Good Morning. I just joined this forum in hopes that someone can advise me on the best foods to eat when suffering from AF. I'm in the middle of a bad bout right now and I'm afraid to eat due to pain during BM. Thank you.

Sidc1959,

Welcome to the forum, I think you find this a great place for info and comfort. As to food I have found that it is a very individual thing. In my case I don't really get constipated, I was told by doctors to increase my fiber and every time I told the doc that my bum was to large he told be to take more Metamucil. What I found through the help of this forum was that the Metamucil was making my BM to bulky. So I stop taking it switched to benefiber and reduce the dose, I then added miralax. The combination has worked really well for me. I also cut down on the amount of fiber I was eating from food. What you will hear from everybody here is to keep your BMS soft. I never was much for drinking water but now I drink about 100 oz a day. I have cut red meat out, I can have limited amounts of dairy, one cup of coffee and a little chocolate. I try to eat more vegetables, melon. I find healthier breads with olive oil or ghee are ok. But again these things are individual. If your problem is constipation that is very different from me. The one constant however would be to start taking miralax. Go slow so you can figure out what works and what doesn't. I have lost 15 pounds over the three months that I have my AF. GooD luck, keep us updated and feel free to ask anything. Nothing is to embarrassing your amongst friends. Stay strong. Have you seen a crs?

Apes, thank you so much for your reply. I am not constipated and I do eat fiber and stay away from red meats. Didn't take me long to figure out that red meat was a problem. I suffer from so much pain. I tried to buy miralax today but the drug store did not have it. I did buy a stool softener and a probiotic tablet. I'm sitting on a cushion with a hole in the middle and that helps. This fiber thing is so confusing..............I try to keep it in my diet and stay away from red meat ............ like I said. The pain is so bad I'm almost afraid to eat anything. I just had a salad because I know I have to have that fiber. Hopefully it won't do me harm. Sue

Hi Sue,

I have also tried other stool softeners for the AF, but none worked as well as MiraLax. I had been dealing with AF for 3 years with off and on healing. If you have soft BM's and still getting the pain, you may want to try some over the counter anrectal licocaine cream. Your can also try to lube the area with a suppositorie like Calmol 4 or simular before the BM. I tried a 100% fiber diet of fruits and veg but it made my stools too large, so I had to add in fish, chicken and turkey and a small amount of fiber breads. I now do about 80% fiber 20% other and NO CHEESE and no red meat. I also have to change and mix up my diet as my body will adjust to foods that give the perfect BM texture and size. I do Oatmeal and maybe some fruit in the morning that has been very good for me over the years. I had an issue with the stool being hard at the start and then soft. The hard stool at the start would tear the AF. The biggest thing that helped hard stool start was to drink water in the middle of my sleep after 3 - 4 hours and go back to bed. We are all different and I hope you can get something off this that can help you.

Philip

Sue, I agree fiber is hard to figure and effects everybody a little differently. Stool softener should help. What triggers your spasm? For me it was triggered 20 minutes after my BM, regardless if they were soft or hard and it would last about 6 hours. Horrible pain and burning. I finally got Botox 13 days ago and the pain early on was different. If I have a hard BM I would spasm if it was I would have just a little pain that would go away quickly. Now I day 13 that I have figured out what works for I feel like I'm making good progress. Sitting has actual not been an issue, where before Botox it was impossible. Have you seen a crs yet, I recommend that you do so you get a plan as to what would be the best step for you to beat this nasty thing.

I have started to notice that whenever i have red meat for dinner, i suffer the next day

My fissure will almost always re-open...

This is particularly annoying for me because i am actually trying to put on weight but I'm going to assume that eating more will certainly make it harder for my fissure to heal :/

Red meat seems to be a big no no. As much as every bodies diets differ and some things work for one but not another, red meat seems to a constant no. I have given it up and I used to eat a lot, not a big deal don't even miss it. At least until I made my daughter a steak the other night, rather be pain free. I'm sure there are other ways to gain weight, keeping a healthy diet that makes your body feel good is most important.

Hi, I find that daily oatmeal is great. Red lentils and sweet potatoes are also good sources of fibre that don't bulk up too much, and give me lovely soft stools.
But yeah, everyone is different. Somebody here wrote in to say oatmeal makes them constipated.
Keep a food diary and note your BMs and pain levels. That way you can keep a good track of what helps and what hurts.

Fruits (except berries, bananas and oranges). Berries have seeds that don't digest well and have a tendency to scrape while exiting. Bananas constipate. Oranges have too much acid.

Raw vegetables (except the ones that have too much iron and calcium coz iron constipates and calcium without enough magnesium tends to tighten your sphincter muscle.

Cut sugar, milk, cheese, and egg yolk. Try going gluten free for a while. (Calcium is important but too much of it will create a havoc in your system).

You may incorporate brown rice instead of white rice in your diet. Drink enough water. Replace regular milk with Almond Milk. (A word of caution : check for Daily Value of Calcium and Iron. Should not be more than 10% Calcium and 2% iron) Vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, okra, green beans are fine. Spinach/broccoli in moderation (again ..contains too much iron and calcium). Any type of fish is safe. Red meat such as beef should be in moderation (Swedish meatballs is my favorite hahaha). I have given up eating chicken. I don't know why chicken blocks my digestive tract. Occasional ice cream is fine. Strictly NO potatoes or green peas. I have replaced oranges with naval oranges. My fruit intake is basically 2 naval oranges, lots of green grapes and one small glass of fresh carrot juice (lots of Vit C with enough fiber helps to soften poo). No apples please. Lentils/dry beans (Red, kidney, black-eyed) in moderation as well (too much fiber, iron and protein).

3 flaxseed (each after breakfast, lunch and dinner) "OIL" softgels to lubricate the stools and 1 magnesium oxide 250 mg to relax the sphincter muscle. Nothing else. Always remember to have complete elimination without which even the safest diet will fail. The stool left behind gets dry quickly and you are back in the loop for no reason at all. If you feel the fullness, it means you are not done. It's time to temporarily increase your magnesium dose until you are back on track.

some things which help me..Fybogel mixed with live yoghurt-the Biopot with papaya is good..neat olive oil or mixed with fresh fruit juice-tomato soup-avocados-liquidised spinach,carrot and potato