I was dissatisfied with my old doc because he could never give me answers to what exactly was wrong, or anything else. The only way that I was going to get any answers from him was to let him perform surgery under anesthesia. He's a certified CRS, but he's young and CRS stuff isn't what he exclusively does.

So I found a new guy. Full-time CRS with great reviews on various physician rating sites. Unfortunately, he's an hour and a half away. But he seemed worth it.

Boy, was he thorough. The last guy didn't use the anoscope, so this was the first time I'd had one since my last fissure. My CRS from back then would put some numbing agent down there first, but not this guy. It was a bit uncomfortable.

He was not able to find any evidence of a fissure. This didn't really surprise me much. Even though I've had a lot of pain, I haven't had clear fissure-type cramping in months. The pain has been related to sitting, walking, or other activity. I suspect that the fissure was healed at the time my last doc recommended botox.

My problem is that I have three hemorrhoids, at least one of which has been there since day one six months ago. He's putting me on hydrocortisone for a month, before he tries frikkin' laser beams. I also need to wean off of nifedipine slowly, as I've definitely noticed evidence of a rebound effect when I reduced my dose in the past.

Still having problems with the hemmy, so I'm guessing that I'm going to need the infrared coagulation. I've felt a little better over time, but a couple of days of "hard starting" BMs have left me feeling bad again. I'm finally off of the nifedipine, after slowly weaning for a couple of weeks. I'm still terrified of getting a new fissure every time that I have a BM, especially after using hydrocortisone for a few weeks.

I'm supposed to use the hydrocortisone for one more week, but I'm wondering if I should go ahead and quit. I had to cut the dose to once a day (from twice) because too much makes me feel weak and nauseous. It's proctosol 2.5%. I'm supposed to use the applicator, but that hurt me and I couldn't control the dosage that way, so I just try to put a pea-sized amount inside. Should I be worried that I've used too much or for too long? How can you tell?

It's definitely a hard choice to make. Fissures really mess with our heads. I think one more week might not be a big deal if you've already used it for so long. I hope that whatever hemorrhoid treatment you use it will get rid of them permanently.