LifeAfterSurgery, so sorry to hear your long journey to LIS, you really been in pain and suffering for a long time.
I hope things get better for you for now on.

Thanks so much for sharing that. I hope things are on the improve for you.xx

Hi everyone.
I had a botox injection and 3 piles banded. I awoke from surgery and cried with happiness at the relief of no pain.(probably a bit off my head too..)
After a few hours the pain relief wore off and I had what i'd describe as level 4 pain, which is great! I felt really pleased and optimistic for the first few days.
I've had Halo surgery and that went wrong and was def a 10 in terms of pain.
I had my Boxox and banding 1 week ago. Over the past few days I have deteriorated. I have had practically no bleeding but constant pain in my anus and a stinging/burning sensation. I wake in the morning feeling optimistic then have a bowel movement and the pain level shoots up to 8.
I'm trying to work from home but i find the pain too distracting.My anus looks dark and there's and old tag there from a fissure and what appears to be a new tag there too, I don't know whether to go to the docs or wait it out. My work need a sick note off me if i'm not going back on Monday...I feel like a loser, especially reading how well other peoples surgery went.
I'm beginning to think mine were a grade 3 and perhaps i should have just gone for the LIS. I was pleased to be trying the banding as it seems to have a shorter recovery time...
I really want to be a success story, i don't really drink, I exercise, I eat healthily and take stool softners, I get plenty of hot baths and know that fissure pain can be relieved with walking but my piles kind of imobilise me, i don't know whats going on down there and just want to be well, if only there was an ass wand you could wave!
Love to fellow sufferers!

LifeAfterSurgery wrote:I had a fissurectomy and tag removed and advancement flap/anolplasty. Prior to the surgery I was in unbearable pain and spasms. Just as the pain would start to go away I would have to go to the bathroom and it would start all over. I lived my life around the bathroom. My gastro doctor misdiagnosed me for years. He dolled out lidocaine gel like he was giving me narcotics. Had one colonoscopy after another and gastro dr told me it was large hemorrhoids (HR) and finally decided to do something about it. Then made me wait almost 3 months for treatment. Instead of doing it while I was under anesthesia during the colonoscopy. He tried to band what he was calling HR and the pain was horrific. So, he stopped and thank God! He then sent me to a CR specialist. The specialist said it was obviously a fissure that had been there for years and years and years. That gastro doctors frequently cross the boarders into a specialty they should not be doing. That if the gastro doctor had succeeded with banding I would have been way worse off (can't imagine that). That the gastro dr was trying to band tissue that was not HR, but inflammation of the canal from the fissure trying and trying to heal. When I went to the bathroom it was so swollen it was like flat and like the size of a pencil. Also, the gastro dr said I had an external HR. I found out later it was not a HR either, it was a tag that was part of the fissure. I first tried the diaz. cream, cortozone cream and lido gel. Finally I decided to have the surgery since the CR specialist said it had been there so long it would never completely heal. So, about two weeks ago I had the surgery. At first no pain whatsoever! They give you a block. I have to give you a heads up. When the nurse says, "Take the meds and get ahead of the pain"... TAKE THE MEDS! I ended up in the ER dry heaving and in screaming pain. It was worse than child birth. Seering burning pain with crazy spasms. It was off the chart! Had to get shots and a heavier pain medication. Once the first couple of days passed and taking pain meds and colace regularly it does get better. The sitz baths help a lot and keep the area clean. I had the drain out and had little drainage. I doing better now because the spasms have chilled out. Also, prior to surgery I ate light and mostly liquids to play it safe. Just want to say if I had to do it all over again I would have gone to a CR specialist first. Also, if I had to do the surgery again I would and I would listen to the nurse. I did take medication prior to the block wearing off, but it was 1/2 the dosage and not soon enough. Was worried about the side effects of the pain meds. You know how that goes, but obviously the nurse knows best. So, when I went to do what she said it was too late. Also, my fissure was so bad that there was almost not enough healthy material to repair. So, your experience may not be as bad. Hope you feel better soon!

