Hi everyone,
Just joined the forum and I want to let you know how much I appreciate all the helpful posts I've found here.
To respond to a comment from
tuberose:
However due to my crazy eating habits at times, that doesnt prevent a fissure from happening if Im constipated for a day. Ive noticed with my BMs its the first part of it thats hard and the rest is soft and its that hard part that does the tear.
I used to have pretty crazy eating habits too but I'm really forcing myself to change. To slow down, basically, and to take care of myself, which means, for one thing, eating well and eating at regular times.
Even so I sometimes face the problem that tuberose talks about - BM that starts out hard even though the rest of it is okay. A doctor I spoke to helped me understand that if the bowels aren't emptied regularly, the colon continues to absorb water out of the stools that are lying there, leading to hard stools. After that conversation, I tried to see to it that I have very regular BMs.
Among the things I do to cope:
- I try to eat a high fiber diet every day: oats with bran, a variety of veggies (cooked till soft), brown rice, a bowl of papaya plus two or three other fruits, and absolutely nothing with saturated fats in it - no cakes, pastries, doughnuts and stuff. Also, like many others in this forum, raw vegetables really don't work for me, and so no fresh salads either.
- I try to keep myself hydrated through the day (to prevent hard BMs). This means several mugs of unsweetened herbal tea (mint, basil, ginger) a day; 1 or 2 glasses of buttermilk made from low-fat yogurt; as well as plenty of warm water. (I find warm water helps though I don't know why).
- I take 1/2 tsp trifala powder with warm water at bedtime
- I try to get about 30 minutes of moderate to brisk walking done everyday.
- Meditation. This really really helps. Regular breathing relaxes the tension around the abdomen and sort of massages the internal organs. I was really irregular with my meditation earlier, often finding 100s of excuses to avoid doing it, and I suffered for it. But I've learned now that it's vital to relax, calm down and let go.
- I've found that it's very important to chew my food slowly and properly. Earlier I used to wolf down my meals. Not any more, since my body simply can't digest half-chewed food and it causes my AF to open up.
- I avoid painkillers at all costs because they have a constipating effect on me. To cope with pain, I have plenty of warm sitz baths.
If you want to cope with AF without surgery and lots of medication that have side-effects, you need to change your lifestyle, that is, if your lifestyle is as chaotic and unmindful as mine used to be. I'm relatively pain-free now and I do so hope that I can keep it that way.
Take care and I wish you all good health!