Hello all! First time writer!

I have been dealing with an AF for a few months. The first few weeks were extremely painful and hard to get through, mentally. I don’t exactly know where it came from I wasn’t pregnant or constipated. I think it happened because I was rushing to poop before leaving the house one day.
Luckily, I’m past that horrible initial phase and am now in the… less painful, still painful, slow healing/maintenance phase. It’s gotten a bit worse in the last few days so I’m just trying to regain my control on the reins of this awful condition and hopefully keep healing rather than regressing….
My main issue is the spasms after a BM. They hurt a lot and slow the healing down so much. I can’t afford medical treatment so I’ve been dealing with it completely solo. Argh.

Wanted to share something that had helped me a lot, that I haven’t seen mentioned here yet.
Everyone mentions creams, diet, water, fibre, laxatives etc but what helped me out of the first horrible stage was- Anal douching!

I have a small bulb style anal douche that I got from an online store. If I feel I need to poop, I will fill the douche with warm water, lay on a towel on the bathroom floor, insert the stem into my butt and squeeze it until half or all the water is inside me..

Then I get up and go to the toilet.

The water helps everything pass much more quickly and smoothly. It stops poop from getting stuck or from being slow.. and the water stops it from gripping onto your colon walls and dragging/ hurting the fissures so much on the way out.

Use this in combination with everything else you’re doing :)

I do not have a bathtub so I use a clean rectangular kitty litter box of warm water to sit in on the shower floor. I have that ready so I can go straight from pooping to sitting in the warm water.
Very classy..

Made an account to post this and I hope it helps someone!!

From what I understand, anal (or vaginal) douching on a regular basis is not recommended, because it can introduce harmful bacteria into your rectum and that could cause an infection. Also, it can clean out good bacteria, which should be left alone and not removed every day. I'm glad that you have found relief with this technique, but you should probably seek the advice of a doctor before continuing this douching regimen. He or she could let you know what is medically safe on this front.

Hello!
It can definitely upset the balance of good bacteria in your colon but the warnings are more about full douching. During that process, you put a lottt of water in, poop it out, and continue repeatedly until the water runs clean. Ie before anal sex etc.
I have used the douche safely long before having an AF. :) The instrument is sanitised after each use.

Putting 100ml to lubricate a BM is fine. You poop it out immediately and aren’t flushing your colon clean.
But sure, if people want to ask their doc first to be sure - go ahead :)

I’ve also found it helpful to use a syringe with *no pointy needle tip*, just the syringe body itself with no tip to insert some lubricant into my butt before going to the toilet.

Just lubricant you’d use for sex, whatever one you prefer. I use a tiny bit, about 0.5 ml which is 0.02 us fluid ounce or so.

I do this instead of the water sometimes. It’s less and it’s easier. Basically the same as Vaseline but you don’t need to get your finger in. Small syringe is thinner :)