Hello I'm new here, glad I found you. I've been suffering with a fissure since Jan 2010. I have used the nitro cream, had the botox, which seem to help for a while, however the last several months its back with a vengeance....I changed doctors to get a second opinion, she has me back on the nitro, been on a month tomorrow. not working.....it is so tight down there I can't even get the nitro in. I have a follow up appt tomorrow, I seriously can't take it anymore. This is running my life, it is my every thought. It is messing with my intimacy with my husband as it makes my lady parts hurt as well, I don't even want to think about doing the deed. I'm in misery at work, all day throbbing, I've found some old pain meds from the botox procedure been taking them, but that just makes me feel out of it, and the throbbing continues. I really hate to miss work right now as we are very busy at my job, but I tired, so so tired.....one question I do have is after the LIS, how long does having a BM hurt and does the surgery really work?
Thanks for listening.....Ren0

Ren0,
Yours are my words: "Can't take it anymore!". It is "my every thought", it is running my life, all I can think of is the next trip to the bathroom and how it is going to turn out. I do not let my husband near me, it is affecting my family, no doubt, I am short tempered and miserable.
I've been fighting this dragon for 7 years, it's just gotten so much worse in the past year. During my last visit I think I had another fissure but the doctor didn't see more than one. If I can see it how can the doctor not?
The CRS just dismissed me and send me away with fiber and stool softeners and sitz baths. AGAIN. Why did I have to go to a CRS to hear the same thing told by GP and gastroenterologist? What a waste of money and time. He told me he won't do a surgery, just like that, for the fear of incontinence. No one on this board has reported incontinence. When I asked him if there is anything else, he said no. Botox was never mentioned to me.
I am trying to find another doctor now.
You are not alone, if it offers any comfort :(

LIS was the best thing that came out of the last year of similar hell with me. I completely get it! There were days I seriously wanted to die and I NEVER thought I'd get my life back! Nobody REALLY understood, until I found this place. Perhaps your story is the closest to mine so I truly want to to know this; I've said it before I'll say it again, I will crap in a diaper for the rest of my life I don't care, just MAKE IT STOP! The day after surgery it STOPPED! Oh it hurt, read my story, I had a bugger of a time getting packing out the next day, but the burning throbbing uncontrollable indescribable pain is gone! You have done it all now nothing else will work for you, you know it. It's really not a big deal like people think! Read about alpinestrawberry, she was the one I followed to get me thru. Nothing compared to a bad fissure day, nothing! I am at day 12 I think and I'm not 100% yet, but much better than I expected to be! I had to get downright aggressive with my CRS, because, like Hope, he kept putting me off. I put my foot down and actually asked him if he questioned his own skill, it was hard but I was so scared to be sent home again with my burning ass! I only wish I would've done this first. I wasn't given the option I had to jump thru the hoops like you. My best advice to you is just do it! It really can feel better I know now that's hard to believe but I was where you are only two weeks ago! We are here and we understand what you are going through you can say anything here, I have had every question answered almost instantly here, better than the CRS office! Good luck, I hope you get on the right track and soon.

Hi Ren0
Know how you feel with a lot of your symptoms, as they are exactly the same as mine. I am tight too (scar tissue is the reason for mine), and also have that throbbing in my female parts. This extends to the pubic bone, and includes everything in the vulva. The CRS that I saw said that his examination of me, however, revealed no significant stenosis (of the bum, that is..). I also have pain in my coccyx from time to time.
It is up and down with relief - I am using Nifedipine on the outside - but though there are setbacks, it is much better than it was before. I was offered Botox, but not heard that many good things about on here, so putting that on hold. And LIS I am not thinking about for now.
You don't say what you take to help with BMs. I think that Mirilax seems to be the best, though I am with half a capful of Milk of Magnesia and an eighth of a Peri-Colace tablet every evening. I eat very very light. I just get so scared of the next day's rigmarole, so go with really boring mash, a little turkey, a few veggies, and drink at least 5 glasses of water a day.
TOO MUCH INFO NOW...BMs. For me, these can be very narrow and can also be flat. I have no bum cheeks to speak of, so think that I am "on the bones of my arse" so to speak, hence flat stools, or that is my theory. Sometimes I am constipated and have to push-not good. Today is a soft day...
I just went to an OBGYN specialist and have a prolapsed bladder (cystocele), and as I had a total hysterectomy am going to start using estrogen cream inside. Had to suggest that to the specialist! I do wonder about these doctors sometimes.
Anyway, good luck with your appointment. Keep your chin up. Things will get better!

