I'm on week 4 on nitro. I was initially worried about headaches but seem not to be affected. I had 2 fissures externally visible anterior & posterior witihin 1 week of nitro I couldn't see either of them anymore but was still suffering from spasms. By week 3 these had subsided to "bearable" without painkillers. I was also taking isophagela husk 2x a day. I had pain free BMs from after week 1. Then I got complacent & joined in with my family on a full roast dinner - next day a re-tear - but not too bad (just felt like an elastic band snapping rather than passing barbed wire!). Anyway visually this has now cleared up but I'm back to mild spasms again !

Let that be your red flag, Bliss. It takes a fissure so long to heal, so even when yu have a run of a few days, or a couple weeks, it is still there, a weak area just waiting for an excuse to flare up. Be diligent with the diet!

Hi Bliss,
I'm glad you are doing so well on nitro. This is basically my fourth day on it, and I seem to have some type of weird mild headache in the back of my head and dizziness for about an hour or so after I apply (twice a day). Because my fissure is acting up this week, I'm taking Advil, which is probably masking some of the headache. But, things don't seem too bad, so I'm trying to give my body some time to adjust to the drug. The main thing for me is getting out of this fissure pain, and sitting all day at work seems to exacerbate it. Bliss, did your doctor tell you basically how long it would take for the nitro to lower the resting pressure of the sphincter? I was distracted at the doctor's office last week because of fear of the exam, and I can't remember if he told me 12 weeks, or 6 weeks, or 3.
Queenofpain/AgonyAnn

Hi Guys,
I have not written in a couple of weeks because I wanted to see how the nitro cream was working. It's almost as if I don't have two fissures, as I have been basically pain-free the past three weeks. I don't want to be too quick to credit nitro because I've had good stretches before (the fissures are already 15 months old, and there has been some resilience and healing historically). I am hopeful, though, that it is working, but it's hard to tell. I developed some milder pain yesterday evening just from sitting (I seem to have gone into spasm), which persisted into the morning. So, it's hard to know what's going on. Well, I've only been on nitro for three weeks, so we'll see. I suppose there still is some back and forth, even when on a cream. Everytime I'm about to check in and tell you guys that things are going well, my fissures rebel! Also, because of trying out different chairs at work, my upper back is strained and in pain a lot. I keep changing the height of the computer monitor to accommodate the chairs, and don't know what's right anymore. I never thought a fissure could affect so many things! At any rate, I'm taking off time for the holidays beginning this Thursday, and can't wait to get away from this pain-inducing situation! I continue to pray for all your healing. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wish I could be on this site more. Will continue to update.
Queenofpain/AgonyAnn
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:17

Continued good luck, Ann. Sounds like you may be heading down the healing path. What a blessing that would be.
Just don't be tempted by all the holiday goodies to fall off the diet wagon. It is more critical now than ever to do everything right!!

That is wonderful news. I know what you mean about not wanting to get your hopes up but every day without pain or little pain is such a gift.
I hope you can make good progress during the Christmas holidays when you dont' have to sit for hours at a time.

God Bless and Merry Christmas,
Lecia

Thanks, Lecia. I like your Christmas tree! We've had considerable snow up here over the weekend. It's so pretty at Christmastime.
The other thing I wanted to point out is that I sometimes have nitro headaches, but they tend to be fleeting (last an hour or so after application), and much, much more tolerable in my case than fissure pain. I probably usually don't have them, though. I just wanted to point this out for folks who may end up using nitro: the headache situation might not a black and white predictable thing. But, again, in my case anyway, the headaches are far better than the fissure pain, and they dissipate. I don't even resort to Advil for them to give my body a break.
Queenofpain/AgonyAnn

Hi Guys,
Happy New Year! I have been praying for a number of you by screen name over my Christmas vacation. Hope youl heal, once and for all, this year.
I haven't run across a posting that answers the following questions, so please forgive me if you have responded numerous times to similar queries before.
1) I've mentioned in previous postings that I had a watery bowel consistently for years prior to experiencing my two fissures now almost 16 months ago. Since experiencing the fissures, the watery bowel movements inexplicably and abruptly ceased. No exaggeration, I was never able to treat the watery movements with diet, and a lower GI revealed nothing amiss. This past year, however, I wouldn't have been able to induce wateriness, if I tried. I mean, my bowel movement is probably normal, with bouts of difficult to pass stools. The last two weeks, for example, I am doing nothing but straining. I am having bowel movements every day, but I don't know why they are hard to pass. I took myself off the stool softener (Surfak) last week that the CRS had me on since November, since I'm afraid it might strangely have something to do with it. I'm back on Colace, which doesn't help. I'm also eating some prunes, drinking prune juice, taking fish oil and flax oil tablets (3 of each daily), eating my normal fiber intake, and drinking lots of water. Needless to say, diet is hard to figure out, and I can't think of any dietary variation that would cause this change. Here is my question: Has anyone experienced a definite consistency change in their stools subsequent to suffering a fissure? I know it makes no sense, but this has been my irrefutable experience.
2) I would like to try Miralax, but it seems it is a laxative, not a stool softener, and I fear the consequences, i.e., addiction, needing more with time to produce the same result. Is it true that Miralax is a laxative, not a stool softener? How does one take it? There were no instructions on the bottle, strange as it may seem.
Thanks!
Queenofpain/AgonyAnn

Here is my question: Has anyone experienced a definite consistency change in their stools subsequent to suffering a fissure? I know it makes no sense, but this has been my irrefutable experience.
Perhaps since your stools had been watery, the fissure really only made itself known once you began having "hard" stools again?
I can only say the consistency of my stools changed *after* my problems ended, i.e. my sphincter relaxed. I relaxed mentally, too, and I'm sure that helped!
As for miralax, I've never taken it so I can't say definitely or not...

Thanks for your reply, Kim. I don't know what to think. The fissure was brought on 16 months ago by a hard stool from drinking Diet Coke and fasting 2 meals for a few days. My bowel movements were always watery up to that point, with some normalcy at times, but never such that they required straining. After that point, I no longer had watery bowel movements. It's the strangest thing. My stools usually appear normal now, but sometimes they are flat and wavy. I just don't know how soft they are supposed to be, and much less how to achieve a softness where they are easy to evacuate. I don't think all this straining is normal, and I fear I am going to do more or other damage. It's strange how your stools changed after your problems ended. How can a change occur as a result of a fissure status?