Anal Fissure Support Forum

[J-Fissure]

Hello --
I have been suffering from Anal Fissures for approximately two years. I have read many posts on this website and while I am glad I am not alone, I am so sorry that you have suffered from this insidious condition -- I would not wish this on my worst enemy! I decided to make this post as encouragement for myself to make a final push to get treatment. Here is a log of my nightmare: http:/www.docs.google.com/document/d/1Yl0T9lCb-59bpsfvejYeZg-VBvB6UvagZW3J86UgcwA/edit?usp=sharing <-- Link
I have been begging for help with this problem since about January 1st 2013. Before this I had Botox in October of 2012 (which wore off by Jan) and before that I used nifedipine tid (three times a day). I seriously believe the medical system is completely broken. Getting an appointment to see a CRS has been a complete nightmare. Instead of actually treating my fissure, I am taking tramadol and diazepam in order to "hold me over" until my appointments. In early March I finally got an appointment with a CRS for the last week in March. I felt that even this was too long to wait, but my PCP and I decided that this was the best option because I had built up a rapport. On the day of my appointment, the office calls me and explains that the CRS had an emergency and would have to reschedule... I thought to myself this was quite unfortunate, but emergencies happen... Then they told me the earliest they could see me was the last week of April!!! Insert your own blaspheme. Anyway, I went back to my PCP and explained I really needed to see someone else at a different hospital. Another week goes by with no referral... Finally today (4/8/13) I made some progress and got a new appointment but it was for mid-May. I was very happy because I got my foot in the door to a new place!! I called the office and asked if there might be an earlier appointment? No. Can I leave a message for the doctor? No. Is there any way I can contact the doctor? Well you can try email. Great! So I emailed the doctor and explained I was a medical student... 10 minutes later the same secretary calls me back sounding very annoyed... I was told to move up your appointment. I will finally get to see somebody on Friday!!
Thank you for listening. Even for all the pain I am in, I have high spirits and am certain there will be an end to this madness. Some days are really bad and many days a week there are 4-5 hours where I am incapacitated with pain. (It is really strange going from feeling like you want to die to feeling like a million bucks later in the day.) I hope you won't hold it against me that I used my status as a medical student to cut the line. I am absolutely desperate for help and I am at my wits end. I had to use my connections to get an appointment in a reasonable time. Maybe I can even offer a unique perspective.
I will try to update my BM Log and hopefully someday I may be able to write a success story.
Thanks again,
J

[Peppermint Patty]

Hi, J! So sorry you're going through all of this! Having the fissure is bad enough, but then to have to deal with all the other nonsense of appointments and cancellations... What a nightmare! And I don't blame you - I'd use anything I could to get in for an earlier appointment, too!
I'm a newbie myself to the forum, but there are a lot of people on here with a lot of good advice for coping with this mutual affliction of ours. It's also a great place to rant and rave because we're all in this together!! And we'll get through this, slowly but surely!!! Best wishes for a pain-free future!!!

[owmybum]

You go for it.... I would sell a kidney to be seen earlier!!
I hope your appointment goes well. Keep us posted.
OMB x

[J-Fissure]

Wow. Tried vaseline. Not perfect (but that would be impossible), but wow today is going to be a good day. Wish I had tried that sooner -- I will start using it from now on. ty for the encouragement.
J

[Guest]

Sorry for your misfortunes J.
Read your logs and and I feel your "pains". I was hoping you mention something about your diet.
This of course may be very important especially if you are lacking this or that. Can you tell us more about what your diet is like.
THx & GL

[Savaici]

So sorry that you are in such pain. This is a lousy thing to have, and believe me, we know what it is like.
Diet question is important, as buttastic has mentioned. Fibre amount, etc.
How much water do you drink a day? Also very important, though being a medical student, you would probably know that.
Are you using Miralax to soften your stool? Hopefully one of the doctor has mentioned this to you off the bat.
Also, are you using a Sitz bath? If not, I would suggest this. Extremely useful to moderate the pain, and available at Rite Aid. It comes with a bag to fill with water and hang. Never used the bag, simply fill from the tap with a jug, then empty, and so on. Had never heard of the thing before landing on this forum.
I see that Dr. Sentovic is chief of surgery at the BMS, and has excellent reviews - always useful. Actually nearly saw him, but went to Mass General instead.
Do come back and say how things are going, questions, etc., and will follow your blog. Good idea.
Sav

