I thought I'd start a diary thread instead of continually bumping up my thread in the introduction forum (here's my post on how I got to 70-80% healed: my-current-routine-what-do-you-think-t10813.html).

I did a lot of reading on this forum and other forums to gather different things to try, with the intention to fully heal without using any prescription creams, surgery, or stool softeners.

If *all* else fails, I will go the prescription route, but I want to avoid this because I believe it's much healthier and easier to sustain long-term if I fix my hard stool/constipation problem naturally.

Some details about my fissure:

- self-diagnosed fissure (could be a hemmy but solutions will be the same - soft bm's and promote healing)
- feels at least 1-2" inside
- have had issues with constipation for months prior, but what caused a major tear was an extremely stressful situation
- currently had it about 2-3 months. Not really keeping track because that will just make me lose hope.
- longest record where I did not experience blood post-bm: 8 days
- when bm gets bigger or harder, it causes a splitting sensation and minor traces of blood. However it doesn't really get that much worse and I believe this is down to the Sudocrem/Polysporin that is great for healing wounds. If 10 was fully healed, I'm currently at about 7-8. A bad bm drops me down to 6 temporarily.
- suffered hard tip for a long time. Only solution is to either have more bm's (2 per day) or add oil to every meal.


I currently use the following to keep stool pretty soft:

- take olive & coconut oil with each meal
- drink 8 cups of water
- aim to have some kind of fiber with each meal (e.g. veggie, dried fruit like dried mangoes)
- 1-2 magnesium citrate capsules
- sometimes I purposely induce an extra bm (although sometimes comes out as diarrhea) by eating raisins and cranberries that were soaked overnight and also drinking the water it was soaked in.

For some reason, this makes me have a second bm within 1-2 hours. It probably irritates my body. The beauty is, the NEXT DAY, my bm = soft from tip to end.

I currently use the following methods to help healing:

- apply vaseline 1" inside pre-bm
- take a shower immediately after bm
- apply polysporin & sudocrem post-shower (both of these help prevent infection)
- controlled fasting for 16-18 hours (I'm following a modified Warrior Diet, which is similar to intermittent fasting). I believe the fasting has helped with healing.
- vitamin C (up to 2000mg per day - I definitely feel a difference taking this, but it doesn't help with constipation)

Currently experimenting:

- flaxseed: it was bulking my stool up too much when I soaked it in some water overnight and then poured it over my food, but it really lubricates my stool. Will try drinking it in water *before* meals.
- Warrior Diet: many benefits to fasting. I really feel that my body is healing my fissure better when I skip breakfast. But I am experiencing an issue with my stool not sliding out. Will need to do some research!
- olive oil + coconut oil with meals (increasing intake)

Will try soon:

- chia seeds
- aloe vera juice - 1 tsp in the morning with water to start (my mother reported that it made her stools softer)
- more prunes (3+)
- dairy-free butter
- baby carrots (to increase vitamin A intake; this is critical in producing mucous to lubricate stools in colon)


More stuff to try later:
- chlorophyll
- probiotics
- ghee


My ideal is to have soft stool that slides out easily once a day at a fixed time! And is easy to maintain even while I'm traveling. Right now I am too afraid to go anywhere far or even go on road trips.

Hopefully along the way, some of you may find something useful in my posts and help your own bm's and recovery.

Cheers!

# Stool:

So, I forgot to update that I had REALLY bad diarrhea 2 days in a row. I'm not sure if it was food poisoning. First day I would have 3 bm's (all in the morning), second day it was just 2 bm's. Then the third day, back to 1.

This is when I re-discovered the Warrior Diet, so I started doing a modified version where I skipped breakfast, ate a light lunch, then pigged out for dinner.

After I changed to this diet, my bm's have been soft - but dark green. I've read that it means my transit time is too fast. Could it also be that I'm just detoxing (due to the 16-18 hour fast)? No idea.

My stool today was bigger than usual, however it was completely soft again (not mush)...and would not SLIDEEEE out!

Will work on adding more insoluble fiber as healingthroughdiet advised.

# Pain levels

After having really soft stools that I had to strain to push out, I developed a new soreness/ache that I didn't have before. It's a really strange feeling similar to that tired feeling you would get if you were trying to keep a small marble from falling out of your ass.

Before I'd just feel a stabbing feeling when I sat in certain angles or while walking, but now it's like my butt cheeks are tired.

I think it may also be because I did 135lb barbell hip thrusts on Monday (I was worried about losing my strength as I haven't done it in weeks). I will refrain from doing this until I fully heal. Sumo deadlifts seem to be better.

