Thank you Suffering2long, I hope you are doing well! - I was worried I was writing too much but this was the type of information I was always looking for when I was searching the forum so figure it might help someone!

Things going well so far today though have only been up for an hour! bm done and no pain again though a bit more stinging. Nothing a bath didn’t sort! Will update again later :)

I am going in next Thursday to the local NHS hospital and the CRS left it to me to read up on the LIS and said he'd be happy to do a third botox injection if that's what I elected to have done. Reading your review and that of a few others on here I might elect for the LIS. In agony after every BM after 2 years and bleeding once or twice a week. Just had enough but understandably nervous about the whole thing.

Should say thank you for sharing your experience!

Hi DarkJediFury - thanks for the message. I’d say at the end of the day only you can make the decision about surgery but I’d honestly say it’s one I’d make again in a split second even at this early stage in recovery. I was tortured for 6 months with this and the last time I felt any fissure pain was lying on the bed waiting to fall asleep for surgery.

This procedure is nothing short of a miracle cure for me. How I can have 3 open wounds down there and have no pain even when going to toilet is beyond me. I might have gone for Botox if I wasn’t pressured with time to start a family however I’d read enough of it failing to not be too upset about that.

I know how easy it is for me to say now and Maybe I have been very lucky so far but please don’t fear LIS. I’m taking it day at a time and so far it’s been a dream. Even on day 3 when I’ve read so much about it being the most painful day! Also I’ve taken no pain killers today - for the first time since probably April!

Thank you you are certainly help me relax about it a bit. I hate taking pain killers all the time but with this is every day. Today has been particularly harsh and took me 1 5 his in the car to do a 20 minute journey which isn't helped. Work have got me a standing desk today which also is helping. How're you doing today? Back to regular BMs? Not being able to go panicks me these days.

I know why you mean about pain killers. I was taking so many of them before but found they often didn’t work. I’m glad your work are accommodating things With your desk - I’ve been wfh through the pandemic which has been good as I wouldn’t have been able to work otherwise due to pain. I probably should have been off even with wfh and had to do most things from bed the last couple of months. I couldn’t sit or stand. Even lying down was sometimes too much.

And I’m good today thank you. I will update a bit later after I’ve eaten dinner but been very comfortable all day. Bms are back to being regular - I go pretty much when I wake up which was the case yesterday and today. Things are just very loose which is bothering me a little bit. I want to make sure the muscle is being used. I’ve eaten a bit more today and had more fibre so will see if that helps tomorrow.

I hope the rest of your day has been ok after the rough start!

Post LIS day 3 (Wednesday 17th November)

Slept well last night bar the wake ups for pain meds (Just OTC stuff - haven’t needed to even think about looking at the codeine). Have started to alternate paracetamol with ibuprofen every 4 hours instead of taking them both together so that basically means I’ve halved my pain relief.

Woke up at 7am with a bit of an awareness of things but might be because I actually skipped my 4am ibuprofen dose. Also I find any kind of injury often feels worse first thing and last thing so not worried by this.

The need for bm soon began to build so off I went with the same trepidation as yesterday (I don’t expect these feelings to leave anytime soon).

Things went pretty much the same as yesterday only there was more stinging today. I agree with what my CRS said about it being ‘nippy’. A wet wipe didn’t really alleviate it though unlike yesterday so into the shower followed by bath and felt very comfortable within a few minutes. Things are also still very loose so wonder if the antibiotics are causing this.

The gauze from overnight had much less fresh blood but had picked up more fluid so I’d say the wound healing has shifted slightly.
This is a trend from today in genera actually. Still bleeding but much less than yesterday and day before.

Another thing to mention is my period started today, joy of joys. This might have also contributed to looser bms but in the last few months it made my spasm pain much, much worse. But can’t say it’s caused me any issues today at all bar another (minor) element to balance in general hygiene! Spasms have totally gone - not felt anything like that since I was lying waiting for surgery.

This morning I was able to do some very light housework - did a couple loads of washing, light clean of the bathroom and bath , took the recycling out. I also went for a short walk (10mins) after lunch with my mum who came to visit. Not seen the fields at the end of my road in about 3 months so this was special! Was also able to kneel down and sort out and light the fire with no issues this afternoon.

