Hi...I'm 48 and I've had constipation problems all my life and internal and external hemmies since my mid 20s, but those occurred just on and off and nothing that was difficult to deal with. This past September I started going through an incredible amount of stress due to a devastating family problem and along with that came problems with digestion and really bad constipation that caused piles, bleeding and finally a fissure. I've been dealing with the awful pain and burning of the fissure for about a month now...many unbearable days during the day at my desk at work, and sleepless nights. I've been getting tips from this forum and have completely changed my diet, increased my water intake, started exercising, taking Metamucil three times a day, Colace, etc. and have gotten my bms to the point where I don't strain anymore.

I think I'm seeing some light at the end of the tunnel (no pun intended)...the last three days I've had some pain when I go, but not horrible like it was previously...I have a little burning and some pain after, but again not horrible and it doesn't last for hours and hours anymore. I had a teensy spot of blood on the tissue yesterday when I went, but nothing today. I'm sitting here at my desk now and although there's some burning down there, I can actually SIT and concentrate. I feel like this means I'm getting better because prior to this whenever I would go I couldn't sit down at all, and even laying down was horribly painful and I just felt like crying all the time. My question is should I be getting my hopes up that my fissure is actually getting better?

Thanks,
Cari

I find not getting to high or low is good. If your starting to feel better I would say you are making progress. What I have found out during my 3 plus month battle is it takes a long time. It is a slow process and if the spasm is stopping then the fissure is probably healing. It doesn't happen over night. Stick to the routine that is working for you. In my case Metamucil did not work it made my BMS to bulky but constipation was never my problem. If you are still having problems I would recommend seeing a CRS. Good luck

Hi Carinae,
It sounds as though you are on the mend - yay, congratulations!


Apes is right, though. You may find you have good days and bad days. The great thing is not to get discouraged by the bad days. I can't count the number of times I felt better, and thought I was healed for good, only to have a difficult bm and a painful day.

The thing is, the good days become more frequent, the set-backs become less frequent and less bad. Also, you learn to cope, so if you do have a set-back you know what to do to get through it.

It may take a long time, but eventually you realise you had a whole week without pain. Then a whole month. You have to take the long view, and measure improvement over weeks and months, not days.

Good luck! We are here to cheer you on!

Thanks : ) I'm truly thankful that I'm at least able to sit at my desk and concentrate on my work in the morning now even though I have some discomfort as opposed to being completely distracted by the pain and having to get up every five minutes, which is what I'd been doing for weeks. Honestly, right now I still can't imagine feeling completely normal again...but I'm hoping!