for Bm running little hot warm water on to anus passing stool taking deep breaths. Rumning warm warm for 10 minutes till when i can not feel my anus. Going warm shower no soap! Just nicely clean. Getting out from shower.

    6:30 one cup of coffee ! BOOM! Second Bm. Going restroom again second time always easier super soft no pain. Same thing over again. Warm water /shower and done with restroom on that day!

    7:00 am putting mirror on the floor squading with light on to my anus. Wearing gloves cleaning if there is any mess left. Dumping little olive oil in to the cup dipping clean tissue and pushing that olive oil napkin in to the anus like 1 inch so i can clean on the fissure because any mess cause burning pain than needling!

    Than im putting Rectiv cream. Clean cotton underwear.

    7:30am going work. Eating 5 times a day mostly fruits/ vegetables/yogurt and dry fruit such as dates , prunes, apricots...

    4 lt of water every day! Not calculating juice!

    Set alarm for 4 times a day reminding me take stool softener.

    Every after lunch / dinner drinking 17 oz water.

    Morning breakfast just coffee and fresh smootiees. I am doing this because morning starts make in the colon stool for next day! If im eating something hard next morning bm turning to the hell for me ! So im keeping this way. It's important think im keeping my self always clean in my pursde always have which hazel wipes /cream/stool softener/ tissues/gloves ! Every 4 hours restroom and washing that area wiping gently and putting cream back on. Im not letting any left over mess will come down and burns me up.

    This is my life since october 2nd Because i do not want surgery! And i can not lie i do not like the pain but this life style and starting yoga for calm down made me lost 24 pounds. My fissure did not healed my Dr. Said fissure is still there with skin tag because now is cronic , but smaller. As long as im holding my mouth from bad foods and keeping my self super clean i do not have pain!

    But Yesterday my Dr said it can not heal without surgery and im curious if you did surgery or any other person? Because i think there is more side effects when you are women! For controlling wind/Bm especially pregnancy time! I am just 26 years old and i wanna now who had surgery sad(

    • melissa90547
      melissa90547 October-T

      Posted

      I had surgery a month ago. Still in pain. Not sure if surgery Now was the best thing for me. I won't know until a few more weeks. Had LIS Surgery. I believe walking every day will help ALOT after surgery, and keep eating the fiber daily. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. which is hard for me to do. I also had a skin tage and had that removed during the surgery. I've read Surgery helps for most people and about 8% will not get that pleasure. I pray i am not one of them 8%. Just have to hang in there and keep the faith. I like these discussions to hear other peoples experience after surgery. With that i can hold onto my faith. You are so young, And you say you've only started this fissure since January. I feel for you seriously, its th emost painful experience ever. I would recommend waiting AND TRYING OTHER remedies what the doctor gives you first before having surgery. Wait before making that decision. Le tme know how your doing. I am totally with you sister.
    • October-T
      October-T melissa90547

      Posted

      Thank you melissa90547 for answer. Today was worse weekend beautiful day outside but im at home taking 7,8 warm shower/bath ice cream trying sleep since 5 in the morning. I am still using Rectiv which seems not working anymore! So much pain like my heart beating in my anus! I am still thinking Melissa for the surgery because there is alot of side effects. I am going to hold on till time to cry and say enough! This web side helps me a lot, at least i know somebody here understand me! My stomach full of liquid and fruits ... Do you take any fiber supplements or any other stool softener? Because i know my stool soft but sometimes i do not want to eat im not hungry but i am eating so i can bm! Is there any other way to eat less but bm soft?
    • melissa90547
      melissa90547 October-T

      Posted

      You know its funny you say your not very hungry. At times i am not hungry either, sometimes this pain makes me so nacious i lose my appetite. So i will just eat a bowl of cooked veges or a salad and spinach. I eat  a little chicken, no red meats, and i try to stick with Fish instead of meats.  I think im going to try tofu recipes as well. Yogurt i hear is bad becasue its dairy. I take Metumucil twice a day, and every other day i like to take Miralax,  Thats a good softener. I also hear Dulcolax is one of the best stool softeners to. I havent tried it, but on this discussion forum people say it works great for BM. I like to sooth myself in Coconut oil and a sitz bath after my stools to take away the pain. I sit there for 15 minutes. I have a child so Its rough, im busy with her as well. But i definitely make time for myself, because i want my life to get bk to smooth sailings again and be able to enjoy a day with my child without having to complain of my pain. I have a sense of humor so i just try to keep smiling as much as i can to lighten the mood sometimes.  
    • melissa90547
      melissa90547 October-T

