Sorry about the TMI but I'm kind of freaking out. I'm in the middle of healing from a 2nd fissure occurrence and have been documenting my days in the "Diaries" board.

I might have eaten something that messed up my routine (the most likely culprit is a bottled protein shake I drank two days ago), and my last "normal" BM was almost 48 hours ago. I took 400mg mg citrate yesterday (usually I only take 200-300mg) hoping it would help with the BM this morning.

Today I woke up, did my usual thing (drink water, etc.), and felt an urge to go, but I had some serious hard tips. I told myself absolutely no straining, so I only got a little bit of it out. I could almost feel that chunks of hard stool are now stuck in my rectum, but have no idea what to do.

I just took a capful of Miralax in water (I've never taken Miralax before since my stool has been soft most of the time and mg citrate seems to be adequate). My fissure wound is finally healing up and I'm terrified I'm gonna go back to square one again because of one bad BM (my spasms are so bad I had to take time off work and rest at home).

Help please?????!!!! Any "emergency" stronger laxative I could buy off the shelf to relieve myself?

I went out to the nearest Walgreens and bought Fleet liquid glycerin suppositories. I only used half and within 2 min had to use the bathroom. It's still hard, but I did my best to take deep breaths and not to strain. Used all my concentration though - by the end of it I was drenched in sweat. That was a really scary 5 minutes. Facepalm.

Based on pain/discomfort level afterward, I'm happy to report I don't think I un-did the prior week of healing. Phew. Also, only the first half was hard and the 2nd half was of the right softness. I'm now convinced that it's a bottled protein shake I drank on Monday that caused the hard stool. I'm not a food chemist but maybe they used some ingredient in the shake to achieve its silky smooth texture but it also made my stool harder?

Maybe I spoke too early. Now the spasms started. ahhhhhh pulling my hair out. Sigh....

I use my finger to remove hard pieces from the rectum but there are better methods. Search for a post from Patience&Healing as she explains how to use water injected with a seringe. Suppositories also work but they put the muscle in spasm and this is not so great for fissure sufferers.

Try not to be too hard on yourself about this. We can't always predict how the food we eat is going to affect BMs. Inserting water with a syringe can help but I think in your situation the problem was not just the beginning of the BM. A fleet enema might have been helpful here as well, but I find that they cause burning (had to use them before some testing). The best thing you can do right now is use a warm or cold pack as needed, get on some miralax, and try to stay relaxed. Miralax takes 3 days to take full effect, so in the meantime keep up your regular regimen.

Thank you Abu and patience_and_healing!

Your responses make me feel I'm not in this battle alone.

Now it's 1:45pm and after two sitz baths and lots of agitation in bed, my spasms seem to have calmed down quite a bit, which is actually pretty good, since it's only been 4-5 hours since my nerve-wrecking BM. Usually my spasms last anywhere from 8 to 12 hours.

You need a laxative that softens your stools. I use Laxido / Movical.


If I don’t have a BM for two days I take 4 sachets in water. If I’m worried about hard stool I take 6 to 8. Hard tips means it’s sitting in transit too long and drying out.

Pherianne wrote:You need a laxative that softens your stools. I use Laxido / Movical.


If I don’t have a BM for two days I take 4 sachets in water. If I’m worried about hard stool I take 6 to 8. Hard tips means it’s sitting in transit too long and drying out.

magnesium citrate is a gentle laxative, no?

Hard to say about which is gentle. There are so many mixed opinions that it is difficult to know the truth - if there is a single truth for everyone.
I use magnesium because it "seems" to me as a closer to natural remedy.

What has always worked for me is 3 Tbsn mineral oil, preferably at night or first thing. I used it twice for 2 different freak outs. It worked and is smooth and soothing. Wish I could take it everyday, perfect bm.
One time I lowered my dose of miralax and ate something different and just went a little bit in the morning and had to push. I waited 2 hours after eating and took the mineral oil. I went at 8pm that night and first thing in the morning back on track no diarrhea. It was suggested by my doc, he said MOM and Citrus is too rough. GL