hello everyone, I've had a fissure for about 5 years on and off now. I sometimes go 6 months with no/minimal pain or about a 1-2 weeks with pain/discomfort. I took a long time to goto the doctor, but eventually went to my Family Doctor who referred me to a surgeon. When the surgeon saw me, he said I had a fissure and to eat fibre and use baby wipes, and it should heal. I saw him 3 years ago, and since then have always used baby wipes, fibre however was on and off. For the most part I wasn't too bad, I would go weeks/months with minimal pain, the times I did have pain it would go away quickly (an hour) and I would feel perfect.
A month ago it started to act up again, so I started to take my fibre twice a day as directed on the container, and after every BM I sit in the tub for 15-20min. The past 2 weeks I've been very discomforted, and I say discomforted because my fissures usually don't "hurt" but provide a burning/itchy/stinging sensation. When my g/f ask's what I'm going through, I tell her that it doesn't really hurt, but it's more of a discomfort. I find the area very moist and stingy/itchy, and i want relief from that. I use a hair dryer after I'm in the bath to dry the area (set on cold air), but the moistness comes back. It's not enough to drip or anything like that, but sometimes I do find my underwear will get a bit wet from it, but that is very rare.
It was soo bad that I really started to do research on the net, and that's how I found this site (which is great btw, lots of info here). I now know that my fissure is chronic, and also that I need to stick to fibre and eat sensible. I find taking the bath after the BM is mandatory because it relive a lot of the burning/itching/stinging. I recently bought some "Dr. Wheatgrass" cream which is supposed to help, but I am finding it's not helping me, has anyone tried it? I used it for a week straight, the first time I used it, it seemed to help, but after that I found it was making it more itchy and moist, so I stopped, I think I might be allergic. Unless the itchy and moist is a good sign, maybe the skin rebuilding? If anyone has tried the wheatgrass, did you experience what I did, or was your experience different?
I'm willing to try other creams/remedies, anyone try these: http://www.fissureheal.com/fhhome.asp
or
http://www.aidanceproducts.com/conditions/?p=anal_fissures&REF=GOA
Do you guys have any tips to relive the itchy/sting/moisture? Bath's are great, but once I'm out've the bath it all comes back. One last thing, I notice my fissure "acts up" more in the summer months, in the winter it's not nearly as bad, i'll have discomfort for an hour after a BM for two days then i'm fine. In the summer the discomfort lasts the entire day. These past two weeks have been very bad, I'm considering going to the doctor and seeing if he will prescribe me nitroglycerin, maybe that will help?
Anyways thanks for reading all this, I just noticed it's quite long, but I wanted to fill ya'll in with my routine, and things I've tried.

Hi there. And welcome. I will answer to your comment on Dr Wheatgrass and say that it does not seem to have done a thing for me. I never use wipes, but use a Sitz bath after a BM and dry off and apply Nidedipine 0.2%. This is a calcium channel blocker, and works on my spasms. I also use a small amount of Vaseline, and find that seems to work well. I never use soap, just water. Also, i use Cottonelle loo paper, damped, whenever I have to dabinthatregion to clean off. The paper has aloe Vera and vit E I think. That is just my little history. I think a trip to see your dr isavery good idea! Welcome, and feel better soon. Em

Thanks for the welcome! I was wondering do you get Headaches from the nitro cream? From what I have been reading headaches are a side effect

Hi there,
nitro does cause crashing headaches, but not for everyone, and paracetamol taken half hour before you use it would help. It's good stuff! Anoheal, or diltiazem, is a good alternative and doesn't cause headaches so often.
I don't think itchy and moist would mean healing, I think you would be better with a barrier, like vaseline, or my favourite - germolene.
It could be a fungal infection? You could try canesten to see if that would help.
Good luck!

Thanks, I'm going to try terrasil cream since it helps to kill bacteria and promote healing