LIS Success For Me

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LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 13 Mar 2015, 15:00

I will begin my success story by explaining what my life was like before LIS.

I had a nasty fissure for at least 7 years, chronic diarrhea and grade 3 prolapsing hemmorhoids.

I only had bowel movements every 4th day, which allowed me to live normally for three days and then suffer with debilitating pain on the last. On each of my “Day 4”’s, I would go to the toilet for the first time in the mid-morning and have a soft, but formed BM. I would not experience much pain with this first toilet session, but would have to manually return the hemorrhoids to their internal position. I would sometimes, have severe pain after the first trip to the toilet, and considered myself very lucky when I didn’t . Unfortunately though, the first BM would be followed by another 5 or 6 over the course of the next three or four hours, and the stool would become progressively more runny, so that by BM number 4, I was expelling projectile diarrhea that was nothing but water. By the 5 and 6th trips, I would only have about a teaspoon of stool left, but my rectum would thrust painfully to get every last drop out. Movements from number 2 onward were also very painful both on the toilet, and afterward, and would reach a level 9 on the pain scale by the second or third trip to the loo. I would be in extreme pain until I was sure that every last drop had been “moved”, because I did not want to waste my painkillers if I wasn't completely empty and by not eliminating everything I may have to go to the bathroom again the following day (I prized those three days off, as you can imagine, and because I would sometimes be in extreme pain following even one movement that was very watery and small in quantity, I wanted to make sure that all was gone on my “Day 4”). After I was sure that I had finished going for the day, I would take two Tylenol 4’s for the pain, and hope for the best. The T4’s could only ever drop the pain down to a level 7 or 8, but because they sometimes didn’t help at all, I was very grateful for even a little pain relief when they did. Overall, I would be in severe pain for about 8 – 10 hours, and then moderate pain for another 8 – 10 hours. I would usually wake up pain free on the following morning, but sometimes still had residual, low-level discomfort for the first couple of hours after waking up. I will also add that because it would take 5 – 10 tries to get the hemmorhoids back up the “alley”, I also experienced pain on that front because the fissure’s polyp was usually tender, and pushing the roids into the fissure also caused me a lot of grief. My hemmorhoids (two of them) were about the size and consistency of a half marshmallow each (full-sized marshmallows, not minis), and were incredibly stubborn about going back in at all.

When I finally decided to have the LIS done (I could no longer live with the extreme pain and not being able to make plans in advance because a day 4 could occasionally arrive a day early or late), I knew that I would still have to live with the prolapsing hemmorhoids, and the chronic diarrhea (my family doctor and I had tried EVERYTHING to firm up my stool, but nothing worked), and I have to admit that I was very worried about the diarrhea causing me to develop another fissure after the surgery.

I had to have an enema on the morning of my surgery, and had no trouble on that front, except that because of my four day schedule, there was a lot more up the pipe than most people have (four days worth!), so I was still using the bathroom only moments before I hopped up onto the table in the operating theatre.

I had a general anaesthetic, and woke up afterward in a moderate amount of pain (about a level 5). I was given two Percocets which I don’t think helped, and a couple of hours later they gave me two Tylenol 3’s, which didn’t help either. The pain kept escalating, and by that evening at home, I was at a level 10. That subsided by the following day at noon, and I suspect that I brought that on myself, by trying to shove the swollen tissues around my anus up inside (I erroneously thought that my hemmorhoids had prolapsed during the procedure and was desperate to get them back up where they belonged). I also had believed that the internal sphincter would be accessed from inside the anal opening, and didn’t realize that a separate incision would be made outside my hole, just about a centimeter over from my anus. The swollen tissues eventually became skin tags, but they gradually lessened in size and are now extremely small.

The only continence issue I experienced was the passing of gas unbidden once, while in the tub on the second day home after surgery.

I had about a level 5 pain for a week and then the pain gradually decreased from there until I was completely pain free at the 3 week mark. That pain included the external tags which were irritated, and I honestly don’t know if most of the pain for those weeks was from the fissure, the incision or the tags. I suppose it doesn’t really matter though, because I’m now a very happy camper, and enjoying life like a “real” person!

