i havent been back to him..but i know "bety blue" on here had the same issue..

Update - I feel great. It's been a few weeks since I had any pain. I even had a few hard-ish stools and was fine (but made sure to increase my water consumption - don't want to test my butt too far).

I wonder if the probiotics helped. I've felt great since I started making kefir, but of course I was feeling pretty good beforehand too.

Happy happy joy joy!

So happy for you Scientist! You are inspiration for all of us! I am struggling with a bowel movement that consists of hard bits that come out first followed by diarrhea type movement! It aggravates my AF I just entered my fourth month into this AF ordeal.. Things are not as bad as before. I even go two weeks straight without any pain at all! I am on GTN since two weeks, things were great until I got a little constipated three days back, followed by this weird BM that I mentioned above! Today I think it caused a lot of injury. 20 mins after the BM were horrific pain. The rest of the day though the pain was minimum, a 2 or 3 maybe on a scale of 10. Anyway, trying to stay positive! Maybe I need to cut back on those too many fruits and vegies diet that is giving me this weird movement.

Hi ButtQueen, I can totally relate. One of the reasons I give periodic updates here is so that people can see that recovery is not always smooth, and that setbacks can feel really depressing - and yet! there is still hope as long as there is recovery between setbacks.

Two weeks without any pain is awesome, and a great sign in my opinion. I think the main thing is to look back over a period of weeks (not days) and ask yourself "overall am I still improving?". If the answer is "yes", then you are still on the road to recovery. If not, it's maybe time to see the doctor again. But to me it sounds as though you are still on the road to recovery.

Those hard bits that come out first have probably been in your rectum for a long time. If you wait a long time between poops, the first poop is old and has dried out. The dreaded "plug effect" has been discussed on this forum before (you can search for it). I prefer to go twice a day for that very reason. Not that I seem to have much control over how often I go!

I have the same challenge of my stool being hard in the beginning. I am on MIralex and stool softener-docusate sodium. when I started to take 2 docusate sodium - 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening the afternoon bm changed to just soft , but my morning is a challenge. and when it retears it bleeds a bit.. the pain is not bad and it goes away ..but somehow bleeding really bothers me.
I want to try botox , but the doctors sound very sceptical about it and I even cannot talk with them about it, because it is not their recommendation.. which is very frustrating. I am thinking to go to the third doctor for consult..hopefully it will give me different prospective.
do you find that since you keep vegetable diet and on laxatives you have lost more weight? I am pretty worried about it and afraid to eat new food items since I even cannot figure out my bms with current diet
I really want to get a freedom of my normal life before AF

Hi guest,
Seeing a new doctor sounds like a good idea. One thing you DON'T want is to have botox from a doctor who doesn't believe in it!

It's odd that your morning BM has a hard plug given that you have an afternoon BM.
The thing is, that the colon absorbs water from the stool, so even if you had plenty of water in the stool earlier, as it stays in the rectum, water is drawn out of it, and it becomes hard. The advantage of mineral oil is that it is not absorbed. So I think mineral oil is a good thing to try.

I did lose weight when I was taking a lot of kondremul. After I cut down, the weight came back. It was only about 3 -5 pounds, anyway.
Try one tablespoon twice a day and see if it helps.

I well remember that feeling of wanting my life back. Cheer up, Guest, you WILL get your life back. I have. It takes time, and can be depressing, but one day you'll look back on this as an awful time that is past. Hang in there! You can do this!

Thanks scientist for your support and cheering me up. I went to dietician and she told me that I am already underweight, so in addition of challenge of keeping a soft stool I need to keep caloric intake and it is hard since I am not eating wheat and for calories eat yumms, squash and avocado. I wanted to start on buckwheat and oats and it gave me harder bms. I do eat fish and nut butter for protein, but need to add more..
Scientist did you take probiotics ?
yes, I agree if doctor does not believe in botox it means that he did not do it a lot and does not have enough experience.
In Canada it is a challenge to find a doctor and see him in a timeline that you want . I guess countries that have private clinics the waiting list is shorter .
I know that I will recover and get my life back, but now it got pretty challenging to deal..
will hope that I will find my way for healing soon

I didn't take probiotics back then, but now I'm making kefir and drinking it nearly every day. I can't say if it's helping, because I already felt good, but I do feel very healthy at the moment, so it's not hurting. You can buy kefir but it's expensive, and very easy to make yourself.

Kefir is a good way to increase your dairy, because the lactose is all broken down by the probiotic organisms, and it becomes much more digestible.

I know it's challenging. Sometimes it's hard to imaging carrying on, but you can do it. Keep going, Guest.

Hi again, I'm back for a quick update.

This is my fissure's one-year anniversary. What a year it's been. I've suffered a lot and learned a lot and met so many wonderful people on this forum.

I feel really fine. Reading through this thread, I've been reminded of how bad it was, and for how long it lingered.
I know I'll always have to be careful. The main trigger now for me is stress. If I get anxious, or have to do something I dread, my anus starts to twinge!

If I have a hard BM, I feel a bit sore afterwards. Nothing worse.

Here are the things that cured me:
Nitroglycerol
Kondremul mineral oil
Hot water bottle day and night
Fissure-friendly foods, especially sweet potatoes, red lentils and oatmeal
Water
Time
This forum

Thanks for the update scientist........ And thanks for sticking around, even tough you're healed!!

Long may it continue!

OMB x