:santa: :santa: :santa: :santa:
great x-mas present!!!.... a new ass!! :lol!:
good for you..!!
keep in mind if it seems to feel better in the meantime / dont chicken out like i did several times...it will come back.
make sure you change your diet / high fiber!!!!
things to think about that worked for me before and after:
before:
diet change before
fiber intake
heating pad
hot baths
no carbonated drinks
vegies
soup
after:
diet change
fiber / colase
hot baths
after b.m. 'unscented', 'alcohol free', 'chemical free' Baby Wipes.
cotton pad with bacitricin / tucked gently in the crack of my butt after baths.
im 100% pain free and feeling like a new man!
good luck to you and merry x-mas! you will be fine...and you will feel like a different person!

Yesterday I had pain-free BMs! No pain, no bleeding!!! YAY!!!!
But this morning, as I woke up, I became aware of one thing only: The Itch.
Cheryl I know you had The Itch, what did you do to relieve it? This is really annoying! Haven't we already had enough?
Let me know what you think...
Thanks!
G

I'm so glad that things are going so well....except for the itch. I hear you on that! Just 5 minutes ago I was thinking that its going to drive me nutty :shock: I hope that you find a solution and then share it with the rest of us;)
As gizmo wrote to Hugh:
"keep in mind if it seems to feel better in the meantime / dont chicken out like i did several times...it will come back. "
I have an appointment on the 21st to see what my options are....if I have a "good" day here or there I start thinking, maybe not, but I KNOW that it will be back with a vengeance. Besides, I want more than an occasional "good" day.....I'm so tired of having to decide what I'll be doing (or not) on any given day based on how my ass is feeling
I hope you all are having a pleasant, painless day!
take care,
Sara

Hey Hugh.. Excellent news re the surgery.. I bet you are just soooo excited! Not long till you will be healed and capable of having a life without obsessing with your arse
Sara, Genevieve...
http://anal-fissure.org/viewtopic.forum?t=14 Check out this thread.. has all the details re: the itch.. I have solved mine with a particular brand of wipes. We have come to the conclusion, keeping it clean and DRY is the solution.. we think!
Genevieve, glad your healing well.. How great is it when you have your first few pain free BM's hey.. dont you just wanna hug the toilet walls.. instead of thumping them like we used to!!
Im toally enjoying reading everyones different surgery experiences and hearing the relief people are feeling... thanks so much for sharing your expreiences with us!

Hi Genevieve
Congrats on your op - wow that sounded way scary! I take my hat off too you.. I was under full anaesthetic - lucky me i guess! Please keep us posted on your progress - as i just had mine done too i probably will need to hear how yours is going.
Hugh thats good news about your op... i bet you cant wait!
you will be great, dont worry!!
Annie

hey G,
soapy water isn't a no-no so much because it can be an irritant, but it will offset the phbalance of the anus. there is special mucous membranes/tissue in the anus which is not a place for soap to do good....although it would be nice to have clean smelling butt right!
from what i was told, the soap offsets the balance which can then lead to more thinner, delicate tissue which is more susceptible to tearing. and that's totally what we are trying to avoid
i definitely think a combination of the baby wipes for times when we can have a shower/bath after an elimination and keeping it very dry yet adding a moisturizer to help heal the scar tissue.

Hey everyone,
So, I've been bleeding a bit from BMs for the last couple of days, and I feel a little pinch of pain, though nothing like fissure pain at all. I had some ice cream two nights ago and it gave me indigestion, and when it came out it felt like it was scraping along the sides. Needless to say I was VERY upset and frustrated.
My surgeon didn't suggest taking some stool softeners, so I'm fully-reliant on the food I eat to get a soft BM. I might give him a call and ask him what he thinks I should do. I'm now drinking lactose-free milk and avoiding dairy except for yogurt... maybe I'm lactose sensitive?
Stay tuned...

Hey G,
I would seriously recommend taking a softener like Colace or sorbitol.. im frightened if you dont you could risk a re-tear. (sorry i dont want to frighten you) but we should be doing everything we can to help the fissure heal - the LIS would have relaxed the muscle for you, now we have to eat fibre and take softeners (combined with a good diet) to finalise the healing.
I noticed in the first few weeks after my surgery if i stopped my softener the pain and bleeding came back to.. i am staying on them for a while to be safe.
Goodluck
Cheryl

Cheryl,
I think you may have hit the nail on the head. Bottom line is: my stools are not soft enough. That I know for a fact. I'm am SO glad to hear that you went through that too... not glad because you had pain but glad I'm not alone. I've been feeling SO frustrated and angry these past two days.
Can you get sorbitol or colase over-the-counter? And what's the dosage/how many times a day? I don't want to go overboard and get diarrhea...
Thanks for the information, Cheryl. You've been a huge help.
G

hey G,
as you are contemplating on taking colase or sorbitol, i hope that you will eventually ween yourself off of a stool softner and begin to rely on natural foods that will provide you with the daily fiber you need.
as my CRS advised, 35-40 g of fibre daily was important and that i needed to be diligent in doing so. not getting 10 g one day then 40 one day and then 20 g another day....it has to be 40, 40, 40, 40, 40....every day!!!!!
i recommend reading a beginners book on macrobiotics which explains why dairy is just not a great thing for the body. and it's a way of life that is high in fibre and great eating.
for now, i guess you can get some help with colase.
if canada sells kellogg's all bran bran buds, having that cereal with soy milk, is like more than 1/2 the battle won!
good luck G!