      Posted

      You know it seems like surgery would take away this pain and that seems like the easiest way to go. If your surgeon says you need the surgery than do it. Becasue my surgeon wasn't so uprising to giving me surgery. He was very defensive about it. He tried to prevent it by giving me other remedies but didnt work. It took a whole year plus two years before meeting with him so what i did was save all my medical records and kept track of my diagnosis from my gp and gi doctors, so when it came down to seeing the surgeon for the second time in 5 more months, i told him i was fed up with taking these rememdies and nothing has seemed to work. So two years of trying to get rid of the fissure, i decided to have the sphincteronomy surgery. The remedies sometimes work for people and sometimes not. 
    • October-T
      October-T melissa90547

      Posted

      Can i ask you couple questions melissa ? Can you tell me all the side effects you got after surgery? Like leaking , controlling wind/bm? Pain ? Bm time right after surgery? I will really appreciate if you answer me ... Thank youuu sad
    • October-T
      October-T melissa90547

      Posted

      Yaa! Thinks is Melissa my sister i am not lucky for creams and stuffs sad because in the beginning i used Diltiazem and it worked tear closed after 3 weeks! No pain no blood nothing at all! Dr . Got shocked! But next day i woke up big itchy feeling in my butt cheeks asa i woke up look to mirrow for see whats going on down there! It was big huge redness all over around my anus like burn meat! And ithcs like a hell!!! Yeah Diltiazem gave me huge rush but hugee rush that you can not hold on to it ! I went to dr he gave me rush cream but it did worked ! Than he said "this is will heal without cream just keep doing diet/water continue " it was ok couple days. But one day morning even with the soft stool o saw super red fresh blood again.sad This time Dr gave me Rectiv! It worked great first 3 weeks i was happy again even with the huge headache and dizzy because of Rectiv's side effects. Than rush again!!! I stopped that too... sad i tried all the creams oils and everything right now it will sound funny but im just using vazelin in/out so it will keep moist.
    • October-T
      October-T melissa90547

      Posted

      ... Btw im ok with BM time because when i came in USA, i ordered fresh spa hot/cold toilet fossit, you one instaling in to the toilet so you can eash your butt ?!?! So in My country I grew up with that when i came here it was weird for me i got from Amazon $60 it was best perches i ever did! ASA IM GOING TO RESTROOM for bm im running water little hot than warm temperature to the my anus ! Onec gets moist and warm soft im passinf to stool so easily! And water keeps washing there so you dont feel any pain! I'm always going restroom at home in the morning! I definitely recommend...
    • melissa90547
      melissa90547 October-T

      Posted

      Yes me too, especially after drinking so much water I tend to just wipe my anus after peeing now because even though I'm not doing a bm at that time it does hurt a little bit sometimes. Just some sharp pains every so often on days I don't poop. It's terrible we have to do that all the time but it's soothing. Hopefully this will stop one day and we can just eat healthy without having the pain of a fissure.
  • anna31385
    anna31385 Guest

    Posted

    Hi there, my name is Anna alente friom Edinburgh I have had my problem for five years, it's been awful I use to bleed too. I have a lovely new lady Zdr who is sorting it out for me, she gave me a tablet to take , not had anymore itchiness thank goodness it was awful, so I can understand how you were,nthis is good to speak about it. And she also gave me shower gel I had an fungal infection on top of it also,so I'm dealing with two things I think I'm nearly there but it's awful to put with this kind of pain , she said mine was a tear, it opened when I went all the time I told her I had enough , so I go back in four weeks time. I have felt horrible and bern in tears with it, now I have the toothache don't know which is worse, take care and get better from Anna Valente.
  • erick96818
    erick96818 Guest

    Posted

    Hello,

    Very interesting what you wrote . Well I'm due for a sig in two months , I've been having consistent pain in my rectum , symptoms... Burning, pain, throbbing, heavy sensation, discomfort stinging . A year back I had hemorrhoids real bad ! Through. Out the corse of the year , still had episodes . Some days were ok , some horrible ! This only happens more after defecation . Yes , diet , exercise helps . But thank god there's no bleeding . Again I'm only assuming it's a fissure or a thrombose hemorrhoids. Based on my symptoms. Thanks

