My first pain was experienced in February. I still remember what I ate that weekend, which may have contributed to the constipation (normally not a problem for me) - grilled cheese and beers. Never will I eat those two things together again.

It started with the "feels like razorblades/shattered glass" pain during BMs. I remember thinking to myself that this has to be worse that childbirth for those 5-10 minutes on the toilet that had tears rolling out of my eyes. The pain got to be so bad that it felt swollen underneath my tailbone when I would try to move fast/run/etc. (sad, seeing I was runner). In addition, I was having a concerning amount of bleeding.

My first visit was to the primary care doctor. She diagnosed me with internal hemorrhoids (granted, I have them, but this obviously was not causing so much pain). She prescribed a suppository. After many failed attempts with these, she recommended I see a gastroenterology doctor. The GI doctor only noticed the internal hemorrhoids, but wanted to schedule a colonoscopy to rule out everything else. Here I was, at the ripe age of 26, going in for a colonoscopy. No offense, but I felt like I was in a nursing home when I was waiting in the hospital bed room before they roll you into the procedure. I was the youngest there by at least 40 years.

Anyhow, the colonoscopy came back with just the internal hemorrhoids and a non-concerning polyp they removed. She told me to stay course with the suppositories and sitz baths. A month later, I called back due to no relief, and she determined I should see a Colorectal Surgeon (CRS) about having them removed. Of course, I couldn't get into the CRS until July. At this time, I was having problem sitting for long periods of time. Walking seemed to reduce the pain significantly.
Upon arriving at the CRS' office, I first met with a graduate student and told her my symptoms. I could hear her brief the doctor on my symptoms, and it was quite obvious that she made a very educated and correct guess of the AF bothering me and not the internal hemmies. The CRS inspected and agreed within 20 seconds of looking. I don't know how everyone else missed this! Anyhow, he started me on a conservative treatment of nifedipine lidocaine compound, sitz baths, fiber supplements, and Miralax. I did this for two months, and my pain subsided greatly - just a little pain when using the bathroom and for like one minute afterward.
I went back in in September for a follow up. Unfortunately, it wasn't where he wanted it to be, and indicated that I would need to come in for a Botox injection. He recommended this over the LIS, because the side effects were less for someone my age. So, tomorrow, I start the lovely clear liquid diet. And, Wednesday morning, I will be super hangry and tired at the doctor's office prior to my appointment. And, I swear, if someone brings in food to the waiting room again (where there are several other colonoscopy patients), I might just lose it. But, alas, here I am on my road to recovery. I'll try to remember to update as the procedure advances.

I had my Botox injections today. It took forever to get into surgery, and I had the worst pounding headache due to the lack of water and solid foods over the past 24 hours (clear liquid diet). I told the CRS to only remove the skin tag if he felt it was necessary. I went in and was really a bit nervous once I saw the OR. It reminded me of the movies with the big lights, table, all the machines and all of the staff in blue scrubs, and made me really shaky. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist reassured me that I wouldn't be worried for much longer, and then I was out. I woke up in the PACU and then was transferred to recovery. At this time, I had no pain whatsoever. I just felt awkward.

I was prescribed several drugs - painkillers, ducosate sodium (to balance out the constipation effect of painkillers), an anti-nausea pill, and amoxicillin (to prevent infection). I have been keeping up with the painkillers, as I am afraid of what the pain might feel like in the first 24 hours. I might be more willing to test it tomorrow. Has anyone had any experience with the pain after the first 24 hours? I do feel a slight tenderness whenever I laugh (which I suppose is good, regardless, because at least I am laughing throughout all of this). I am nervous about my first BM, though, after reading others' experiences and especially with having the skin tag removed . Anyone have any experience with the Botox and skin tag removal in one procedure?

I am really hitting the water bottle hard before tomorrow for extra precaution.

Day 1 Post-Surgery:
Okay, so Percocet and I have a love and hate relationship. I woke up once an hour last night due to itching. Apparently, opiates release a histamine that some folks have a reaction to, although no concerns from an allergy perspective. The resident doctor answered my 3:30 a.m. phone call and said it was fine and I should just take an allergy pill. In addition, it's giving me somewhat lucid dreams. However, I have very little, if I even dare say no, pain. I have had trouble having a BM, but I am on Miralax and Ducosate Sodium. However, as everyone who has an AF knows, don't force it. So, I will wait and hopefully tomorrow will be fine. Again, little to no pain. Just some Percocet side effects. I have also been taking Zofran for the nausea associated with Percocet and Ducosate Sodium. It was hard sitting home all day, but I tried to watch some Netflix, eat some fiber, and stay on my drug regimen. I'll update again tomorrow.

Day 2 Post-Surgery:
I am now more than 48 hours post-surgery. I have decreased my amount of Percocet, moving from every 4 hours during the first 24 hours, to now only taking two pills every 7-8 hours. Around the 7 or 8 hour mark, I do start to feel slight tenderness/soreness. Amoxicillin is now gone. I am still taking the docusate sodium, Miralax and Zofran for nausea, as both Percocet and docusate sodium make me nauseated.

I had my first BM today. It wasn't bad, but it was rather little for not having anyt.hing in the last 48 hours. I suppose that's due to the liquid diet and fast on surgery day. I am going to try to cut back on Miralax a little bit, because it was definitely nearly a 7 on the Bristol scale. I called the nurse, because I was a little concerned about my sense of urgency to have to use the bathroom, and she said just to scale back on the laxatives/softeners some.

The skin tag is what's feeling a little sore. It did seem to have bled a little today.