And what is really quite amazing (and beyond flukey), is that I also no longer have diarrhea. I believe that this was due to the fact that I switched from coffee to tea after the surgery, because I just didn’t feel like coffee belonged with me on the couch as I lay there recovering. I had always sat down at my computer in the morning with my coffee, and I just didn’t feel the same about that drink while lying on my side. I had read in the past about coffee being a cause of diarrhea, but had never eliminated it from my diet because I had always had coffee with no ill effects for most of my life, and I only had a cup and a half each day. This change in my BM’s was just dumb luck and it saved me from talking to the CRS about the diarrhea at our follow up appointment (he had said that I might have bile acid diarrhea and thought that a prescription for Questran could help, but, “Let’s get the surgery done first, and then we’ll talk about it afterward”). I have clearly also avoided that bullet, because bile acid diarrhea requires you to take Questran for the rest of your life.

The next truly crazy thing that happened after surgery, was that my hemmorhoids no longer prolapse. I also have BM’s every day now, or every two, and only have a swollen feeling afterward (and only for about an hour), because while the hemmorhoids no longer come out, they are still there inside and swell up as the stool passes by. My CRS has no idea why my grade three hemmorhoids no longer prolapse, but my guess is that in the past, because my hole was so tight, the rectum had to thrust really hard to get things out and it would drag them along with the movement. Now, since I’m a lot looser down there, maybe the stool just settles into the canal naturally and comes out alone. Unfortunately though, if all of the studies are correct, and my resting pressure becomes high again, I may be seeing those roids again sometime in the next few months. I’m enjoying this wonderful time while I can though, and even if I have to start shoving things back in place again at some point, I will still have a much better life because I no longer suffer from fissure pain (or diarrhea) at all!

LIS really worked well for me and I hope that it does the same for all who go through with it in the future.

Many, many thanks to all of the posters on this forum who have shared their knowledge, and provided support and comfort as well.

:thankyou:
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby TFog » 18 Mar 2015, 11:48

Thank you for sharing your story. I was very tempted to go the botox route, but opted for LIS instead for a variety of reasons. So far, it appears LIS did the trick for me as well. Best wishes to you!
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 18 Mar 2015, 12:07

And to you too!
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby msimon » 18 Mar 2015, 12:48

I am so happy to hear your success story Chacha. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure many will be relieved to read it when contemplating surgery. Even gives me some hope that some day I will heal too.

Sure sounds like you went through hell for a long time. What a great thing to be free of! :rainbow: :energetic: :superrabbit:
Dec '13 Fissure from anoscope
3 X internal sphincter botox
'08-'15 Botox for pelvic floor dysfunction
Nov '14 LIS/sentinel tag removal
Feb '15 Deroofing of recurrent infection from LIS
summer '15-healed but still ongoing muscle dysfunction/pain
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 18 Mar 2015, 13:58

I only hope that my story will help someone else, because I was helped so much here myself. I still can't believe my luck and am so appreciative every single day! I am awestruck by each and every single BM, because they are now so normal and don't hurt!

And I hope that you see complete relief soon too, and wish that for all on this forum.

:TahDah:
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby jay1975 » 19 Jul 2015, 17:24

Interesting about the diarrhea going away. I can't help but think that suffering from AF, you were under extreme stress from the pain for a very long period of time. Stress (anxiety and depression also) are know to do a number on ones bowl movements. Maybe the diarrhea went away because the stress was gone ?
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 19 Jul 2015, 18:11

But it was immediate, and believe me, I was very stressed for the first couple of weeks, because I was worried about incontinence, worried that those new tags were the internal hemmies that really should have been re-inserted, etc. And because tea is known as an astringent, and coffee as a diuretic, it really does make sense. I just consider myself so incredibly fortunate to have "lucked into" no longer having diarrhea!

And as a general update to my success story, things are still going really well and I marvel every day at how wonderful it is to live normally again.

:notacrook:
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby zippitydoodah » 29 Jul 2015, 23:54

Congratulations, chachacha, I am so happy to hear this! =)
-Fissure since August 2014 after diarrhea and antibiotics
-Using diltiazem, baths, ibuprofen, magnesium, high fiber diet/supplements, probiotics, coconut oil, cleaning with water & wipes only
-LIS & skin tag removal scheduled for late January 2015
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 30 Jul 2015, 07:40

Thanks, Zippity. I hope that you're doing equally well now.
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Re: LIS Success For Me

Postby chachacha » 21 Jan 2016, 16:07

Just realized that it's been one year since my surgery, so thought that I'd update this thread.

I'm still doing really well and am so glad that I finally bit the bullet and had LIS. My life has changed dramatically for the better and I have been pain-free (and fissure-free) since about a month following the procedure.

Good luck to all of those who come across this post, and are wondering whether to undergo the surgery or not. It is a very hard decision to make, but for me, was definitely the right one.
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
chachacha
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Posts: 1111
Topics: 19
Joined: 16 Jun 2013, 16:00
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