  • erick96818
    erick96818 Guest

    Posted

    Hello,

    Very interesting what you wrote . Well I'm due for a sig in two months , I've been having consistent pain in my rectum , symptoms... Burning, pain, throbbing, heavy sensation, discomfort stinging . A year back I had hemorrhoids real bad ! Through. Out the corse of the year , still had episodes . Some days were ok , some horrible ! This only happens more after defecation . Yes , diet , exercise helps . But thank god there's no bleeding . Again I'm only assuming it's a fissure or a thrombose hemorrhoids. Based on my symptoms. Thanks

  • anna31385
    anna31385 Guest

    Posted

    Hi Erick, thank you for writing back to me I have never done this,about my health, it's helping me to know that I  im not on my own,with the itch and sting was awful that seems to have gone , going to Dr in two weeks she's keeping an eye on it for me. Keep well Anna Valente.
    • erick96818
      erick96818 anna31385

      Posted

      Thanks Ana . You mentioned you never done this about your health?
  • green59
    green59 Guest

    Posted

    All,

    I've been reading this thread for months and taking tips to help me cope with my chronic fissure. I wanted to share my story and hope it helps someone out there especially being able to combat the fear of surgery and doing it.

    I had an operation in Dec 2016, the painkillers gave me severe constipation. This led to a fissure within 48 hours. My GP gave me GNT which gave new terrible headaches and was stopped after 3 days for Diltiazem. Stupidly after two weeks of thinking I am cured I stopped using it. Tip number 1 don't stop using the cream for at least 3 months. This led to a short term relief for it to return in March 2016

    I suffered many toilet visits with heavy bleeds, agony in my vagina and Anus and may visits to the Gp and emergency unit. It was decided I need surgery asap.

    Surgery: I just had my operation 5 days ago. Nothing that they warned could happened has happened and since then I have never felt so relaxed going to the toilet smile in fact going to the toilet is no longer a painful adventure.

    I cannot tell you how much I regret not knowing about the operation earlier on and trying creams, remedies and having many sleepless and tearful nights.

    If there's one thing I have taken from this is eat well, don't stress as it irritates everything and demand to see a surgeon asap before it expands! One last thing, post surgery no painkillers were even needed so the 6 months of paracetamol and ibrufen use is now a thing of the past but I need to carry on for 4 months with Diltiazem smile

    All the best and if you need any tips please msg as you are not alone

    • erick96818
      erick96818 green59

      Posted

      Thank god again that my pain isn't as bad , as you have described yours . I have been like this for more than a year .
    • green59
      green59 erick96818

      Posted

      Often a fissure bleeds and is at 6pm position ( towards lower back and widens as it become more choronic). Hopefully you have nothing too serious but if it turns out to be one then rest assured it's not as bad as one thinks the surgery will be. The pain is bad and nothing can compare but you need to get on with it and carry on with your day as keeping busy is key to distracting the pain . I honestly cannot express how happy I am since having my surgery, although in the early stages of recovery.

      I hope someone out there finds my post helpful because I read many forums that spoke negatively of the operation and went to my consultant challenging him with my Google research.

    • sk89562
      sk89562 green59

      Posted

      Hi i am suffering from Post fissure in ano, with spasm sphincter. I am very confused about surgery.

      I would like to know about fissure surgery. Which method of surgery you used..

      So please guide me should i go for surgery or not ?.

      I am suffering with chronic fissure from last 2 years..

      Please help me out ...

      I am a Indian serving defence personnal. Live in chandigarh. Punjab.

    • Tinkv22
      Tinkv22 green59

      Posted

      No down time after the surgery? I am meeting with the Dr. after work today and pretty sure he is going to recommend the surgery to me
    • green59
      green59 Tinkv22

      Posted

      I've totally missed all these messages!

      I would recommend that u go for surgery if it's really bad. The pain after is nothing like before and really manageable.

      Whilst I'd like to say it's a long term solution, it's not. I've just had a set back and got a second fissure! I can't explain how or when this developed. Another LIS coming soon!

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