I did make it out to dinner and to the store tonight, so I am moving back into my normal life.

Back to the water bottle, and hopefully, day three gets me on a more of a normal BM/schedule.

Day 3 Post-Surgery:
According to the CRS, the Botox should have be working now that I am more than 72 hours out. I am still taking Percocet three times daily. I tried to be more active today and went to the grocery store and put off the second dose, hoping I was getting better with the pain. Bad idea. I was in some pain by the time I got home with a lot of pressure/soreness underneath my tailbone. I took my second dose and laid down for a half hour, and that seemed to help. I got up a half hour later and was able to make some dinner and apple crisp.

I had two BMs today - one right when I woke up (which puts me back on my regular schedule) that was probably a 6 and one in the afternoon that was 6/7. I had some pain after both BMs, but nothing worse than when my AF was acting up.

Two more days and then I am slated to go back to work. I am very nervous about this.

Day 4 Post-Surgery:
Not much pain unless there's a BM. The first one this afternoon was still loose (7 on the scale). I had to urgently use the bathroom, as I have had the last a few days. I only took Percocet once today, so I am scaling back. I have noticed a rash in the general area, which I think is probably from the tag removal. I have had a rash in the same area just from the fissure, where my skin tends to get easily irritated. I am waiting to hear from the resident doctor on if it will be okay to apply some Desitin to it. I also managed to start using my nifedipine lidocaine today. The second one this evening was somewhere between a 4-7, strangely enough - fluid but tarry and hard to pass toward the end (sorry to be graphic). Toward the end, there was quite a bit of pain. I considered taking more Percocet, but I think I might be okay, seeing the pain seemed to subside within a few minutes, and it isn't any worse than general AF pain and not as bad as the "razorblade/glass" pain. This was more like a small golf ball pain - achy, throbbing and sore rather than sharp, which might just be attributed to the general pain and soreness in the area from surgery still. If my memory serves me correctly, I feel like others with Botox have also referenced as day four being a bit harder than average.

One more day until I am back to work. I am still very nervous about bathroom access and pain management throughout the day when I return. Hopefully, tomorrow has me on track to the way I want to be.

Day 5 Post-Surgery:
Today was disheartening. I woke up and used the bathroom (no BM), but discovered blood in the toilet. I called the nurse, and she said it isn't uncommon after having a tag removal. In addition, she said the rash isn't that strange either, and that I should use gauze and perhaps some Desitin on it while the wound from the tag removal is still healing. It's always just so frightening and discouraging to see a sizable amount of blood in the toilet - especially when you're supposed to be healing.

After my phone call, I had a BM that was the worst yet since surgery. It was a 4, but it felt like a 2 or 3. I upped my Miralax intake, ate more veggies today, and increased my water. I don't want a repeat of it. I was in quite a bit of pain, but thankfully, I had just taken some pain pills beforehand (as I am trying to do in advance of each morning to mitigate the BM pain from the AF and tag removal). I also took a 30 minute sitz bath, and thankfully, both these measures left me pretty much pain-free the rest of the day. I managed to take a half mile walk, run a few errands, make dinner and do laundry. PLEASE NOTE: For those considering Botox, I don't think any of this pain is attributed to the Botox injection, but mostly the tag removal and AF pain in general.

Now, back to work tomorrow! I'm praying everything goes well.

Day 6 Post-Surgery:
Made it through my first day of work post-op, and it went well!


I made sure I had plenty of extra time in the morning to try to have a BM before work, so I could relieve some of the pain with a warm bath, as well as shower. In addition, immediately after, I also took one dose of Percocet for the pain. The BM was painful at first, but the rest of it was pretty easy - a 4 on the scale. The tag removal site is pretty sore yet, and I have been using some gauze, which seems to help with the rash. I brought my handy-dandy cosmetic bag/toolbox with all of my supplies to work. I had a little soreness on my way into work while sitting, but nothing terrible. The rest of the day was pretty much pain free, and without painkillers to boot! There's still some very light bleeding from the tag removal site, but the nurse said this was normal, so I'll deal.

Have to catch up on some water, and hopefully, improve my diet this evening... Today was a rough diet day for me, and I should know better...

This is such a rollercoaster! Today was TOUGH!

I woke up, and my bowels would not seem to stop working this morning. It went from a nice 4 to a 7. Let's just say that this wasn't very nice to either my fissure or the tag removal site. I immediately immersed myself in the tub for relief and took some pain meds. Through the pain meds, I could still feel the tenderness, and this continued to build up to the point where I was counting down the time until I could take a second dose. After my second dose, the pain seemed to calm down quite a bit. I am hoping this was just due to the amount of action this morning and not a sign of things not going well.

The rash seems to be doing better now that I am using gauze; however, I notice that the tag removal site is still consistently bleeding ever so lightly. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this, and I'll probably call the nurse tomorrow to see.

I am taking it easy today, as I don't know what caused my problems this morning - perhaps the half mile walk after virtually no activity for a week was too ambitious and got things moving? To top things off, my stomach felt nauseous on top of the pain - not sure if it was the amount of pain or what. It wasn't the typical chronic fissure pain where you can feel the muscle "spazzing." It was more of a deep, sore pain - mostly near the tag removal site. I am holding out and hoping that the Botox is perhaps working, and my pain is just a result of the tag removal. The CRS did say 7-10 days for pain to go away, so I am still in that range...

Ugh. I just felt my first re-tear. However, I think that means something was healing... But, I am upset I was a little careless. I jumped on to my bed and swung one of my legs up - bad idea. Ouch!