Hello all! I am so excited to say that after almost 4 months, I am consistently having comfortable bowel movements!!! I will not say that I am healed because I feel it takes a REALLY long time for the tissue down there to be completely repaired, but none the less I am doing great!
A little on what I have done to get to this point:
- Coconut oil! I really is wonderfully soothing.
- Keeping the area DRY! I know this is a step backwards from what I just mentioned. When I first got the fissure, I was putting coconut oil on it ALL the time. Then I read somewhere about how wounds need air to heal. So I stopped using the coconut oil unless I felt irritation such as my pile swelling or a particularly bad bathroom experience. Also, after my sitz baths I would lay on my bed with my rear in the air (I know this paints an amusing mental picture!) and allow the anus to dry before getting dressed. If I didn't have time t do this I would use a blow dryer with the cold air turned on, However I would recommend the air drying.
-FOOD! I reduced the amount of meat that I ate. I made better decisions about fruits and veggies. Blah, Blah, Blah! All the typical dietary changes we all know about.
- Stool Softeners. I take one dulcolax in the morning and one in the evening. I am hoping to get off these soon and just use good diet to keep everything soft.
- Take your vitamins! I highly recommend whole food supplements. You have to take a ton but it really makes a difference. This can help fight any infection and help healing progress. Also, I believe that the extra boost in vitamins helped my anxiety and depression about the issue.
-Yoga. I did lots of yoga to relax the muscles!
-Lastly, PRAYER! I know everyone has their own beliefs and maybe prayer isn't yours, but do whatever you need to do to have PEACE! I feel like we get so worked up over this issue and we forget whats its like to just be at peace. As a result, we hold all this stress and tension in our bodies which just makes things signifcantly worse! So whatever you need to do to put the positivity back in your life, DO IT!
I am so happy right now! I know we can all beat this!!!