Hi all.

I have so many problems with my health and now this is all I need on top. For the last month I have had problems with pain after a bowel movement. I am 38 and have had bowel problems off and on since I was 19 when I first went to my doctor with piles. Since then every few years it flares up. What I am currently suffering from feels very different though. I know no one here can diagnose me for sure without seeing a doctor, but I just wondered if this sounds like a fissure from the symptoms ?

Every time I have a bowel movement, even if slight, I feel like it is very tight down there and that it would split if I pushed much more. There is an incredible feeling of soreness when pushing. When I look in the bowl after the stools are very thin. There appears to be what looks like mucus floating in the bowl but that could be because I am using Dulcoease to try and soften it, I am unsure if that is a side effect.

Although the actual bowel movement is very annoying, I can cope with the discomfort, it is the after pain that I hate with a passion. Sometimes things are okay for an hour but then all hell breaks loose and I get throbbing, stabbing, gnawing, burning, you name it. I try pile wipes and cream and it makes no difference at all it seems. When I feel with my finger back there I can't seem to find any lumps and I can't work out what is causing it. There is never any blood on my tissue.

Right now it has been 11 hours since my bowel movement this is the first time it still hurts. Normally it lasts 8 hours. But now at 11 hours this is ridiculous. The ibuprofren is helping but the nagging ache and sudden stabs are still there. I can't work out why today it is lasting so long as this is not as it has been previously. I am on such a low food diet due to weight loss that I am shocked what I am depositing is enough to cause any problems.

I am now stuck in a rut, do I leave it longer to go to the toilet so I get some pain free days, or do I go every day to try and minimize the pain but still end up with pain for hours. Damn I hate my bowels. I sometimes feel like stabbing a knife up there just to pay it back.

I just wondered if this sounds "classic AF" or should I be more concerned ? As I say, no blood thus far that I have seen. Been around a month now. Sometimes I get lucky and a bowel movement only causes mild discomfort, but other times it is 8 hours, or today 11 hours and counting. I sure hope I get a pain free evening.

Thanks all !!

Hi Zammo,
Sorry to hear your going through this, try and get to see a doc asap and if he cant see a fissure try and get to see a CRS as gps often miss a fissure...mine was hiding behind a hem apparently
I never get pain or blood when I have a BM unless I go more than 6 times a day (have IBD so that can happen) but the worst thing for me is the hours like you often 12/15 hours of spasms and pain it was awful.
Cream has helped the spasms so much but I'm due to gave LIS soon
Please try to get to a DR as the sooner you start treatment for a fissure the better. If it's not a fissure then you still can't be in this pain....no one should.
Good luck and keep going