By the way, I am at around 4 months post surgery.
Bambi

Well Bambi,
Your day sounds a lot like mine. I hate to complain because I would trade it any day over the fissure and like you said there are many people going through much worse.
I tried walking sometime back and by the time I got home I was so aggravated by the irritation, I could scream. Like you said, I know when it feels raw/irritated that there is something there. It is very mild leakage but as you said and never makes it to the underwear. It just feels so raw when it happens.
I agree with you about the walmart wipes. I have found many of their products to be as good if not better than name brand.
I know what you mean about the fear, it's stays with you for awhile. You cracked me up with" Move on down the road" I had one of those incidence this morning. It scared the h*** out of me but everything was fine. I also use the A&D and Vaseline, just started the calmoseptine . You bring up a good point with the drying out. I'm not sure if that's good or bad?! I will try the Balneol as soon as I can get my hands on it.
I'm sorta glad to hear I am not the only one, although I'm sorry you are dealing with this too. We both have had pretty straight forward, no re-tearing recoveries...Maybe it's going to take us a little longer for this to resolve. Apparently our cuts were sufficient!!
As you said Bambi, we have to hold on to the thoughts of this to shall pass. Please share if you come up with something magical for a barrier or cleaning and I will too- geez! Take care Bambi:)

Thanks Dawn- I needed very much to hear from someone today going through a similar issue. I am also sorry to hear you are but happy for the company. And yes, I will share and will look forward to hearing from you. I don't know why I've been so hesitant to try the Balneol.
One thing I didn't mention was that if I only have the one poop in the morning, by the afternoon I am feeling much better and sometimes then going for a walk or something is not so much of an issue. Actually, I'm about to go out for a walk right now and will see how that goes!
Hope you have an ok day today. Is that a picture of your little one? Very cute!
Bambi

Hey Dawn-
I am 1.5 years out from my LIS (wow time goes fast). I know exactly what you are talking about. For me it was directly related to how formed my BM was. If it was looser I think residual gets caught and slowly works it way out.
My theory on this is - when your muscle is tight(before being cut) it can push this residual out when you finish. After the LIS since the muscle is returning to a lower resting pressure it doesn't have the same force to push this residual out.... And then over a couple hour window it finishes working itself out slowly.
Also, I would be curious to know if the Miralax is playing a role. I have never used Miralax so i can't comment but it seems that both Steve and NG have brought this issue up with the use of Miralax.
Calmoseptine is my new go to. I have a lot of drainage daily so trying to keep the area from not getting irritated is always a challenge. Also, taking a half of a cotton ball and tucking it can help catch leakage/drainage(for me) when you may need to a lot of walking. This has been a life saver for me.

Thank you Paul. Your theory makes perfect sense. I just don't know what I should do. I feel like stopping the miralax could put me at risk for a re-tear. I know NG's leakage subsided after a couple of months and he still takes the miralax as far as I know. Bambi is having the same problem and doesn't take it? I cut back a little more today and will see how that goes,
I will try the cotton when walking. Thank you:)

Hey Dawn,
My leakage actually lasted more than a few months -- I'd say over half a year at least, probably closer to 8 months or so. Remember that "99.99% continence after 1 year thing" I mentioned in my recent summary post? That 0.01% is the leakage.
Here's where I'll venture into potential TMI territory: is your leakage the kind that actually results in visible "skid marks" in the underwear? Or is it more a feeling of uncleanliness that prompts you to wipe, and then you see stains on the toilet paper? (I apologize if this has already been covered but I only skimmed the thread to this point.)
Because even to this day, I still feel like my ass isn't as clean as it used to be. I seldom get skid marks in the underwear -- only on VERY rare occasion when I have repeated loose BMs over the course of a day (my butt also feels raw and very irritated after these episodes), or when I have the occasional shart (sorry I don't have a better term :)). In any case, there is definitely a quantifiable difference in my butt behavior after LIS. It definitely feels like the sphincter is looser and more willing to let things through, although it usually doesn't result in much overt leakage anymore.
And yep, I still take Miralax every day. I don't know if it plays any role in the very mild leakage I still get on occasion. I don't feel that it's a strong suspect, but I can't rule it out either. The theory that Miralax plays a role came from someone else's post that I read at one point, but whom it was is now lost to the sands of time, I'm afraid.

Oh, and one thing I should add, which I've probably mentioned before, is that I try to rinse my ass in the tub after every dump. Obviously I can't do this at work, so when #2 emerges at work, I bring in a wet paper towel or toilet paper to gently dab my ass between wipes. So it's possible that I have the same leakage but just mitigate its effects due to my obsessive rinsing. And yeah, it looks great when a dude goes into the bathroom at work holding some wet tissue paper ... not suspicious at all Alright now someone is gonna have to try real hard to take the TMI Trophy away from me!

By the way, thanks Dawn for the words of encouragement about my hubbie. I think you did mention your daughter doing early childhood before- that is great! I imagine I am repeating myself but before retirement I was on a special education early childhood team and loved it. I miss talking to little kids!
Back to the subject- thanks NG for chiming in. I'm sorry to see that this issue lingers for a while for some. I did finally try the Balneol this morning- after I had a second poop I waited a while and used it for that cleanup. Then I went for a 45 minute walk and that made me feel it had really been helpful- nothing was itchy or burny !
However, this day is a bit of a challenge since I just had an episode of really loose stool a little while ago. Tried just rinsing off (I usually use a very mild "woman's" soap) and then used the Balneol. Right now I feel anxious that I didn't wash off with the soap. Sometimes I think I'm my worst enemy- maybe drying things out too much by rinsing and washing too much. I'm sure there is a fine line there. But even though today is turning into one of those multiple poop days, I do think the Balneol could be helpful, especially away from home. A while back I ordered the little travel packets of it that would fit in a pocket or purse- the bottle I bought at Walmart.
Good to hear from those who have gone before again! Still am glad I am of the looser butt variety rather than too tight. My husband, the retired band director, says my farts have dropped more than an octave (he's right- they sound really low in pitch now compared to my screech trumpet days!)
Bambi (how's that for TMI?)
Bambi

Hey there NG,
Thank you for responding. Your leakage sounds like mine except it's not that I feel unclean. It gets raw as hell and I know it's there.Never had anything make it to the underwear. I rinse after every bm. Today I have rinsed atleast 5 x's and had one bath. I got some pretty bad irritation going on the past few days, and right when my butt leaks, I'm aware.
To be honest, I usually don't like to be wrong(Lol) and thought your leakage had stopped sooner, but I am so happy to see that it took you longer. That gives me a little hope here, things may get better.
I am not sure about the miralax either. I do remember this was a conversation some of us have had before in an older post. I'm just deathly afraid of stopping it and if my butt wasn't getting irritated, I could live with the minor leakage. I'd just clean it a few times through out the day.
Bambi,
Your welcome. I hope things get better for him soon.
My daughter also loves kids. She went back and forth between medical field and teaching because of all the teachers being cut, etc. But teaching is where she will be happy. She is just not cut out for medical. Her younger sister is doing all that....and is doing great. Just a difference in personalities.
Anyway, Bambi I will try the balneol. Happy you had a good walk with no issues!

Geeez NG, I looked back at all my older post and you were basically complaining along with me about the leakage.
Well, I'm agreeing with Bambi about being of the looser butt variety.