hi,
i am a 36 year old male living in chicago. this all started in 2008, when i pushed and pushed and ate a lot of chinesered pepper and there i had a fissure and haemmorids. Somehow i went thru life without learning how to poop. my mother used to complain all the time, i cant go outside as i havent pooped yet, and i must have taken that literally, so before going to office in the morning, even if i didnt feel like pooping, i pushed. finally as i was entering my 30's, the stress of work, marriage, bad eating habits etc resulted in the situation in 2008. i got the haemmorids banded and started using nitroglyercin, nothing happened to fissure, then tried some electric simulations to the area, which improved, but did not fully heal. in 2009 finally went to the surgeon who scheduled me for LIS, chickened out and convinced myself that i will get a second opinion, loose weight, reduce stress etc to get out of surgery. Now in 2010, went to another CRS, he gave me a slightly different ointment, and did a colonoscopy, the fissure healed, and he said i dont need surgery, if u want can give u botox injections. I said no i am fine, so back to misery time and again flareups, swelling in the skin tag, pain, bleeding. Came to Chicago in 2011 , did show to another CRS, he said suregery is your call, chickened out again. in 2012 went to another CRS, she refused to listen to my rant, as she described and said that i need to modify my diet. By the way i dont drink, smoke, was weggie for a long time and also have 2 cups of miralax every day to survive, my stools are flattish and not more than the diameter of a straw, but still i suffer every day and in pain, bleeding. meanwhile my internal medicine doctor told me i am stressed, have very low B-12, vitamin D and testerone. started having those vitamins and shots for B-12. i am thinking surgery might not help me as i have to reduce the stress in my life first and see a therapist first.
I am at the end of my rope...miserable, clueless, wife has stopped sympathasising, saying if it was her, she would change her personality, diet or get surgery.
i
need helo? will i ever be able to poop ever in my life? also who is the best CRS in Chicago

I don't personally find it helpful to contemplate if I deserved this pain. After all, I don't know in the end if this pain is a curse or a gift. There could be positive meaning in this that I can't see right now because I'm just in the pain.
The way you are describing your stools tells me that there is a real problem with your anal canal. That's too narrow.
My doctor also let surgery be "up to me." Because the central problem with fissures is pain, a lot of CRS's will ask the patient to make the call. This is not because you don't need the surgery. I'm guessing its because they don't want to be accused of pushing the surgery on someone who really doesn't need it.
In the end, it is up to you. But know this. Having AF does not mean that you are a bad person or that you deserve to be in pain. Sometimes in life, sh#t just happens. Even to Hindus, who have a belief that everything in life is a result of Karma, sh#t does happen; pain is expected in life. Its not so much that you have pain but how you deal with it, that determines what it means in your life.

well i am Hindu!! :-), thats why this is a result of my Karma!!
I have been having 2 cup fulls ( Cup- lid of the Miralax bottle) for 4-5 years and because the stool has been soft for so long, i think it has resulted in narrowing of the anal canal,one of the CRS who didnt listen to me at all, did mention this fact.
At this point i am not sure if there is an underlying fissure under the skin tag, but because of the narrowness, i strain and haemmorids flare up.
Coconut - did u have the surgery? why are u still in pain, are u also resisting surgery?

Ag wrote:well i am Hindu!! :-), thats why this is a result of my Karma!!
I have been having 2 cup fulls ( Cup- lid of the Miralax bottle) for 4-5 years and because the stool has been soft for so long, i think it has resulted in narrowing of the anal canal,one of the CRS who didnt listen to me at all, did mention this fact.
At this point i am not sure if there is an underlying fissure under the skin tag, but because of the narrowness, i strain and haemmorids flare up.
Coconut - did u have the surgery? why are u still in pain, are u also resisting surgery?

I hope I didn't offend. I should have asked first if you were Hindu and were mentioning karma in the traditional sense.
I had the surgery 14 days ago. I don't know why I'm still in pain. Its just a really difficult recovery from surgery. I hope that this will heal the fissure, but its too soon to tell.
My CRS is insistent that I use stool bulkeners like wheat bran to make sure that my stools are large enough, to prevent the anus from narrowing.
I'm sorry you're having so much trouble. Many people have an easier recovery from surgery than I have been having, so hopefully, you would be one of those people.
Not straining is really key. Have you explored squatting when you have a bowl movement? I've found that doing so helps me avoid straining.

oh no,no, no offense taken...!! :-)
i tried bulking up my stools with citrucel i believe, but it was just too painful too pass. Also there is a scartissue/skin tag/sentinel pile...narrowing that area further. Also i think i was drinking it in the wrong way as i was bloated with even my wrist size going down when i stopped.
I Squat and in fact that is the traditional style of poopong in my native country..
i am not sure i understnd why you are in such pain? Which Surgey did u have? Just LIS - as per my research the pain from LIS is less than the fissure itself? did u have fissurectomy or haemmoridictmy also?
i would get it checked out immediately, which i am sure you would have done.
Also anybody reading this and in Chicago, please let me know if you can refer me to a CRS who had surgery with!!

I had the fissurectomy and skin tag removal, along with LIS. The LIS is indeed the first wound to close. I suspect that I would be better by now if I had only LIS, but the doctor felt certain that this would not be enough for my fissure to close. I am improving, but very slowly. I'm trying not to let myself get too anxious about it. After all, anxiety doesn't help heal things.
This thread might help you find a top rated CRS surgeon. http://anal-fissure.org/t5991-top-colon-and-rectal-surgeons-in-usa-usnews

Ag is not really bad karma but the result of our modern diets that are causing most of the problems we are having today.
Still fissures can happen to anybody.
Now, you do need to change your diet, relax a bit and then if it doesn't work have surgery, but if you have surgery and do not change your eating habits things will come back again.
I am managing my fissure on my own and I am doing very good, at least the fissure no longer controls me.
I hope you find a way to work with your body to heal your fissure before having surgery.
Years of suffering are not a good thing for the body and the mind.