Really hoping things go well August 2nd. Thank you for keeping us posted. Please know it's OK to feel depressed about these issues. These things affect the quality of our lives. Worse part for me is going back over and over in my head about how things were not like this and wishing so badly things can go back to normal. I've had broken bones, other health issues but to me anal fissures have got to be the worst pain ever. The pain last all day 24/7 , doesn't let me sleep in peace. Affects me mentally because it's in my head all day. Just know you're not alone. I literally cry every day since I re-tore and now I'm mortified of my next CRS appt on the 24th. In the past every time they would check me down there I would come back home worse. Wishing you better days ahead and much success on August 2nd.

Thanks for the responses. I'm still feeling a little depressed. I've been reading about fissurectomies and I'm scared of what the pain will be like afterwards. When I had the LIS in 2011, the pain afterwards was horrendous. I wasn't expecting it since most say it's not too bad. I think the surprise hemorrhoid removal probably made my pain worse. It was traumatic. So I'm feeling anxious. I'm still able to somewhat enjoy life - playing with my kids and doing fun summer things. But in the back of my mind I'm not doing great.

Also, I had been doing ok pain-wise but yesterday morning had a painful retear for no apparent reason. So that's not helping my mental state.

Chachacha - Wow we do have a lot in common! Glad to know you can relate. I hope your appointment this week goes well and your doctor can do something to help. Thanks for understanding my sadness about my butt issues!

Fern - I totally understand being nervous about getting checked at the doctor. In my experience, most CRS will not do an internal check if you tell them you're having pain. They will usually just look externally. There's not much point to an internal check imo, you know you have a fissure. If I was you, I would tell them not to do an internal exam and that you just want to tell them your history with fissures and discuss options. That's basically what I've done.

On Friday afternoon Aug 2 I had botox and the doctor removed a skin tag. I was numb for the first day. By the next morning it was sore but not too bad. I was given Ibuprofen, acetaminophen and tramadol. I've managed without the tramadol, just alternating the other 2 as needed. Now I just wait for the botox to kick in and the skin tag wound to heal.

Apparently the doctor said to my husband that the fissure looked like it was healing well. I had been doing well pain-wise at the time, but only with taking a lot of laxative and having very loose, frequent bms. I'm having more pain now from the surgery, which is to be expected, but it's not too bad - much better than when the fissure is really flared up. I hope to one day poop normally and pain-free.

I'm very happy to hear that all went well, and hope that you find permanent relief with this procedure!

Thanks chachacha! How are you doing?

Getting there slowly (hopefully).

MBH84,
I'm happy to hear you are well and not in too much pain or discomfort. Hopefully it's all good healing after the botox. Wishing you a full recovery.

Hi fissure friends! It's been 5 weeks now since I had botox, so I want to give an update.

I'm doing really well now. I had some pain for about a week after the skin tag removal, which was manageable with Ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

It took about 10 days for the botox to start working. After that it felt easier to poop, like things were less tight.

Things have been steadily improving since then. I still have the fissure, and am still taking a good amount of laxative every night. I tried reducing the lax a couple weeks ago but that resulted in a painful poop.

I'm recovering from a stomach virus now, which gave me violent diahrrea for about a week. My butt got a little sore with that, but I'm still doing alright.

I had my follow up with the doctor about 3 weeks after the surgery. She didn't do an exam, we just talked. I have another appointment in early January to talk about possibly doing another round of botox if I need it.

I haven't had any incontinence this time, thankfully.

So of course after posting yesterday I had a hardish BM, most likely because I had been taking less laxative since I had diahrrea all week from the virus. The pain wasn't really bad at that point, but this morning I had 2 massive, very formed BMs, even though I took a lot of laxative last night. My butt is in a ton of pain now. I'm upset because I had been doing so well, and now I feel like I'm back where I started. I just hope the pain improves quickly with the effects of the botox. Sigh.

MBH84,
Thank you for keeping us posted. I'm so sorry you had to go through a stomach virus on top of the fissures. This is all so frustrating. But now that you've recovered from the virus, yes it can be difficult to regulate the BMs again because of not knowing how much laxatives to take. I'm really hoping the pain subsides soon. When is your next botox round? Really hoping that will help. Sending you positive thoughts.