Post-bm today, I felt sore/achey again like my ass just got a workout! Sitting too long was so uncomfortable (this did not happen before).

Perhaps I need to make my stools even smaller?? Don't know.


# New changes

Aloe vera gel juice: I read that it reduces internal inflammation and for someone it made them pain free in 10 days. Hope it's okay that I link to it: http://drbenkim.com/anal-fissure-heal.htm

I am starting on 1 tsp for now before bed, and will gradually increase if there are no side effects. So far it seems to make my gut a little sensitive after, but nothing painful or concerning as it does go away.

Flaxseed: I now sprinkle it on top of my meals. It used to have a massive bulking effect if soaked in water, so now I don't do it. It seems to be okay, but I'll continue it for a few more days to observe how it affects my stool.

Warrior Diet: I wasn't able to stick to a light lunch, so now I've made it 2 full meals - lunch (at 1pm) and dinner (at 7pm). In between I'll snack on fruit if I'm really hungry. So far, I really like the 16-18 hour fast. I don't miss breakfast at all - and it gives my body more time to detox. If the body is too busy digesting heavy foods, there's less for healing what needs to be healed.

Chia seeds: my mother will bring me chia seeds next week, so I'll try that out very soon to see if it's better than flaxseed.

Baby carrots: I eat this every day for lunch now. I don't know if it's really doing anything, but it doesn't make my stool consistency worse so why not.

Bed-time reading: I've started to read before bedtime (for some reason Florence Shinn's stuff always makes me feel better even though I'm not religious). Currently reading "The Secret Door to Success." Yesterday I went to bed still feeling achey but this morning I woke up feeling great. Could be a great sleep, or reading material that helped me maintain a positive mindset about the fissure.

For someone suffering a fissure, unlike most people, the good days can be really good, but the bad days can be really bad. One bad bm can really break our days. It's important that we go to bed feeling positive and strong as this is not a battle to be won over days.

Also when I remember, I affirm to myself: "I can heal my fissure quickly and naturally, and I do it." The phrasing of this affirmation is unique in that you add the "I do it" part at the end. I learned this from a Joyce Morris book. Apparently it's more effective!


# How I feel

I miss my ex. We both need to work on ourselves right now, but even if he wanted to get back together I don't think I can. I just can't possibly give the relationship the attention it deserves now that I'm trying to heal my fissure.

It does make me feel sad at times because I wish to be with him again but we wouldn't be able to have sex, and I feel I'd be a constant downer talking about my health.

Wow ! Your posts are always so detailed and my apologies that my response is so short. But really quick I used to eat raw carrots and found that it kind of help me as much as cooking it did. Otherwise I agree with everything you said especially the staying positive. My mom who was visiting made a mixture of flax and chai seeds and we ground it up to sprinkle in food that was Cooked either lentils or veggies. Kind of like sprinkling salt. It was ok - don't do it on days when I have already eaten a lot of soluble fiber but do do it on days when my soluble fiber was low. I must admit the brown rice trick doesn't seem to help everyday - sigh - it's almost like I have to think of a new trick everyday - like a game of chess to help the BM against the fissure. I think changing it up is needed too as the body seems to understand an old trick and get used to it? So today I had prunes and craisins lots of water - will let u know how it goes.
Best
HTD

Thanks for commenting HTD, I love hearing your updates!

Don't worry about needing to write a long response or anything. I'm just very obsessive about keeping track of everything I do because I have a bad memory. :)

I have the same experience... flaxseed sprinkled on the food seems okay. I'm still taking it daily because I read that it helps with balancing hormones and vaginal dryness.

Have you tried soaking the chia seeds before eating them? I'm trying that tonight (soaking 1/8 tsp in water and drinking it after lunch tomorrow). I read from a few threads that it really helped with constipation.

I'm still experiencing incomplete bm's (thank god it's pretty soft), but I think adding in 1 magnesium citrate caps (for a total of 2 per day) will solve it based on my food log.

One day I had a soft bm fly out and empty completely and I almost cried tears of joy! Don't you just love those, haha.

How were the prunes? How many are you eating? I have 3 prunes with dinner now, but I don't think it's a miracle either. I read in one of the prunes thread that it helped heal the person's fissure (taking 5 or so? per day) but they were also on stool softeners.

You know what...maybe we just need 2 things that work really well, and just take a lot of it - instead of taking a million different things in combination.

