Glad you got a diagnosis, Coconutoil. And glad the treatment stopped the bleeding. I hope that you heal up soon and start feeling much better! I'm also on the west coast - in Northern Cali. Keep me posted on how your pelvic floor therapy goes.

AKDad37 - I hear you. I have the same problem. Baths really help everything to relax for me. I really hope that pelvic floor therapy could be the answer for those of us who struggle with fissures and have this problem.

Wishing everyone good health and healing.

Today I had a major setback.

Ive been having this horrible itch/discomfort on the right side for a few days, and I sat down on the toilet and spread a bit too much and I felt I slightly retore my top fissure.

6 weeks of healing down the drain. I can feel the classic pain and soreness now.

I cried in the bathtub for like 20 mins.

This surgery has been absolutely hell

I’m so sorry that happened. I went through these setbacks during healing, too. It will get better... it just takes time. A whole lot of time. I wasn’t 100% healed until 5.5 months after surgery. Some people get lucky and fully recover around 2 or 3 months. But there are some of us that take much longer to heal and I think the pelvic floor problems contribute to this prolonged healing time. And my healing was not linear, it came in waves of ups and downs. I felt like I was constantly dealing with some sort of setback after having a few great days or weeks. But the setbacks will eventually stop and you will feel like yourself again. I hope you are feeling much better soon.

Thanks for the encouragement. It helps to know I'm not alone

I need to start researching a physical therapist in my area. I hope that helps. You are so right about the healing process. I went from continued symptoms to one day last week feeling like I was normal again. It just came out of nowhere and now back to some discomfort. But at least last week let me know healing is coming soon. Hope you’re all having a good day.

tight80 wrote:Hi Coconutoil,

Yes! My fissure healed up within 2 weeks. The residual pain I was dealing with was the pelvic floor response. I haven't been able to start pelvic floor therapy yet due to COVID but I plan to start the therapy as soon as I can. I've been reading up on the connection between chronic fissure patients and pelvic floor dysfunction and the two issues go hand in hand more often than I thought. I'm hoping that if I can get the pelvic floor issues handled... then my fissure problems will be less likely to recur. Feeling pretty great right now 8 months post LIS and hoping to continue on this path! Thanks for checking in. I hope that you are doing well and feeling good, too. Did your exam show that you have a fissure?

hey. Do you still take stool softeners? I have also been getting fissures after surgery which was 14 months ago. First 6 months I was fissure free. Last fissure is quite painful on my left side and it is still hurting me now. From a dry bm. Been 2 weeks tomorrow and not healed .

Jimoffy,

Hey hope you’re feeling better. I know you were asking her but I just wanted to comment lol. I need to come back and do a post. I had a fissure for 5.5 months with severe pain and daily bleeding. It healed without surgery. But definitely what worked for me was nitroglycerin! That stopped the bleeding and mentally even though I was still in a ton of pain I was excited I was getting better. And either a stool softener, calm magnesium or daily probiotic. I would alter those 3 or combine 2 just depended on my last bm. The stool has to stay soft but not too soft. I know you know. A ton of water daily! And just the belief you will heal because the body is designed to. Take care.

I missed seeing this! Thanks for responding Coconutoil. Agree with you on the probiotics, magnesium, water intake and belief that you will get better (took me a long time to realize this really helps). For me, I didn't need stool softeners because I have the opposite problem of most people - loose stools caused my fissure. So instead fiber pills were my miracle fix. Two fiber pills a day slowed the BM transit time and bulked/softened the stool enough so that I haven't had any fissure problems since starting the fiber regimen after surgery. Jimoffry, I hope your fissure heals up and that you are pain free very soon! Will think good thoughts for you.

I am unfortunately jumping on this bandwagon. I had my LIS on 2/5/2021 and 1.5w later contracted COVID (not sure if it was from the surgery or not). So that was lovely, lots of awful coughing, immune system out of whack. I thought I for sure would mess up any chance I had at healing. Saw the general surgeon to check up on site to be sure I didnt mess anything up and he assured me I looked okay. Fast forward - here I am on March 16th with a friggen retear - less than 6 weeks after my surgery. HOW THE F.

I looked down after a bm and was surprised to see bright red blood on the wipe. Ok. No pain. Good. 6 week follow up that afternoon so I was relieved to have that a few hours later. No surgeon, it was his PA. Said the chances of a recurrence were 4% or lower. I told her I am all too familiar with fissures and. I know whats up. Seems that my original fissure either never fully healed and started to retear or fully healed and retore. Whose to know?

SUPER UPSET. I have double lung pneumonia and have been down for the count. My BM's have been so well controlled I'm proud of myself (I have IBS-D so not having diarrhea is the goal). I'm back on diltiazem and doing 3 sitz baths a day. It stings like hell when I apply the ointment and I am now experiencing pain 2 days after seeing blood (the bleeding is gone now - this is typically for me - i only see blood the first day of a fissure). The pain isnt near the 10/10 it was prior to surgery, but its a dull persistent ache - maybe a 4 or 5/10.

I could really use some encouragement here. This is the last thing I want to deal with.

Hang in there Keystonegal. I'm so sorry you are dealing with the additional health problems while you are trying to heal from LIS. I can't imagine what it has been like for you going through this surgery during COVID and with COVID. I wish you a full recovery soon.

I know it seems like ages have passed, but you're only 6 weeks out from surgery so you may have a ways to go. It took me months before I was feeling really good. You'll read about lots of folks who get lucky and heal up within 8 weeks. I, too, had that expectation but it took me 5 months. Like you, I have IBS-D and I think it's one of the reasons my body took forever to heal. But even though it took a long time to heal, I would still go back and do this surgery all over again for the relief, comfort and happiness it has brought me : )

As for the setbacks - I've been right where you are with that feeling of defeat. I would get better, only to get worse, then get better, etc. etc. It was a total rollercoaster. I had many retears and setbacks along the way. The good news is that each time I aggravated the fissure's healing process, it would heal up within a few weeks because the muscle spasm wasn't being triggered anymore. So keep thinking positive thoughts and doing exactly what you have been doing with the good routines and self care. Time will heal you.