Hi everyone so I’ve been dealing with this fissure for 4 years. I’m getting desperate at this point. I’ve had Botox 3 times with a nice enough surgeon but he won’t do LIS because I’m a woman. So today I had an appointment with a second surgeon for another opinion. It was horrible. He said there is no fix and to get 30g fibre daily to stretch the anus. He also said to stop the softeners and just use psyllium. Well that’s ok for him to say, he’s not having daily razor blades for his BM! For the record, I get a good amount of fibre and supplement with magnesium and movicol. The problem is I still have pain, spasms and blood with soft stool. So how is a larger stool going to help? I’m honestly so confused. He said he only does 2 LIS per year (only men btw) which doesn’t give me much faith in him anyway. I would love any recommendations for experienced CRS in Wollongong/Sydney area if anyone can help? I’m also very scared to stop movicol! I know what result that has

Do not take the fiber I also got that advice and I still regret it years later it was hell if the perfect bm hurts imagine what a huge compacted bm feels like even if its soft ithey are toooo large fullstop it's unhealthy to have huge bms it's not natural I don't know why that is the advice still but its old outdated advice fiber from diet is better an not over doing it. So many woman get lis and have great outcomes your surgeon doesn't sound confident so I would skip him keep looking till you find someone confident in their ability and someone who does 1 a week or something more frequent. I'm sorry you had this experience I think it's a common experience amongst us woman with fissures but it doesn't mean we won't fine a good surgeon. Try get a third opinion I spoke to 4 or 5 surgeons all up and they weren't all bad. Keep us updated you'll get through this we all will xx

I will keep updating. I’m going to find a different surgeon. I’ve googled but nothing specific comes up. I won’t be taking the fibre or removing movicol at this stage. It’s too far gone to bulk up stool! I’ve been told opposite things now from the 2 surgeons. 1 says stay on softeners just like people stay on medications their whole lives. The other says no softeners. I’ll just keep eating healthy, sachet of movicol and drinking my water in the meantime. I guess I had too much hope when I saw the dr yesterday. I got ahead of myself but learnt a lesson. Not all surgeons are made equal. I hope you are doing well today :)

I'm going well thank goodness yesterday an today I'm back to being pain-free I hope it last a long time this stint at least a month would be nice. Yes I've had different doctors and different surgeons tell me complete opposite things so so so so annoying nothing bloody worst pack of idiots being paid to give out dated advice. I couldn't belive it I was so desperate only to be told I had a hemorrhoid then no you have a fissure to use bulking fiber to no no bulking fiber is the worst ill give you a softener you want soft serve ice cream type bms. This was the worst part having to be my own doctor I read everything on fissures that I could find on the Internet over the last 7 years and yes you want to muscle to be able to stretch as it once naturally did but not when your fissure compromised maybe after a year of it being healed with no pain then we can stretch it with dilators I wouldn't use bms to stretch it it's to out of our control we want to start small and slowly I've seen many people swear by dilators but only when the fissure is healed. Sorry rant lol I get so passionate about it since its been such a journey

Yes, having to be our own doctor is true. Sad that we have to read for hours about this problem just to get by. I’m also passionate about this and tell my kids not to make the same mistakes I did. Codeine, straining, bad diet and dehydration led to this.
If one positive can come out of it is that I eat so much better these days.
I called around and spoke to a surgeon’s nurse over the phone. She made me an appointment for tomorrow! I was lucky there was a cancellation. It’s a team of highly skilled CRS in Sydney. My appointment is with a female dr this time and she also specialises in pelvic floor/incontinence too. I’m talking to my GP today to get a rushed referral. I swear it feels like a full time job dealing with this fissure! Will let you know the outcome.

Wow that's amazing ment to be let us know how it goes you seem to of found the perfect person to speak to

So I had an appointment with the female CRS today. It went well I think. She said all the things we all know already. The good thing is she isn’t opposed to LIS. She obviously said the usual risk warning. She mentioned flap surgery, I don’t know much about it but I’m not keen if it’s not as successful and she mentioned mixed results with that. She is sending me for a pressure test and ultrasound in early September. I’m happy to do that as I’m curious as to if I’m too tight. As she is in Sydney and I’m 1.5hrs away, it’s going to take some time with appointments which sucks.
She also changed my creams to nifedipine and sheriproct to try. Also in the print out it says to take 2tsp of guar gum per day? Can’t say I’ve heard of that but willing to soften my stool any way I can.

I just want to add (I’ve been overthinking lol) she also said it would be a conservative cut and if needed, she could go back in and cut a bit more. I guess that’s a safer way. Anyway we’ll see what the pressure test reveals. Unfortunately I’m due for my period on the day I’m meant to get the test done. Damn

That's great news. I would personally choose lis over the flap surgery I haven't seen many in here who have had it an the few I've read about didn't have great out comes an the recovery takes longer its just a bit of skin they stitch over the fissure I don't know how that fixes the problem especially if your overly tight. It will interesting to see what the pressure test shows I've never had 1

I would much prefer the LIS. The flap surgery sounds horrific. I’m actually hoping that I do have a high resting pressure as it would explain the recurrence. I’m sure she will offer the LIS surgery if that’s the case.
The nifedipine is working better than diltiazem but I’m still having a bit of pain and bleeding every second day, so it’s not going to cure me.