I took pain meds this morning before bm but then nothing all day as not needed them. Feel almost normal which is mad 3 days after anal surgery!! But being careful to remember to not overdo things.

Food today was once again quite light though a little more than before as feeling less scared. Ive got some weight to gain so this will help. My stomach still feels a bit funny and I do think it might be the antibiotics as I haven’t really changed anything else. I’ve read that can settle in a few days so fingers crossed -

Breakfast - very small portion of oats with few blueberries and some ground flaxseed
Lunch - salad made up of lettuce, avo, tomato, pepper and smoked salmon, activia yoghurt (thought this might help with antibios)
Dinner - small helping of homemade chicken curry (nothing spicy) with rice
No snacks
Lots of water and some peppermint tea also about 1/2 of a laxido sachet.

Overall a good day. Again could easily have worked and felt a bit of a fraud for not but spoke to a close colleague who reminded me that I was under GA at the weekend which was only 2 full days ago.

Is it cliched to say on this forum I should have done this months ago?? Plan on taking ibuprofen before bed to see me through the night though likely don’t need to.

Onwards to day 4….

Thanks Conifer

Wow your recovery is sounding amazing! So happy for you conifer.

Post LIS day 4 (Thursday 18th November)

Best night sleep yet last night. Pain meds before bed, paracetamol when I woke up, then straight to bathroom for day 4 bm.

I actually had to then wait as my husband was in the shower and I didn’t want to go downstairs as I’m not set up there. I was able to hold on without any issue and didn’t feel like I needed to rush. This caused a very slight discomfort so will try to not do this again but worth mentioning I was in full control.

Much the same feelings as before - during bm is totally painless but then after about 5 secs some stinging starts. Different stinging feeling to yesterday, more dull and less sharp stings but not particularly pleasant as it went right through my body. Was able to shower afterwards (and spend time washing my hair) before going in bath. Took a bit longer for sensations to pass this morning but was all manageable.

Bm a bit less loose too and very fluffy (which sounds gross, sorry) - moving towards being a little more formed so feeling pleased about that. I think this might help with stinging as everything would be smoother coming out (tmi, sorry again!). Was quite a lot too. Not as much blood on gauze from over night and much less when cleaning after bm. So that fits with a lot of reports here with it starting to taper after 3 days. Lots of fluid on gauze but to be expected.

Had 2nd bm later in morning and again same as before but the stinging was still there and it took a while longer to come down. It does though by having a bath but felt a bit down about this and very nearly cried about it. I didn’t though - aiming for a week with no tears!!

I had planned to be pain med free today but given the stinging and being slightly more aware today of things I decided to take some ibuprofen about midday. I’m not trying to prove anything to myself and be a hero plus the pain meds are working very well and I’d rather not be uncomfortable!

Had baths after bms and then a sitz in the afternoon to mix it up a bit with another bath earlier this evening.

Not much else to report. Did some more light house chores in the morning and then rested on sofa for most of day infront of the fire and did some work on my laptop - finding it hard to stay focussed though. I didn’t walk today as weather is miserable plus conscious of perhaps being a bit too active.

Food today was a variation on the usual:

Breakfast - slice of toasted brown sourdough with Vegemite
Lunch - scrambled egg with smoked salmon and avocado, activia yoghurt
Dinner - small helping of spaghetti bolognese with loads of veggies in it and a little bit of ice cream for treat afterwards
No snacks today
1/2 laxido sachet and lots of fluids as usual

I’d say today has been ok-good. Compared to pre LIS it’s been amazing but don’t feel quite as good as yesterday or day before. I think this is probably to be expected based on other people’s accounts and often at day 4-6 people have said they have set backs. I’ve not had a set back but just don’t feel as great as yesterday due to the minor aches and niggles (which I emphasise are all minor and dont take up any of my concentration- I’m just hyper aware). I’m probably just expecting too much given days 1-3 we’re so amazing so need to readjust my expectations a little.

Anyway, next stop day 5….