For me, it's magnesium citrate - and either prunes, chia seeds, or aloe vera juice. Hoping chia seeds work better than flax (i.e. it doesn't bulk) because I have a huge bag of it and it's cheaper than aloe vera and prunes. That and prunes just make me so gassy, ugh.

I've started to realize that it's important to try to live life like you always have pre-fissure. Do the same things that brought you joy, focus on meaningful projects/work, and think about happy things you look forward to in the future. That's helping me get through my day. I'm looking forward to the weekend and watching the fireworks!

Ok, so onto my update...

# Stool

Consistency varies, but I've noticed a huge improvement over the past 2 weeks after I had diarrhea for 3 days.

While diarrhea stings, I think it's a good idea to try to induce one on purpose every now and then just to clear things out if stool seems to get harder for whatever reason.

I also believe that skipping breakfast has helped my stool consistency. I've done the beet test earlier (eating 1/2 of a beet and seeing when it gets pooped out), and found out breakfast comes out during my morning bm the next day.

So since I am starting my first meal at 1pm now, and going for my bm's at 9/10am, that means there is less time in my colon, and therefore less time to dry out (that's my theory anyways).

# Discomfort levels

Yesterday it was a 4.5/10. Today it's a bit higher because I worked out, but I did not experience any stabbing pains while sitting. Progress!

Every morning / evening, I apply Polysporin and Vaseline after (to seal in the Polysporin)...and noticed that when I apply it further up (1"+) it irritates my fissure. So I have been just applying it 0.5" inside, and this seems to work much better (i.e. less pain and I think the creams somehow reach the fissure).

# New changes

Aloe vera juice: I increased this to 1.5tsp taken at 11pm. I will continue taking this because it feels like it's helping with healing (my fissure feels painless/non-existent in the morning).

Prunes: increased this from 2 to 3 with dinner. This is probably a bad idea because it makes me fart more. I really want to eliminate this. I may try prune juice.

Chia seeds: will try this with tomorrow's lunch.

Quantum Entrainment: I'll write more about this technique later, as I've only done it for 2 nights (before going to bed). It's like a 5 minute meditation (though you can do it longer) that focuses on healing the part of your body that's feeling pain/discomfort.

My Russian literature professor once told us a secret to getting rid of headaches: by simply focusing all your attention/energy on it. He said if you do it long enough, your headache will disappear. If it works on headaches, hey it might work on fissures!

# How I feel

Feeling much better. I'm a bit of a love junkie...the past day or so, I've been heavily focusing on feelings of being in a new, lovey dovey relationship where the guy loves and supports me, and is 100% caring and understanding of my fissure.

I think it's a limiting belief that I don't deserve to have love because I have this health condition. Someone out there will accept my full package, the way I am right now, polysporin-and-vaseline-lubed butt and all!

PRUNE UPDATE:

Oy... that was a bad idea. I increased from 2 to 3 prunes for dinner, which was way too much insoluble fiber (I also had kiwi fruit before dinner, along with my usual vegs).

This morning's BM - though it did SLIDE OUT (yay), it was also a lot firmer, and now I feel the stabbing pain here and there when I sit on certain angles. ANNOYING.

So now I am thinking... I can only have ONE source of insoluble fiber for dinner (not counting veggies as they don't seem to bulk)...either 2 prunes or some other fruit (apple, kiwi, orange) or maybe chia seeds (though I am cautious about adding this for now).

Even though it doesn't feel the best today, I feel good that I've become a poop master. :) I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of making good poops.

Will increase my oil intake today, water intake, and eat fruit before dinner.

Found an amazing spreadsheet with a list of foods and their insoluble/soluble content: post123866.html#p123866

I've started to copy/paste the foods I normally eat into a different tab.

I'm very surprised that banana has higher insoluble fiber than oranges! YIKES!

Sweet potato also has higher insoluble than soluble.

Apricots/prunes have similar insoluble/soluble fiber ratios, same as raisins and cranberries.

Cucumber doesn't have much fiber - that's surprising. I would think the peel would be full of insoluble fiber.

Strawberries has slightly higher total fiber than blueberries but I find that strawberries are more constipating.

Flaxseed has higher soluble fiber than insoluble. Good to know.

Chia seeds is not on this list... doing a google search I can't seem to find any breakdown of its insoluble/soluble content.

