Hope that wecc might come back and tell us how he is doing after all these weeks.

well hello Savaici.....
I hope you are feeling better? Last time you were in much pain and thinking what you might do.....
I could not be better. If you recall, I was 99.9% better the day of the AD and playing touch football with my son and friends about a week later.
In fact I just came back from a few days of sking with my family. I will say, I was somewhat worried. However, no problem at all. Well at least in that area
I believe this post as well as my others say it all.
If I had to do this again, it would be a SAD over an LIS in a second. However, that is me. Regardless, nobody should be in this type of pain for the time most of us puts up with it hoping after months it will just simply go away.....the fact is in most cases that is just wishful thinking........
As my daughter says.....peace out!

Hello All!
It’s been a while and I am just checking in. When I just logged in, I had over 10 PM’s asking about the SAD……
From the day I had the SAD done, I have had no pain whatever. As I said in my posts, while some have had success with an LIS, you can read posts from many that did not. Maybe I am a bit hardcore…think about this, I was playing touch football with my 17 yo son and his friend a week after the SAD! It’s too funny…prior to my SAD, I took 3 weeks off from work, rented a bunch of videos…was ready to be stuck in my house for a few weeks….The next morning I was out eating breakfast with my wife and then went to the mall!
My job requires that I travel 50% and prior to this it was like hell and back. Two weeks after my SAD, I had a 18 hr flight to China. Last time that happened I had to drug myself just to make the flight…this time, I read a good book. I do not care what anyone might say on this site about an SAD…it truly was a god send for me and give me my life back
With all the above said, I had to change my lifestyle. I drink so much water. I take a fiber pill in the morning and magnesium pills in the evening. Before my BM, I use a bit of Vaseline and I use only baby wipes. Did I ever think I would use a q-tip there…never. However, there is no way I am even going to chance going back to having this issue……
For those of you who are new….read all my posts. From what I am told, it is not very easy to find a CRS that performs SAD.I was very blessed that after a few months of research, I found an CRS about an hour away that does. I am by no means trying to talk anyone out of an LIS if needed. However with that said, there are other options out there. BTW…the only reason they call an SAD surgery is simply because they put you out. There is no cutting at all.
With the success I have had and other that I have met in my CRS office, I do not know why anyone would not look into a SAD before deciding which way to go if the next step is needed…
Just know that after some point in time and AF is not going to heal. I was kidding myself and trying anything and everything….if I knew than what I know now I would had had the SAD a year earlier and not have to put up with all the pain…
Good luck everyone…for all of you in pain…just know there is hope…

I was treated for a fissure that developed into a fistula by Dr Leiboff @ colonandrectalsurgeons dot com and I havent felt this good in 3 years... The pain from the procedure was nothing compared to the pain from the fissure/fistula. A week later i was a ok and back to normal

Hello All….
It been months since I been on this site. I am just a few days away from my one year anniversary of having an SAD…January 4! With that said, it has been 11 months and 25 days I have not been in any pain whatsoever. I am telling you, this SAD gave me my life back. What a difference a year makes. Last year I have to eat Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen standing up I was in so much pain….Christmas…sucked to be blunt. I could not do anything. As far as business travel, I had to drug myself up just to get though a 3 hour flight.
This year, I spent the summer water skiing with my kids and have already gone snow skiing! I have been on three 18 flight to Asia without any problems. I am going to say this hear and now, I believe anyone who does not at the very least try to find a CRS who performs SAD before they go forward with an LIS is doing themselves a great disservices. I had two business associates who had LIS’s and both had complications. One of their father was still having issues 7 motnhs after having his LIS….he had a SAD a few months ago and called me crying on the phone a few weeks post op thanking me for saving his life. Hey I am not the Dr, I just told him about my success. Read this site, what percentage had issue after an LIS? Read my posts as I was going thought this. Lets face facts, an LIS is surgery…. they cut you. The only reason a SAD is classified as surgery is simply because they have to put you out.
Frankly I do not care what CRS say. I visited several, one being the top CRS in a major hospital in all of NY and all tried to talk me out of an SAD. Why is that???? Draw your own conclusions……
I have no vested interested in this beside trying to help people who are going through hell like I did and there is another way to get better which is not invasive and there are very little complications. At the end of the day, you can either look into this or not. You can just listen to whatever your CRS says or look at another way…. I really hope you do.
God bless….and may all of you have a New Year that is filled with peace, health and happiness

wecc,
Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and give an update. After a year and a half of these multiple fissures, I'd have the standardized dilatation in a heartbeat if there was any nearby doctor I could find to perform it. Unfortunately, travel that far to NY isn't possible for me. We can only hope I guess that at some point standardized dilatation will become more available.
I for one have so appreciated being able to read about your firsthand experience with this procedure.
I am so so glad to hear you are doing so well, and are back to your life. It is the best possible news and outcome.
Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy new year!

Does anyone know if SAD works when your external muscle is always tense? I believe the SAD only stretches your internal muscle? Thanks so much! If anyone has found any CRS in Minnesota please let me know. The U of MN and Mayo clinic are large campuses near me....

The internal sphincter is the one that you cannot control, whereas the external sphincter is the one that you control yourself. I should imagine that with SAD, both the external and the internal sphincter are stretched.
I practice self-dilation, and must confess that entering the anus is extremely easy, and only when reaching the internal sphincter do I experience pain.
Meditation can help with relaxing the external, and massaging gently in a circular fashion on the anus, I find is very good too. Very gently, and just for a few seconds.
As to the hospitals; best bet is to phone and ask. I do know that it is done at the Cleveland Clinic.
Hope this helps, and good luck.

Hi savaici, thanks for posting the link. However when i open it just brings me to the main CRS website... It doesnt say which doctor performed it or where to go from there....

I have more questions about AD and SAD. OK, so the naturopath I went to practices AD using fingers to stretch in a graduated manner (under local anesthesia). He showed me what they used to use and these were metal-looking large, thimble like dilators, I believe. How is that any different than WECC's description? So he apparently feels he gets better results with AD than what sounds to me like SAD! I was referred to him by a friend with chronic AF who was very pleased with the results. I have been leaning away from that approach, but after reading the posts on this thread and am wondering again.
Does anyone else have knowledge or experience with the finger-stretching approach? Does anyone know whether AD or SAD is best if you have anal stenosis or tension? (my isn't 'that bad' but my fissure is really big). It doesn't make sense to me to put pressure against a fissure--are there contraindications?
This is all so confusing for those of us searching for relief!