I've been suffering from a fissure (2 fissures, 6 and 12 o'clock as my doctor tells me to be exact) for almost a year now.
Creams, suppositories, softners have not really helped me, I've had a sphincterotomy last December, and I thought I would have healed, but almost 7 months later and I'm back to square one.

My doctor said I might require another surgery, which I am fine with, except the post-surgery pain for the next 2 weeks is not something I am looking forward to.

I don't really know what else I can do, I need to adjust my diet more that's for sure, but my QOL in general has taken a nosedive. I still socialise with friends, go to the office for work, but I am always worried about going to the bathroom when not at home because of either the pain or the itching / irritation post bathroom visit that can last from a few minutes to a few hours at a time.

I've also become a lot less active, since walking after an bowl movement is at best incredibly iritating and at worst very painful.

How do you go on with your daily lives when dealing with these iritations caused by walking etc? I'm finding it really hard. This sucks.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. Also a fissure sufferer; a chronic one currently; unsure if completely healed, possibly? and maybe another past acute fissure that has healed according to a recent CRS exam.

My first suggestion is getting to source of the fissure; if due to tight anal muscles you really need to work on that, pelvic floor physiotherapy or self dilation which worked for me. I have had no surgeries or medications as my Dr. at time did not diagnose a fissure but anal spasms and only recommended PT. I had daily severe spasms post BMs for up to 8hrs for many weeks resulting being in bed sometimes:(

Regarding irritation not sure if same as my experience but there was a time when I had skin irritation even after a short 5-10 min walk; then couldn't walk for several days since area so red inflamed. This was prior to knowing I had fissure; I had no idea what the new symptom was and found out by looking myself closely that there was very tiny bit of mucous discharge (still not sure if was from fissure or internal hemorrhoid). The Dr. I saw at time didn't know cause said maybe bit incontinence (imagine the extra anxiety hearing that!!) and CRS recently said likely from internal hemorrhoid but I read there could be discharge with fissures too?

Thankfully I don't get mucous anymore. I made coconut oil suppositories (froze them until use at bed time) and they seemed to help clear problem. And for long time I stuffed bit tissue up there to absorb during walk which helped (but hard as it wouldn't always stay in place) to prevent discharge going on inner butt cheeks thats where it would rub and irritate and burn!! Think just happens with gravity bits come out when you walk? everything is rubbing down there. I still worry about getting irritation so even though I cleaned after BM, I dab anal area again to be sure before heading out. Witch hazel pads are good; also rubbing bit of aloe gel (real leaf from plant) or coconut oil around anus both good barriers to prevent skin irritation or soothe.

Hope this helps.

random_forum_user wrote:How do you go on with your daily lives when dealing with these irritations caused by walking etc? I'm finding it really hard. This sucks.

I find that gardening helps - even just pushing the lawnmower in the sun seems to keep the gremlins at bay for a while. Also relaxed, non-intensive swimming. And meditation, plus breathing exercises, with Dr. Cortland Dahl at Healthy Minds.

Sorry you are going through this. It can get better, and it does.

Have you tried nitroglycerin cream to help with healing? I suffered for a year, that is what fixed me.

To be blunt, I got used to living with the constant pain until I was straining with every BM so I had to take action and I got the LIS. Pain is a mental thing and many people can live with it (there are many mental tricks you can do), but many can't and turn to any relief possible. I had one tear and it wasn't a severe tear according to my surgeon. So if you have two fissures you may have more irritation when being active. Other than mental exercises to turn off the pain receptors in your brain stay the course with treatments and try to reduce stress. If you are stressed you will create tension in the anus and that will prevent blood flow in that region from healing you sooner. Try meditation as well for mental pain relief and relaxation techniques.

Hi there, I’m so sorry you’re dealing w this. If you don’t mind me asking, what does back to square 1 mean? Do you have new tears and the pain is like day 1? Or did the old tears reopen? Did you experience any degree of healing before the surgery/post surgery? Sorry for all the questions, just curious if there was any relief in the middle you can use as a lifeboat!

I find GTN has been more helpful for my pain so far but it’s not a cure all and I aggravate or reopen the fissure a bit every 12-15 days with a slightly large or slightly hard-tipped BM. It feels impossible to avoid those situations.

I don’t know the answer but everyone has great suggestions about other avenues of discovery to try. Just want to send my solidarity your way!