Hello roseya or should I call u "poopmaster"! I am sorry I have skipped out on posting for a couple days but here is a post about flax and chia
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-h ... -showdown/
The funny thing is I read different things about chia some say 3/4 insoluble and 1/4 soluble some say mainly soluble. So I am confused. Fact is I don't have them much any more. Btw tried mangoes a few days ago and they made things a wee better. Crainsins and prunes dried don't seem to help too much though many on this forum swear by them. I don't know exactly how many prunes I was eating a handful of diced prunes.I think the soluble insoluble content of bananas vary with how ripe they are. I remember reading ( please double check) that the riper they are the more insoluble the fibre. GYNDR here devised against tomatoes. What do you think of them?
Are you cooking or eating raw. Yeah was a surprise to hear cucumbers don't do much but I love them and figured their water content is fine. Are you cutting down on them?
I tried both olive and coconut oil teaspoons with mels no see you do both. I think olive oil makes me more frothy ish but smoother overall
Problem is no day goes exactly like another. You are so right about what you said above tears of joy sometimes and tears of pain for me recently. Won't bore u with that have updated my diary.

Hope you conquer Mr Fissure and also find ur perfect situation in matters of the heart dear!

Keep me posted
Hugs
HTD

HTD - I missed you! I haven't been able to login to my original account (I changed the board theme, and it keeps redirecting to a blank page after). Then after I got a new account, my ENTIRE update post was somehow deleted when the site logged me out.

But coming back here to give you some support and share some of my updates (I discovered something that could possibly help you tremendously!!)

Chia: I think that there's definitely more insoluble than soluble in it as it bulked up my stool. There was just so much poop! Plus it made me really bloated even when I soaked it overnight (at least 8+ hours). So that's a no go.

Mangoes: these work really well for me, but they're expensive to eat every day. It has a bit of a laxative effect for me.

Prunes: these are not a long-term solution for me because they make me fart too much, but I do like eating a few of them. I've also read that some people have had to eat more and more for them to work. Prune juice works better than prunes I read, but I'm not sure I want to become dependent on it.

Tomatoes: I rarely eat tomatoes, so I couldn't tell you if they're good/bad.

Cucumber: I still eat them here and there, but my body doesn't crave/want it, so I think it's a sign I'm not deficient in the nutrients it has.

Alright onto the new stuff I've been testing!!

Alfalfa tablets - a miracle but...

While I was reading through pregnancy forums and searching for how expecting mothers were dealing with constipation... alfalfa kept popping up as something mid-wives suggested for stool softening. HTD, have you tried?

So I went out and got Bernard Jensen's alfalfa tablets (550mg). Women reported having looser stool after taking 6, so I started with 6 and then gradually increased it until my poops were just right.

I thought it'd cure me because it made my stool so easy to pass and soft but not too soft when I took 8 tablets per day!! It really was a miracle.

That's swallowing 3 before lunch (I just eat handful of golden raisins for breakfast), 2 before my mid-afternoon fruits, and 3 before dinner. (I tried chewing, but it didn't seem to have the same stool softening effect.)

I was pretty consistent with it for 3 weeks. Then I was curious to break it up and take 4 with lunch and 4 with dinner and see how that would affect stool consistency.

Well, that was a BAD idea!!! I broke out in hives all down both thighs. I was so scared, so I stopped taking alfalfa completely the next day.

A day later - my condition got worse. My wrists were swollen and painful, my ankles were swollen (and in pain), my knees hurt so bad I could barely walk. My back hurt too.

I didn't immediately link the pain to not taking alfalfa because at that time I also had a sore throat so I thought it was a cold.

Well I think the alfalfa triggered an immune response and made me more susceptible to catching the cold.

I no longer have the cold, but still experiencing the pain (it's getting better). I was actually in the ER 2 days ago to get it checked out.... the ER doc thinks it's a sensitivity to the alfalfa as I ramped up the dose.

I still recommend it - but not taking so many with meals (spread them out like I did initially), and not go cold turkey IF an allergic reaction develops.


Hempseed oil

After I stopped taking alfalfa, my system stopped moving. I couldn't induce a BM until much later in the day, which made my stool dry, hard, and difficult to push out. Yup, lots of pain and blood after weeks of amazing bm's.

I had to try something else... so I went onto the next solution: hempseed oil. Someone on the IBS forum said it helped increase their stool transit time so there was less time for it to harden.

Link: http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/16 ... pseed-oil/

I tried taking 1tbsp with lunch and 1tbsp with dinner. It did not help even after taking for a couple of days. Infact, it seemed worse than olive oil which at least made my stool oilier!

