What a bummer !!!! I do not understand your parents ignoring your horrible plight ????!!!!! What does it mean "for this" - like you have to be on your death-bed, God forbid, to be taken to a better doctor ???? They obviously have no clue how debilitating fissures are !!! Can you shaw them this forum so that they can read about extent of the pain so they do not think that you are exaggerating ???
That is just horrible - I have nothing more to say regarding that matter...
BUT, can you find a better care in your area by yourself ??? Is there bigger city nearby so you can travel by a bus ? Do you have a friend that can give you a ride - sibling, aunt ...anybody ???
You CAN use nitro - I did !!!! It is Vaseline based and Vaseline will protect your butt from a moisture - not other way around ! After BM take a bath, check your butt in the mirror for cleanliness. If you find any poop , clean it with a q-tip dipped in some chamomile tea , or Balneol cream , or just plain water. If all is clean than use the fen to dry it and apply Nitro ! Also, try to take warm 20 min soaks in a bath-tub at least 3 times a day and keep your poop soft.
I wish you the best of luck Passion and I wish I could do more for you - I really do not understand your parents :(

That pains me to hear your parents are not more involved in your care, COP. We all know how painful and frustrating this condition is, but I can somewhat relate as it didn't seem my family understood how much pain I was in but they were for the most part supportive. Fissy is right, why not keep using the nitro and hopefully it will slow the spasming down some.
Do you know if you are continuing to be be very tight down there? That would be a bad sign and a sign the LIS isn't working...

My therapist is saying that oftentimes pelvic floor dysfunction (like I have) can cause constipation. She gave me an article about it. There might be a website I can post for it. I didn't think my mother was very supportive of my plight when I was having such troubles. It helped me to not talk with her about the problem.

Oh Cheryl - that is just unbelievable !!! Didn't your mom have a fissure herself when she was younger ????
I do not know - I might be overprotective, but when something is bothering my kids, even if it is the silliest thing , I go head over heals to make them comfortable !!! If they were in the pain I would go to the end of this world to find a cure for them !!! And I am always ready to hear about ANYBODY'S problem and be sympathetic , even the stranger on the bus, not to mention my own child - gosh !!!!!!!!???

I don't really know if the area is still tight. It's kinda hard to tell. When my surgeon had a look at me during our last appointment, he said my muscle tone had improved.
I guess I'll start using the Nitro cream again today, even though he said not to... And I'll have to track down another surgeon that I can talk to about this.

Yes, Passion - take the things in your own hands !!! He obviously is not very competent and we know our body better than anybody else . Unfortunately, we can not always rely on doctor's advice since not all of them are equally competent or caring !!! Track down new surgeon and if that one is not good, find third one - I had to visit 5 of them until I found the guy who fixed me !!!!
Never give up Passion

Still haven't found a surgeon for a second opinion, but I did start applying a small amount of the nitro cream again today. It's causing a lot of burning...
Out of curiosity, how many follow up appointments did everyone else here have with their surgeon?
And how long should I expect the bleeding to continue? I'm not bleeding a lot anymore, of course, but I bled a little again today. I'm taking Miralax, Citrucel, drinking lots of water, and trying to eat some softer foods like yogurt, bananas, etc, but my stool just doesn't want to stay soft. The only thing that really helped was the MOM, but that's not safe to take long-term.

If your fissure is healing, you should bleed less and less over time. So if it is slowing down now, that is a very good sign. It may still occasionally bleed from time to time even after everything seems to return to "normal." Remember that your membranes down there will still be somewhat compromised even though the fissure has "healed," and it can take a year or longer for the membranes to regain their original strength, so until that happens, you can get bleeding from time to time especially when passing a hard stool.
I had two post-surgery follow-ups but I was doing so well I didn't go to the second (last) one, after all, it was a 60 mile trip just to hear the CRS say, OK, you are all done now...

Well, the bleeding is less, but of course, I'm still getting those darn spasms on a daily basis. I'd say I'm getting them less often than I used to (before the surgery), though.
Glad to hear that 1 or 2 post-op visits are normal. I wasn't quite sure.
Thanks!

Yes, I noticed you didn't mention the spasms. Have they gone down in frequency over the past few days?