was glad to find this forum, i have had this pain for the past six months, finally got my hospital appointment today, doc said it was a fissure but too sore to look with a camera
she prescribed anoheal cream, i am a pensioner so imagine my shock when i was quoted 234 euro for a tube, (i am in Dublin, Ireland)
so i have started a battle with my health board to cover the cost,
even though the pain has eased for the past six days when she tried a finger examination it was like a dozen hot pokers :
i can feel a slight pain now so i know it wont be long till it returns
anyway thanks in advance for your support
frank

Good luck, Frank, and welcome. You will find a lot of support here and a good forum for support and answers to questions!!

Welcome, Frank. That's a tough diagnosis, as we all on this board know! Try to use the cream about 1 hr to 30 minutes before your bm, and then once or twice more that day. If it heals your fissure it will take a couple weeks, or maybe a little less, to start feeling the benefits, so stick with it.
Wow, it is expensive!!
Its a good thing your pain has been less lately, but fissures will seem to go away and then resurface and it's pretty depressing. Do read the threads here and see if you need to change your diet any, if stool softeners will help, and don't forget that hot soaking baths will bring blood to the area for healing and also often provide relief for the pain.

Welcome, Frank! I am sorry to hear you are battling with his awful condition and that your health coverage is not wanting to cover it. I thought it was covered in the UK or at least in England but I do believe you are our first Irish member so things may be different there.
I hope you will find some useful information on here. Keeping your bms soft and manageable are key to healing through diet, water and stool softeners if needed. Let us know if you have any questions!

Yes, dear Frank - sorry that you have this darn thing, but welcome to our forum and please feel free to ask ANYTHING !!!! We are pretty open describing our symptoms and ways to manage them so please do not be embarrassed and know that nothing you ask or describe was not already discussed or heard here !
You will find a ton of useful information if you read as much of the posts as you can here, but for starters immediately start using 3-4 , 20min long warm baths, make sure your bowel movements are very soft , keep the area clean and use the cream diligently. Some members use it outside , some put some inside the anus , some do both. I used it about 5 times a day.
Best of luck Frank, and so sorry that you had to pay so much - yes, try to fight the system to cover all of your treatments since this damn thing tend to linger for a while.

Hi Frank
sorry you are suffering from this awful condition, and how awful you have to pay that much for the anoheal! We have fixed price prescriptions here, or we can buy a prepayment which covers all prescriptions for a certain length of time. (I'm in England)
Are you taking any supplements or softeners to help keep it all soft?
I just second what everyone else said - ask whatever, whenever!

thanks for the welcome
i know nothing really about softeners, the doc just gave me a script for fybogel and a list of hi fibre foods, is there anything else i could use?
is this a permanent condition? and what are the pros and cons of surgery?
and lastly is surgery regarded as a permanent cure?
sorry for all the questions you have probably heard a hundred times
frank

Dont worry about the questions at all! We all started here with them!
You might want to look into Movicol. It is a stool softener and is not a stimulant so it won't be harsh. I would start slowly though and maybe not take a whole dose, just start with half or less.
Another to try is docusate sodium or milk of magnesia, but again with milk of magnesia, less is usually more, if you catch my drift.
There are a lot of UKer's that have used fybogel on here and it certainly can help. I also recommend probiotics and fish or flax seed oil to help coat the stool so it slides out easier.
Surgery helps to reduce the sphincter pressure so that that fissure heals. It won't heal it per se, but it will provide the rigt environment to promote healing the same way the cream does but relaxing the muscle so that more blood more can go into the area. Surgery is about 95% successful so if it comes to it you have very good odds in your favor.
Take care!

Lecia,
You always give such good advice. I think you seem like you are feeling better.
Cheryl

Hey Frank....Welcome!
Jeewhizz that is some expense for a tube of cream !!
I am in bonny Scotland and the same applies for prescriptions like Val has said.
I think the anoheal costs the NHS around Ј84 per tube , I don’t understand why you should have to pay full wack for it , absolutely stick to your battles there that is just crazy !!
The anoheal is a wicked little cream , it has healed people here and even helaed me at one point ! I would massage the cream one inch in and around the anus, I believe it helps to gets that cream inside !
Fybogel is fine and will soften and add bulk to your bms , fine is you can handle the added bulk but some times it can cause more pain , do remember to drink lots of fluids with fybogel and your high fibre diet …Movicol is another option this doesn’t add bulk to the stool but does soften the stool to make it easier to pass !
Goodluck !