This is similar to my story. Especially the part where I try to take less pain medication than prescribed because I feel weird about narcotics and then end up in terrible pain. I didn't go to the ER, but I probably should have. Taking the meds on a schedule was huge for me. I'm 14 days out now, and I'm on a minimal dose. Beginning to see the approach of a day when I can be off pain killers all the way. Surgery hurts! I know some people have little pain afterwards, but I was not one of them.
I also had regular doctors tell me it was just hems. It delayed treatment for me for months. I wonder if I had gotten the correct treatment right away, if I could have avoided surgery. I really need to do something about the doctors, especially the one who humiliated me because I went to her and said that I think I have a anal fissure and she accused me of being over dramatic... then she tried to give me a rectal exam. (ouch!) Then I saw a gastro doc who is top rated in the country. He correctly identified that it was a fissure, and gave me nitro. But he also told me to stop bothering with sitz baths because they are useless, that the problem with nitro headaches are minor and exaggerated so I shouldn't be concerned about getting them, and that I didn't need to change my diet or take any kind of stool softener, as those are also useless. When I finally got to a CRS, he put me on diet, sitz baths, stool softeners, and niphedipine - which is the real protocol for healing anal fissures in a person who also suffers from severe chronic migraine like I do. I only did the surgery because I developed an allergy to the nifedipine.

Hi Everyone,
I am 30 year old female and I had a chronic anal fissure in the year 2010 and had LIS in july 2010. My recovery was very good and never had any problems till now.
However I gave birth to a baby girl 6 weeks ago. I had a C-section. I did not have a bowel movement for 6 days after my delivery. My doc prescribed milk of magnesia and it worked. I had bowel movement but it was a little painful. Later on, I had regular bowel movements.
But, since last week I had pain while I was passing stools. I was not constipated. I had this pain for 2 days and I started drinking lot of water and took Colace. I had painless BM for the whole week. Today, I felt the same pain again and I also saw some blood in my stool. I had pain only while passing stool, and later I did not had any pain for the day. However, I have pain near my anal when I touch it.
Now I am scared that my fissure is back. Did anyone experience fissure recurrence 2 years after LIS? Will that heal by itself? I have warm baths and sitz baths. Now I am really really scared. Please share if you have any similar experience.

Hi everyone good to know we're not alone!
I'm who has written what here, but its so re-assuring to know you're not alone!
I can't believe someone has been called over dramatic!!! I spend a lot of time thinking, what if its just me and i'm being a wimp....When i've had surgery i find myself hoping they'll find something and scared there gona say 'there's nothing wrong with me'.
The recovery time was approx a week which is what i told my boss, now i don't think i'll be well enought for my sessions on Thursday and i don't know what to do, i'm scared she'll think i'm swinging the lead...I can see people on here are from America, can i ask about your health care? I'm in England, and have had procedures on the national health so as yet they haven't cost me anything. I'm wandering if i need to pay a specialist....
I'm worried they're not piles and like you guys they may be scars/tags from fissures...
What a palava!
NB:I have been improving, things aren't as painful but i am taking Tramadol and ibuprofen. Don't think i can control a roomful of teenagers whilst on Tramadol though....
Love to all fellow sufferers!
xx

So sorry for the delay in update. Hope this helps someone. Had to have another surgery. Fistula and abscess. Once again ended up in ER. Then in the hospital on a pain pump for about a week. Still in crazy pain. Dr went to examine me. New fissure and ulcer. This is what I want to share, this doctor is a Godsend! Although this has been a painful journey, I finally know why. He took this specialized test called Prometheus. It showed positive for Crohn's. That coupled with all the other problems confirmed it. It also explains why I have other health conditions going on. So, now having additional testing to find out all the effected areas, but that is why I was not healing and am now slowly healing. Sometimes it takes switching doctors to find the root cause of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. Hope you all feel better soon!

LifeAfterSurgery im sorry to hear you had to have another surgery. I am still trying to avoid surgery at this point for my fissure. Its been 2 months this is terrible im only 29 years old. How do you know if you have Crohns? were there any symptoms?