[J-Fissure]

Diet is a good question. My diet isn't great, but I like my fruits and vegetables and salads. I do tend to eat a lot of cereal and burritos (I'm a student!!). My stool is usually well formed and a bit hard. Do you have suggestions?
I've had terrible experiences with stool softeners. I've tried doculsate (colace) a few different times on the advice of physicians. It does make my stool softer, but my BM become larger and are very difficult to pass. They literarily come halfway out and get stuck -- an unbelievably terrible feeling. I'll tell you what, I've gotten food poisoning once while I've had my fissure... its definitely not fun to have diarrhea like that, but it's a blessing for fissures! If I could figure out how to give myself controlled diarrhea like that I probably would.
In terms of doctors... I'm an employee (it is where I'm doing my research) of BIDMC so I thought they might take an interest in me. They don't care. The NP and CRS I've seen have made me wait months. I hope being a student at BU will let them take a interest in me. To tell you the truth, I'm just happy to actually talk to somebody. Hopefully we will also be able to come up with some sort of plan and schedule to help me get better.
Also, just curious, but did you guys know Aetna doesn't cover bulk powders so compounded ointments like nifedipine are not covered? 100$ out of pocket for a tube of this stuff.
J

[Guest]

Fruit and veggies are great (minus the condiments, added sugar and spices and veggie toppings). Cereal sounds good, but burritos not-so-much.
Salads, I am to afraid to ask what you douse it with as dressings may tend to irritate fissures and seem to contribute to burning.
I had to ditch burritos years ago as I easily saw how they hardened up my stools, not saying that I know this is your case but experiment and see, you may be glad you did.
Not trying to tell you what to eat, but just letting you know what did not work for me.
As a student and Dr. I figure that TV dinners, microwaves and Fast-Foods may be your go-to's. But guess what can force you to change things up a bit.
As for stool softeners you may want to try natural ones like prune juice, or there may be others good foods you know that keeps your bm soft.
Miralax is tried and true for many people here, so you may want to try that. It seems to be a combo of stool softeners OTC or natural ones plus a change in diet that works best to really keep our bm's soft.
If your fissures are really stubborn and do not seem to want to heal and you experience lots of re-tearing you may even want to try a mostly liquid diet which is sure to keep your bm soft and give your fissures time to heal better.
This is what I did for years and you know those supermarket shelves are full of all kinds of healthy smoothies to choose from.
Talk about your controlled diarrhea. My stools were like a running faucet after a few days on liquids, and without the burning.
Anyway, keep safely experimenting with your diet and the softeners as it takes time to finally find a good balance.
HTH
P.S. Go figure with AETNA, who knew....

[Port]

Hi J, if you try Miralax, and I suggest you do, give it time and start out slowly. It took about 3 days for me to have a reaction and I still fine tune how much I take daily. Same with prune juice, start out slowly and see what you can tolerate. Beans are a good source of fiber and protein, I'd just be careful about how you spice em up

[marg6043]

Wow. Tried vaseline. Not perfect (but that would be impossible), but wow today is going to be a good day. Wish I had tried that sooner -- I will start using it from now on. ty for the encouragement.
J

Hello there J-Fissure Vaseline is one of the first things I tell people to use when they are suffering with the pain and irritation of a fissure, stools are very irritating so you can imagine what happens when they pass over an open and raw fissure.
Vaseline will go a long way before a BM. Fissures when they are chronic are like a pest that do not want to go away.
You can live with it after treating it and establishing a routine that will keep you comfortable and able to detect what to do before a fissure flare up.
But at the end if the fissure doesn't heal the big question needs to be answer, what will you do to be back to a normal hopefully you CRS will help you on the road of healing.
I am now dealing with my fissure for 10 months and counting, even when now I understand that this is been a problem I had most of my adult life, I have great weeks now and one or two days of mild flare ups, but the fissure no longer interfere with my quality of life.