Actually, I would worry about the hard poos, NG. They can be devastating. I usually had no pain during BM, just the painful spasms afterward. But I still distinctly recall having to travel out of town for a weekend, so I skipped going for a day or two. When I did get home and went, it was sheer murder. I lay in the bed for two or three hours in agony.
Now, loose or mushy stools burned, but a truly hard stool set off the spasms like you wouldn't believe.
It is the middle ground you need to find, soft formed stools. And that is the holy grail few people an achieve (until, of course,their fissure heals, then they are all like that!)

Yeah I'll give you that, the soft poo is definitely preferable to the hard poo. I had that episode a week ago with "explosive" watery poos, which prompted me to stop stool softeners altogether, which was definitely a huge mistake. It took a couple days of torture for me to realize that erring on the side of watery is the lesser of two evils.
My cat loves sleeping right next to my head at night. Sometimes it gets too close and I wake up in the middle of the night with a cat butt mere millimeters from my face. I'd like to stoke my ego and say it only likes to sleep with me, but truthfully it will curl up next to just about any kind of warm body that happens to be in the bed!

Kim wrote:Actually, I would worry about the hard poos, NG. They can be devastating. I usually had no pain during BM, just the painful spasms afterward. But I still distinctly recall having to travel out of town for a weekend, so I skipped going for a day or two. When I did get home and went, it was sheer murder. I lay in the bed for two or three hours in agony.
Now, loose or mushy stools burned, but a truly hard stool set off the spasms like you wouldn't believe.
It is the middle ground you need to find, soft formed stools. And that is the holy grail few people an achieve (until, of course,their fissure heals, then they are all like that!)

Haha yeah don't get me wrong, I still fear the hard poos way more than the soft ones. The soft ones may leave me in discomfort for the rest of the day, but they exit the premises with relatively little resistance. I think it is indeed something about the acidic nature of the "poo water" that irritates the open fissure for hours afterward when soft poos are passed. The hard poos, I'll agree, are pretty much torture. I was never really successful at getting them all out, either, because once I passed one hard stool, I couldn't bear the thought of the agony of having to push another one out! The only weird thing for me is that I don't get the post-BM spasms as much with hard stools than with watery ones.
I feel somewhat comforted, though, that the stool softness balance is something that others also struggle with. It's a frustrating process. I've been trying to eat the same thing day after day so that I can keep as many variables in check as possible. You should have seen the grocery store checkout clerk's expression when I walked out of there today with pretty much their entire stock of catfish, salmon, and tilapia filets in my cart! It's fish and brown rice and bran cereal everyday until I get some kind of fissure resolution!!!
And yeah, it's weird how these problems only exist when there's a fissure around :) I remininsce about the days when I could order a big ol' plate of spicy fried food, down it with a couple pints of beer, then have coffee and desert and not have any fear of the consequences. Chronologically those days weren't too long ago, but mentally they seem like it was a different lifetime altogether. Then again, maybe years of that is how I ended up with this stupid fissure in the first place!

The only weird thing for me is that I don't get the post-BM spasms as much with hard stools than with watery ones.
And I was the opposite. Hard stools = major spasms and intense pain. That is AF, somewhat different for everyone, completely opposite for some.
It's not recommended to eat fish too often, now, NG! I am sure it's OK to do it daily for a while, but remember fish have the highest level of environmental toxins of all meats save for shellfish... careful!!

Kim wrote:The only weird thing for me is that I don't get the post-BM spasms as much with hard stools than with watery ones.
And I was the opposite. Hard stools = major spasms and intense pain. That is AF, somewhat different for everyone, completely opposite for some.
It's not recommended to eat fish too often, now, NG! I am sure it's OK to do it daily for a while, but remember fish have the highest level of environmental toxins of all meats save for shellfish... careful!!

My fissure must have heard all that talking I did today about loose stools. Just had a hard one that hurt like the dickens. I had to drive somewhere immediately afterward and that was no fun, every time I went to push the clutch I wanted to yell. The hard stools are worse than the soft ones for sure
And yup I'm bearing in mind the warnings about fish and mercury and other pesticides and such. It seems to be the only source of protein that I can digest without creating rock hard stools though. Truthfully I'd eat nothing but cereal if I could but I'm down to about 119 lbs now so I'm getting kind of alarmed. So far I've been eating a baked fish fillet and a little bit of brown rice for just about every single meal. You got me on the shellfish, sometimes I mix in a bit of crab, lobster, or sushi for a change since those seem pretty easy to digest and are delicious to boot :) I actually had my serological heavy metal levels tested about two months ago (because of the peripheral neuropathy I was experiencing) and they were all negligible, so hopefully that means I can keep up the "fish all the time" diet for a little bit without any ill effect. I guess the shorter and more honest way to put it is, I'm willing to do anything to resolve the fissure and my mind is pretty far from any other health concerns at this point

Well I can certainly understand that. I don't know if you are open to it, but I eat a lot of soy, which is my main source of protein. I eat boca burgers, the morning star farm brand crumbles to use in casseroles and such....it offers lots of protein without the constipation and even has fiber in it.

I'm sorry to hear about the hard stool. It seems that is the worst for me as it I think undoes some of the healing, whereas the soft stools just burn a bit. Just keep on trying to keep them soft...how are you today?

My cat takes over my pillow too and likes to place his paws in my face...

Hey there, today is okay so far, but that's only because I haven't had to "go potty" yet. So I've got that dreadful ticking time bomb feeling right now. It's scary to poop, but it's scary not to poop because then you wonder if the next BM is going to be one of the ones from hell.
Thanks for the tip on the soy, I'm definitely open to it. Never thought about getting protein from non-animal sources before, strangely anytime I've ever thought about protein I've seen an image of a juicy cooked animal in my head :) I'll give the boca burgers a try, I've had them in the past a few times and liked them.
By the way, since your fissure has improved following surgery, do you still ever get bleeding with stools in any amount?

No, none. I have heard some people do, some don't. I personally have no issues with that.

Have you decided how long you are going to try on your own before you consider LIS?

macymae wrote:No, none. I have heard some people do, some don't. I personally have no issues with that.

Have you decided how long you are going to try on your own before you consider LIS?

Not exactly just yet... I've got a consultation with a local colorectal surgeon on August 26. I figure by that time I'll have a good idea of whether conservative treatment is likely to do anything.
I'm also in the process of getting set up with an appointment with the colorectal surgeons at Stanford medical center, they have a pretty good reputation and I figure it can't hurt to at least talk with them and see what they say.
And today I'm heading up to San Francisco in the afternoon to see a doctor at a colorectal center that was recommended by someone else who previously had a fissure. She's a colorectal surgeon that also specializes in conservative fissure treatments, so I figured it was worth the drive to at least see what her input is. According to her office, they've been able to get health insurance to authorize botox injections for fissures in the past, and they say they also "custom tailor" nitroglycerin and nifedipine ointment strength for the needs of individual patients, so they at least seem to have a better idea about this kind of problem than your typical physician.
So yeah, I guess I'm kind of throwing everything I can at it. I at least feel like I'm in good hands now, so if the fissure doesn't respond to conservative treatment, it at least won't be because I didn't try.

Wow sounds like you have been busy. I think its best to wait a bit too, as if you can avoid surgery, why not? Some people cannot wait pain wise but like I said, my friend is mostly healed and it took her about three months.

Let me know what she says!

Can you see yours at all?