my friend, who's a nurse, asked me how I was yesterday, and I said that I was a lot better, but with the amount of painkillers I was taking,and the valium, so I should be! I was only joking but she was serious when she said was that the only reason I was feeling better. I guess what I'm trying to say is , is the fissure only seeming like it's healed because of the diltiazem, painkillers, etc, or is it really healing? How would you know? Or is that a daft question// :{':

By the way, I still can't use bartskate!! That's what the funny icon's meant to be at the bottom of the message!

Maybe she just knows how difficult the fissure can be to heal, and how much pain it causes?
OK, I'll give Bart a whirl and see if he skates for me...
Nope, he didn't skate for me, either..

Well, he didn't skate until after I edited the post....

You are getting better. After awhile the painkillers become less effective so if you are on the same dose and haven't increased as you became acclimated then your pain is getting better. Who knows you may not even notice a huge difference between when you take a painkiller than when you don't.
That is weird about Bart. He showed up in Kim's post. On your profile do you have it ticked "yes" to enable smilies?

Val, Never assume the fissure is about to actually heal unless you go beyond four weeks with no pain. I have seen too many people, myself included, get their bubbles popped when they retore after a week or two of painless BMs.
But think positively, as that will reduce the stress and can actually help your BMs be more consistent from day to day..

Lecia, yes I have ticked the smileys box, some of them have worked for me!
Kim, when you say 4 weeks of no pain, do you mean absolutely no pain at all, not with BMs or anything, or with painkillers?

Well, I am sure that during the healing process, there would be some pain, but significantly less than the usual amount. getting better and better all the time.
i was never able to heal on my own, so I am sort of guessing at how much pain might still be around while healing..

Didn't you get better at all then until after your op? How long did you have yours for?

I have mine for seven months and then it was all I could take! I actually did get a little better, but not much, the week before my operation. I tried to chicken out and cancel, but it was during the Christmas holidays and the cancellation was botched. They still had me scheduled so i went ahead and had it. I am so very glad I did!
I never had much pain *during* the BM, it was the spasms later. I never had another spasm after my LIS. But I had the soreness from the surgery, and every now and then fow about three weeks I had a sharp stabbing pain that never lasted more than 2-3 seconds...I think it came from sitting on hard chairs.
The first week after surgery was hard for me. It was very trying. If you want to read my account, go to the surgery thread and click on the bottom "goto: page 3 " and mid-way you'll find the "Hugh: A perfect @ss" thread. It is pretty detailed.
I went by the name "Hugh" for here at first, because I was so embarrassed about the AF. But I am over that now! The embarrassment, and the AF!
You will be over yours soon, too! I just know it!