I healed naturally (no Surgery). It’s not for all, and I felt it was the best option for me. It was tough but with help and lots of patience I’m fissure free today and life is back to pre-fissure normal.

I should have put words to paper a while back and life happened and time slipped by. I apologize for that. I hope readers take one thing from my words, and that is HOPE.

Here is my story.

At the time of my fissure occurrence I was a 52 year old physically active, healthy, average weight male enjoying life. Suddenly in the blink of an eye it all changed. The cause of my fissure was a 10 day bout with diarrhea brought on by contaminated food or water while travelling. it was exacerbated by my careless GP doctor examining me for hemorrhoids, misdiagnosing me and further tearing the initial small fissure without saying so. I know because it hurt like hell and I bled a lot during the exam. I should have sued the jerk! I also had some dental work done at this same time and was prescribed a pain killer that stops you up. Mistake when you have an un-diagnosed fissure.

I struggled for a few weeks with the intense almost daylong pain after my daily morning bowl movement and grew to dread them. The pain spasms would come on about 30 minutes after each bowel movement and build over a 5 hour period. Life turned into a living hell.

Things turned around only when I became willing to reach out for help and only then things slowly started change for the better for me. I reached out online, to people around me and finally to a CRS in the area. CRS for the newbies is a Colo-Rectal Surgeon. This was the key to a slow, methodical, surgery free recovery. Do you notice the reoccurring theme of this writing? Slow recovery? I repeat it over and over because in today’s world we have all grown accustomed to things happening quickly. Healing my fissure naturally just didn’t happen quickly. Please be patient, reach down deep inside and find some courage and a willingness to take direction, they were indispensable in my recovery.

I wish I could say that from then on it was roses, but I can't and won’t do my fellow fissure sufferers that dis-service. The truth is, it was a battle, and on some days I felt like I was losing ground, but armed now with knowledge of what to expect in the healing process, I’d put my head down and plod on. In the end, I healed and life got back to normal. Here's most of what I did.

First of all after my initial CRS exam I decided to try my best to heal naturally. It was a personal decision and may not be the best solution for all. You and your Dr. should figure that out. Some people out there do better or require surgery. Once I decided to try and heal naturally, my CRS instructed me on what to eat and drink. I followed his instructions almost to the letter.

I increased my daily water intake to at least 64 oz per day. I measured it by always using a 16 OZ water bottle and downing at least 4 of those a day. No exceptions to this rule! I massively increased my fiber intake. You can't do this and expect results if you don't do the water thing i just mentioned. The two combined soften your stool so healing can take place. Lots more fiber and too little water are bad for fissure sufferers.

Do some research online and try to get that fiber naturally. Lentils and beans, high fiber bread products, apples, pears, less from things like fiber bars and powders like Metamucil. My experience with that stuff was negative. I was 10 times gassier and the powders are not really very high in fiber. I got up to around 30-35 grams per day and that worked for me. It really wasn’t that hard.

Cut out the junk food. I also chose to cut out red meat for the time being. I was also a huge raw nut eater before I had the fissure and I had to suspend that. No raw almonds or salted peanuts or cashews, etc. Not good for your bum.

I tried different topical creams prescribed by my CRS and the one that really worked and promoted natural healing was the Nitro stuff. Yes the temporary headache sucked but for me it relieved the horrible spasms which in turn allowed me to heal naturally without surgery.

The other thing that helped soften my stool up and keep it that way until I healed (this is a really important component in the healing process) was the once daily use of Miralax. I’m not a product salesman but this stuff worked for me. Once I started taking it in conjunction with the increased water and fiber intake along with the dietary changes good things started happening and the road to recovery became less arduous for me.

I truly wish you the best in your recovery and hope you too can achieve a successful result with whatever method of healing you decide is best for you.

Thanks Dathurts.. How long did it take for something near full healing ?

I forgot to mention a couple of other critical components to my healing program. Daily exercise like walking for 30 minutes in the afternoons and daily sitz baths in the morning after your morning constitution. I bought a plastic pink thingy from my local pharmacy made for just that purpose.
The amount of time for a full recovery where I wasn't doing all the crazy stuff you have to do to heal was almost a year. I noticed a big difference and had a lot less discomfort once I put everything together, that I mention above, within 6 to 8 weeks. Look my CRS told me 12 weeks to heal. That was way too optimistic. Remeber, its very slow healing, smooth muscle were dealing with. Its the slowest healing part of our bodies for some reason. Be patient and diligent and it'll pay off.