Just as an extra...I tried once to get the nifedipine in, and never again. I only apply it to the outside.
So sorry you are in so much pain, but you are in a place where at least it is understood! Em

Sorry if my rant seemed too much but my relief makes me think sometimes thats the only thing that helps but I realize it's not an option or the choice everyone wants to make. Savaici is right, I was and am still using miralax, in Canada it's restoralax and it keeps things fluffy, I still take fiber throughout the day. The big help to deal with the pain for me was heating pads, ibuprofen with generic robaxacet, a muscle relaxer, and towards the end I discovered that Valium really helps with the spasms. I get a less addictive kind called oxazepam. Warm baths of course but sitz baths didn't work for me as the position put pressure down there which felt like it pulled on the fissure. Also nifedipine did help for a bit and I think if spasming could be eliminated then healing is achievable. For me, I had read so much about my problem that I knew I would need LIS. I could hardly pass gas without pain it was so tight. I hope you feel better soon and find your perfect recipe for healing.

Hi Elphie! Glad I am not the only one!! Sitz baths don't work for me either, but give me worse spasms when I have used it. The joy of this AF thing, is that one size, sadly, does not fit all.

Ren0,
I used to cry all the time; it felt like I was trapped in my body and I would have to live every day for the rest of my life with a painful problem I couldn't get rid of.
And yet, all it took was one simple surgery to fix it. I'm not quite two months out of surgery now, so I still have some ups and downs (a little sore today, at the incision site) but I don't bleed and I don't burn anymore. I can live with this body!
It is so worth getting the surgery, if you can find a doctor to do it that you're comfortable with. The recovery is not too bad, if you just have the LIS, no skin tag removal or fissurectomy. I'd say, take a week off of work, the 2-3 days the surgeon recommends wouldn't have been enough for me if I were working. I needed a week.
Good luck and best wishes!

Just get the courage to listen to those who have suffered like you - get the LIS procedure from a good ColoRectal Surgeon. It is the best decision you'll make to relieve the pain. Recovery is not bad as you would think... after few days its up and up.
I'm coming up to week 3 post LIS this Friday and I can tell you that my fissure also has dramatically healed. Just last week it was still a "red" visible fissure and as of today (7 days later) it's barely noticeable as new skin as grown in it's place.

I had my LIS done last Sunday. When I got home it hurt like hell, but narco-painkillers eliminated the paid. The hospital insisted that I ate before they'd discharge me si I had a BM later that night - absolutely no pain. Since then, by BMs are back to normal, one or twice per day with no pain whatsoever. Unlike Elphie and some of the others, I had no package inserted into by butt. I got gauze pads that are taped over my butt. Just a little drainage and some hint of blood on the gauze each day. CRS gave me seven days off from work. This is my second day back at work, and still no problems (I work in retail and am on my feet all day). My diet has not gone back to normal as I am still scared of trying solid food until I see my CRS for post-op follow up on Friday. Am taking generic stool softners and milk of magnesia. Still a little wary of the fibre suplements as I think they bulk up my stool a little too much. Lots and lots of liquid (makes me pee ever few hours) Having done the LIS -after weeks of monitoring this forum - I wonder why the hell I put up with all those waste of time creams/ointments for so long.