Hi everyone,

I am brand new here but was hoping to get some advice from people who have fissures like I do. I am suffering through the worst case I have ever had and wanted to see if anyone else has gone through something similar.

I am 31 yrs old and have had fissures off and on for about 5 years almost always after a big or quick BM. I take metamucil twice daily and eat well. I feel like they have become more frequent in the past year and most recently feel like I have had continuous ones for the last three months. I was doing well in October when I was at a conference out of town and started getting sweaty between the cheeks probably from too much coffee. By the end of the day, I was so chaffed and my anus felt raw and painful. I thought it would go away in a few days but the perianal area was so stingy and painful for the next four weeks. I tried looking in the mirror and it looked like there were 2-3 tiny fissure like areas. Two weeks in, I begin having right groin stinging pain. What made it worse was when I have a sudden twinge of pain in my anus, I would feel a sharp lancing pain in my right groin and it progressed down the middle of my thigh. I tried everything from aquaphor, sitz baths, silvadene cream, and gold bond powder. I went to a colorectal surgeon at the four-week mark who examined me with a scope and said other than a little irritation on the outside, he didn't see anything. After that week things quieted down for two weeks but two weeks later, I was just walking down the hall at work and I suddenly felt a sharp pain at the top of my anus like a spontaneous fissure opened up again and within an hour, my anus was painful and i started getting the right groin pains AGAIN. At the four week mark I went to a different colorectal surgeon who palpated my groin area and said he didn't feel any masses or lymph nodes. I moved his hand to wear I felt a lymph node and he agreed there was one there, but it didn't feel enlarged. Then he just looked at my anal area and said he didn't see anything other than a covered fissure which looked recently healed and essentially ignored my groin pain.

I am going into my fifth week now and my anus is burning and I get spikes of pain at the sites where I think I have fissures which immediately trigger my groin pains at the same time, especially when standing. I am so frustrated because my doctor doesn't seem like it's a big deal and I feel totally depressed having gone through this for two months now. Has anyone had anything similar where they have sharp groin pain that only happens with anal fissures or tears? Does anyone else get random fissures or multiple fissures at once?

I can only speak for myself, but when I had my one and only fissure (I hope), it was not tiny, not random, and did not heal on it's own (without nitro, stool softener, fiber, diet, water), and did not heal quickly. I too would wonder if there weren't some other problem. for example acute prostatitis which can lead to extreme anal pain (I, my brothers, and my dad all have suffered from this). The effect, though, is not long lasting.

Have you checked with a gastroenterologist? Also, have you ever had a colonoscopy (most men of 31 have not).

I saw a urologist a year ago because my CRS thought maybe I had prostatitis, but the urologist took my urine and did some manual exams and said I did not have any signs of prostatitis. I've never had a colonoscopy or checked with GI doctor. I might have to ask my PCP to send me to one. I tend to just go to my CRS when I get pain, irritation, or a fissure. I guess he's not as interested in managing anything non-surgical.

I have been suffering with the exact same symptoms. I've had problems with this fissure for a couple years, but the most recent one is much harder to heal and every time it re-tears, I get these groin pains which I always thought were in the area of my lymph nodes. My doctor checked them out twice and didn't really give me any explanation. The pains sometimes radiate down the middle of my thigh. This has been going on for a few months now.

SMH - I'm glad you posted. I feel a little better that I'm not the only one suffering but I hope yours gets better soon. It was so bad today while I was standing at work and now I'm seriously depressed. It is the only thing I think of when I wake up and go to bed. I get this sudden and random anal pain and then these lancing groin pains which shoot down my thigh. I made an appointment to see my PCP tomorrow. If he can't give me a solution, I'm going to ask for a referral to see a GI specialist. I don't feel like going back to my CRS specialist will do anything unless he sees something surgical to do right off the bat. I mean I have gotten anal tears and irritation off and on for years, but I have never experienced anything like this and its been going on for almost three months now.

Well if you find out what it is please come back and let me know. It bugs me all day long wondering what it could be. The doctor told me it was related , but didn't say how, and I haven't heard of anyone else with symptoms like this so I'm glad I'm not the only one. Good luck with it!