I went to see my colorectal surgeon again today (only my 2nd time seeing her) and she reacted very negatively when I mentioned that I found that doing gentle finger dilation really helped reducing the spasms that came with my first fissure.

She put on her "don't challenge my authority" face and probably repeated "that is only going to make it worse - don't do it" 5 times in her emotionless stern lecture. I asked why would it be bad and her response was "you are stretching out the sphincter muscle". I wanted to follow-up with more questions (like why stretching is bad or why would dilation be standard treatment in other parts of the world) but she was getting kind of argumentative and I already have a fissure to stress over and don't have the bandwidth to stress over a doctor and her attitude.

Wise members of this board, could anyone relate to her response? Why is this bad? Or could it be bad (while it clearly helped me and so many others on this board)?

Hi appleappple,

That is such an odd reaction from your CRS! It has helped me so much and I am even going bigger than I ever imagined I'd be able to dilate. I'd find another CRS. Stretching the muscle gradually should be ideal if it doesn't cause any pain. I think dilation was the main thing that stopped spasms for me. I'd say that it could only be bad if done without care, without lube or going too big for example.

Totally agree, dilation definitely works if done carefully and progressively without stretching too hard.

Dilation has helped me too. I still keep at it every week because otherwise my muscles tend to forget how to relax during a BM. Your doctor is probably worried about recommending something that could hurt you, and doesn't want to get into trouble because of it. A lot of doctors prefer to recommend conventional treatment rather than think out of the box. But there are better ways for them to explain things rather than scolding.

I think you should get a new surgeon. She sounds like problems you don’t need.

Pherianne wrote:I think you should get a new surgeon. She sounds like problems you don’t need.

Yeah she kind of is. Lol. She wasn't particularly helpful the first time I saw her. Sent me home with nifedipine without much discussion of what kind of self-care routines I should follow, or what caused fissure, or any kind of education. I learned pretty much everything from this website.

I've gone through some tough time at work (stress, lots of responsibility, long hours) since I kinda sorta recovered from the first fissure in April. But this relapse hit me pretty hard and I asked for time off from work (tbh I kind of think I earned it). The head HR was very sympathetic and suggested I should get FMLA benefits, but CRS wouldn't budge and sign the paperwork, and made me feel shitty in her office (making it sound like I was being a slacker or something).

I agree if I ever need to see an CRS again, I should probably find someone else - but I hope I don't have to see another one in a long time!