I also read you shouldn't exceed 2tbsp/day or it becomes toxic... so it's not something I can take more of unlike EVOO.

But I did hear it's really good for the body and it increases your libido. Might end up returning it.

Flaxseed

So I went back to what worked for me in the past: soaked flaxseed! And it worked but as expected, it also made my stools larger. Sigh. I've had bloody streaks almost every day but my stool does slide out.

That's where I'm at right now. I've lowered the dosage of flaxseed to 1/2tsp soaked for a couple of hours and take it after dinner with a cup of water (when I take it with lunch and dinner, it would bulk it too much).

It's not ideal.... so I'm now looking for some solution that will help my stool retain more water. It could be that I don't have enough good bacteria and need probiotics, but it just takes so long for probiotics to work for me (tried a couple in the past).

Rutin

Oh I forgot to talk about Rutin!! There were several stories (both here - topic6834.html - and other forums) that it cured fissures and hemmy's. It strengthens the veins and capillaries so you don't bleed as easily.


I took this for about 1-2 weeks about 1-2 months ago and it made a HUGE difference. I really think I would have healed within 2 weeks if I didn't mess up with an incredibly hard/big/painful BM which tore me so badly (it was caused by not going for a bm in the afternoon when I had the urge to).

So I stopped it to fix my stool consistency first.

If you're interested - I recommend taking 500mg/day. I started off with 250mg/day, which still helped but I really felt a difference in pain levels after ramping it up to 500mg/day.

I just ordered the Thompson ones online because of the great reviews - you can look them up in the link below (I was previously taking the Natural Factors one).

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Thompson-Rutin-5 ... B001E0ZM1W

The missing piece right now is something that will make my stool softer and that is natural (and won't trigger an immune response!).

Combined with Rutin and I'm fairly confident I'll be good within 2-3 weeks.

Cavilon Barrier Cream

I regret spending money on this (I read a review that it helped heal someone's fissure along with fiber and diet).

It dried me out and made it feel like I could even tear while walking. I don't recommend this.

Drinking sea salt water

I tried this a few days as I read that a low sodium diet can lead to constipation. I know that when I switched to a healthier diet to make my stools softer, I was not getting enough sodium.

It's recommended to take 1/2 tsp of salt in water in the am and pm and see if it gets things moving. I started out with pinches of salt in water and drank it in the evening and also in the morning.

I don't really think it has done much. Might even have dehydrated me! But it could also be that I needed unrefined sea salt (the one I got did not indicate whether it was unrefined or refined).

Wheat bran

My mother bought a package of bran for me. I'm not sure how to make it. Think it would be overkill to add it to my oatmeal... but never tried it, so maybe it will help with the transit time? I'll start with like maybe 1/4th of a tsp.



That's all for updates for now. I'll update when I find something that works well!!

Some more updates:

Prune juice

I tried this for 2 days, maybe 2oz? Went with a very low dose to prevent diarrhea. Drank it mid-afternoon, and also before bed. I first drank it cold, then started drinking a warm cup of it in the evening.

My poop was smaller and did seem slightly softer, so that was great, but 2 problems:

1) prune juice is expensive! I bought the organic kind without preservatives, which is like $10. At this rate (if I drink a bit more per day), I'm going to finish it in about 1-2 weeks. I guess it's still cheaper than stool softeners, but... it tastes ick.

2) it makes me really hungry at night - and it makes my throat sore/swollen. I have weird sensitivities.

Debating whether to return this.

Lax a Day

Finally caved in to trying stool softeners. Having tried almost everything natural out there, it's time to see what stool softeners will do for me.

I asked the pharmacist what was the difference between Lax a Day & Restoralax as they both contain PEG 3350. She said there was no difference! Welp, Lax a Day is cheaper (and had a nicer bottle haha) so I went with that.

My plan is to take the lowest dosage possible in combination with EVOO which I take 2tbsp per day on an empty stomach to decrease stool transit time.

I'm waiting for the Rutin to be shipped - which I know will heal my fissure quickly in combination with soft stool. I've taken Rutin before, so I know it works wonders to stop bleeding and significantly decrease the pain.

Celery

I recall eating a lot of celery one time and the next day my poops just slid out so easily. It's probably the fiber content, but I'm sure it's also the potassium and magnesium in it that help the stool retain more water.

Will be steaming it daily.... and also snack on apricots when I'm hungry.


To recap, the plan is:
1) Soften stool primarily with EVOO and Lax a Day
2) Take Rutin 500mg after lunch
3) Apply polysporin after morning BM