I had my first anal fissure experience at the beginning of the summer. For several weeks I had bleeding and felt like I was sitting on a spear. I tried diltiazem but it gave me a nasty rash, which turned into an abscess that had to be drained three times. Ouch! After that I managed to get the fissure somewhat under control, with a daily regimen of miralax, colace, metamucil, hot baths and an onslaught of hi-fiber foods. The pain went away for the most part. When my poop isn't exactly the right texture, sometimes I feel "on the verge" of another fissure flareup, but I work really hard at keeping my poop at exactly the right consistency and that helps.
That is, until last week. Suddenly I had a painful bowel movement, with bleeding and pain that lasted for 10 minutes or so. Not as bad as the original pain, but no fun either. Every bowel movement since then has been the same. My dr. now recommends LIS surgery. He says that any fissure that lasts more than three months is unlikely to heal without the surgery. He's actually very pro-surgery; he claims that of approximately 1000 surgeries that he's done, 98% have been successful, and that he hasn't had a single case of incontinence or anything like that.
So, I'm considering it. I know I haven't suffered that long, and it's true that the pain isn't as bad as it once was, but still...it's a drag to live with this and the possibility of putting it "behind" me is very tempting. On the other hand I am nervous when I read online that 6% or 8% or whatever of patients do have incontinence of some kind.
So what would you do? Or what did you do if you were in a similar situation? Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might be able to offfer...

Hi there!
I think it is possible to heal without surgery, as some on the boardhave, with diets and/or the blood pressure creams-you could always try nitro if diltiazem gave you a rash. Up until today, I have been getting better slowly with just diets and flaxoil, aloe vera, acidophilus and the diltiazem. There was a time when I thought it would never go away, but I didn't want the surgery, even though I was told the same as you, that it wouldn't heal if it was more than 3 months. Even though I've had a setback today, I personally would not consider surgery unless it got so bad that it was the only option. This is just a personal opinion, because I've had things go wrong in hospital before and things tend to go wrong for me generally!! There have been people on the board who have had the surgery, and it has totally healed them. I don't think anyone has ever experienced incontinence, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Its a personal choice whichever feels right for you!
Good luck!
Val

Hi there!

What a decision to make, isn't it? I don't know anyone though who has had the surgery that regrets it. It seems like we all reach our point of "I can't take this anymore" and try a different approach after awhile.

I did not have the surgery as it was not recommended because I have an underlying neuropathic condition that would increase the risks for me so I had to do the diltiazem, baths, diet, stool softeners, etc. I still have to watch what I eat as it can really take a year for that area to regain the strength and integrity it once had.

I hope you can find some answers on the board. We have pages of threads that tell our stories and what we found to work and not work.

Feel free to ask questions and look around and

Hello,
I have a chronic fissure, I have had two shots of Botox and if this second does not work I am going for the surgery. I am not going to go another summer with this THING! My CRS is like yours and I think I am healthy enough to have this surgery without complications. But read thru a few people on this forum have had success with LIS.
Take Care,
Patty