Thank you.

inspiring me. i am now on the 6th week mark and in a roller coaster ride. sometimes okay sometimes badass. cant wait to feel pain free again. sometimes i feel defeated by this pain. i will try to cut out all the junk to recover fully. do you still eat chocolates though? i am a choc lover.

I'm pretty much back to my old self and yes I freakin' love chocolate. I stopped eating it completely while healing. I was on a roller coaster too until I buckled down and got real strict about my diet and pretty much just ate a natural high fiber diet. That pain was a good motivator. My water consumption is still high today and I still eat more fiber than before. I figure the soluble fiber controls bad cholesterol. I mentioned sitz baths and exercise in a follow up post because those i feel were important factors too. My CRS explained that healing wouldn't happen until relaxation took place and good blood circulation in the area of the injury occurred.
At first it's a battle and once I incorporated all of the above mentioned elements into a strict daily routine i healed. The reason I stayed clear of surgery is because my CRS said that the chances of having "leaking" problems when one got older were higher with the surgery. He said I looked strong enough to be able to heal without surgery. BTW, get a competent CRS to help you along the way. Don't completely rely on him either. I found I got much more in tune with my body while all of this was going down and some things became intuitive.
For instance at first I was using this other compunded topical substance my CRS ordered. It was a pain to get it and it was expensive too. It didn't seem to be working so I asked him to suggest another. He told me to try the Nitro cream and bingo, I felt the difference right away. It allowed me to relax down there much more than the previous cream I had been using. another thing I did myself was the Miralax. He never suggested it and it made a big difference to me and my healing. This is the kind of stuff I encourage you to do. everybody heals differently so you'll figure out what works for you. I read a ton of material on the subject online. The weird, off the wall stuff didn't appeal to me at all. I stuck with the traditional, what seemed sane solutions, used the ones that worked for me and discarded the ones that didn't. Unless you have a chronic underlying problem, it'll heal, slowly.

My Fissure was diagnosed as a pretty serious one, not minor. My CRS made that clear on the first visit. If you have a minor one you'll heal way faster.

Thanks for the excellent post. I have been dealing with a chronic fissure for quite a while...going on17 months. Same initial misdiagnosis as you...so it took a while for me to start dealing properly.

I was told in September 2015 that i was "healed" by a CRS only to experience small amounts of blood a few times since then. I also experience agitation, some minor discomfort and a general awareness that things are not 100% even though i am "healed".

I take Restoralax (3/8 of a teaspoon twice a day) but a small dose -- i take a quarter of a dose a day.

I am wondering -- how long did you use the Restoralax/miralax...did you wean yourself off? And...do you have any residual issues...any blood ever....or are you 100% back to where you were before this began?

Am I right that after you started on your strict regimen it took you about a year to feel healed?

Thanks for any feedback.

Best - Canadabum

I used the MiraLax for the better part of the year I was healing and yes, weaned off of it over a 2 week period.
Yes, what I consider full healing took about a year after putting all of the pieces of my healing program together. Not all of the components were directly related to what my CRS ordered. I had to figure a few things out for myself. For instance he was in favor of using powder products to achieve a high fiber diet. I ended up nixing that in favor of natural foods that did that for me. After extensive research i put together a pretty simple fiber filled diet. The ready made Fiber bars or fart bars as I called them, were a let down too. Trader Joe's carries some great high fiber muffins and the rest was natural, high fiber grains, legumes fruits and vegetables.
Another small detail i added was every so often, like twice a week, i"d take a table spoon of olive oil. I switched to using wipes instead of toilet paper too. Now I'm back to using regular toilet paper.
I don't have any bleeding. I didn't really suffer much bleeding once I started to heal. Every so often after a hard stool I'd get a little blood.

Hi, uplifting to hear that you´ve healed. I´m opting for the same solution after my CRS recommended that I stay away from surgery. I´ve had this thing for almost a year now, but only recently figured out a diet that works and have just come off nitro. Now I am on a level where I have days completely pain free, and the rest of the time (If I miss the mark diet-widse) with a very low level of pain.

I can totally relate to how important water intake is, and also to stick to it. Its both fascinating and frustrating to see how little it takes to put the gut out of balance. A bit too much coffee or crisps over the weekend and you´re out.

Such small f***ups has set me back somewhat lately, and I was wondering if you too have had these small relapses where you have a stool that´s soft, but not perfectly soft, causing a little pain, but not a full blown re-tear? If so, how much did they set you back?

When did you consider yourself "healed"? And did you experience relapses after you thought you were fine?