Crayon... I'm glad to see you managed to get an appointment with a proper CRS.
I hope it goes well.... Keep us posted!

daffodil-- Wow, I'm surprised you're pushing through regardless. I don't know when my surgery will be though, and I can't function well outside of my bathroom vicinity or follow a real schedule until then. Plus this thing just makes me on and off depressed and I can't really be myself. The program is too demanding to have any leeway. What are you studying? (curious!)
owmybum-- Thanks! I'm glad to have an appointment now too. I've been putting it off because I thought I was healing and prodding around in there wouldn't help. In some ways I wish I saw a CRS to begin with, but I would still have probably tried all the natural regimens first (not that I'm quitting them, they were working to some extent). It's good to at least know what I'm up against. My life has been centered around my fissure so much that a retear isn't as scary as it is exasperating.

I can completely empathise with what you said. At its worst I wasn't functional, just wanted to sit in a sitz bath or agonize in bed in between going to the bathroom. I am pushing through in the faith that the LIS will work. And yes I am lucky that I had it done earlier than later. I guess in a way faculty are more sympathetic because (I feel almost embarrassed to say this) I am an MD candidate. The posting I was doing when I re-tore was surgery, can you imagine, one day I was part of the surgical team, the next, I was a patient being attended to :oops: But having been on both sides of the encounter, I can say that doctors do not always know everything, and that I have learnt more about the day to day management of my condition from this forum than I have from my CRS/GP.

I hope that it does work for you! That's all I'm hoping for now, once I get it. I know it's not a cure-all, but it seems like it could help much more than anything else has combined. It's probably good that you're an MD candidate... I mean, it certainly helped you here. You shouldn't be embarrassed, that's very fortunate. That must be very strange to be on one side of surgery one day and on the other the next! My department faculty are sympathetic, but I'm sure they don't understand. One of them worked in medical settings for years and said he is familiar with it, but I'm sure the rest have no idea (so I did try to explain as briefly yet thoroughly as possible).
The worst hurdle I'm getting through is the stupid University itself, who are trying to charge me 10% of the tuition (which is about a thousand dollars) because I requested a leave of absence on the first day of classes. It looks like I have to go back to my doctor and have her write them a letter and put up a fight to not have to pay this. I didn't attend any school! It makes me not want to go back because they are so unsympathetic.

Yes it is completely unfair that you have to pay for going to class on the first day to inform that you are requesting leave of absence. Administrative crap that is.
How are you coping in the meantime? Do you use nitro or anything else to ease the spasm?

Yes it is completely unfair that you have to pay for going to class on the first day to inform that you are requesting leave of absence. Administrative crap that is.
How are you coping in the meantime? Do you use nitro or anything else to ease the spasm?

Crayonofdarkness: Does your university have an ombudsmen for students? An ombudsmen will mediate for you and resolve the dispute- you can provide him/her with the documentation, and that should take care of that. It would also be wise to register with your university's office of disabilities. I know it may seem embarrassing, but it's stress you don't need while in grad school and trying to recover. I was a graduate program director for five years (am in recovery now. ;p), so apologies for going into advisor mode! All this is to say that I am sure your university has a system in place to easily dispute the charge.

I'm going to put up a fight to not pay it, whatever it takes! I saw my GP yesterday so that she can write a letter to them for medical documentation. I have to kind of lie and say that it retore on the first day of class even though it was the day before, but what difference does it make? It's ridiculous, and I didn't know that I should have dropped my classes as soon as it happened. I was in a funk over it anyway.
I'm doing a lot better the past couple days actually. I upped my Miralax dose to 2 tsp at night (it was about 1 tsp before) and now my stool is super soft so no pain. I used nitro yesterday, but I hadn't been using it for a while so I had a terrible headache, I'd like to avoid using it if I can. (I used nitro for about 3 months straight with some good results, and went off it about a month ago with no issue... This retear is unrelated I think, and mainly only the constipation from menstruation combined with stress of clinical meetings starting).
I also use a squatty potty, so I don't ever have to strain. If it's too hard or bulky then I am just patient, but it does indeed cause retears if it's too bulky! I take a lot of magnesium also, about 900mg per day, and flaxseed oil at night, and coconut oil suppositories... The list goes on, but everything does help and work to some extent.