Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

is perfect poop too much to ask?

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Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

Postby lisa27 » 24 Sep 2014, 14:45

Hi all,

I used to be a regular here a few years back, but for the life of me I can't remember my logins anymore, so I had to make new ones..

So I had an LIS for persistent fissures in 2012. Best thing I ever did. After a year of agony the pain basically disappeared once I woke up from the surgery. It was awesome. I had almost no post-op bleeding, BMs afterwards were a piece of cake. I went back to work 6 days after, took two transatlantic flights 9 days after, and moved to another continent two months later. Doctor said I was perfect and that I wouldn't need to worry about fissures or butt pain ever again. Case closed.

Fast forward 15 months, and I re-tore. My work is very labour intensive, lots of squatting, heavy lifting and so on, and that combined with one or two bouts of constipation started the whole nightmare over again.

After some incredibly painful events, loss of about half a year's income due to missed work, and general allover discomfort, I was lucky enough to find a surgeon who saw that there's no point in prolonging any of this, and he booked me for second LIS which I had last week. He said that because I had such a good response to the first LIS, there was a very good chance that I would come out fine this time too. He said sometimes you just need to "chip away" at the muscle little by little to find the exact right balance of not spasming and retaining continence--after all, you can always cut more if you have to, but you can't uncut if you took too much. Makes sense.

Everything was fine until I had to poop for the first time. It hurt like S**T. I wasn't constipated or anything, the poop itself seemed good, but it just hurt.

And then it started coming.

In the 6 days after the surgery I've pooped at least 30 times. I'm in constant state of having to go. I can't stand up, walk around or do anything without the feeling that OH MY GOD IT'S COMING OUT RIGHT NOW. But here's the fun part--when I go, I can only make a tiny little bit come out. Like 1/20 of what's actually there. The poop is not hard, but my body just won't push anything out. Then I get up and shower (I can't do baths) for 20 minutes, dry with a blowdryer, and when I'm getting dressed again I go OH MY GOD I NEED TO GO RIGHT NOW. And again a tiny little bit comes out, and then I shower, and dry, and so on and so on. So I basically just lie down most of the day to try and give my body a break from all the pooping, but I know that's terrible too, because it makes everything slow down and I know I'm in for some rock hard poop soon if I don't get this sorted out. But I CAN'T keep pooping, because even the slightest pushing causes so much pain.

I tried really hard not to strain in the beginning, but in the last day or two I've had to to make a bit more come out, just so that my bowels don't hurt from all the pressure. And this has obviously caused trauma to the, um, affected area. I know exactly where the original fissure is, and I know where the incision was made, but I have this blinding sharp pain in several other points now. So I'm wondering if there are entirely new tears there now, or if the existing wounds have spread.

The good thing is I don't feel the spasmy throbbing pain I would before with the fissure, so at least the surgery did something. But I'm incredibly worried, and my surgeon is conveniently on vacation for two weeks and my follow-up appointment with him isn't until October 17. There's no one else I can get an appointment with in the meantime because other doctors don't fall under my healthcare plan, and since I've already been living on around $50 a week for months I can't afford to pay myself.

My diet should be fine, and I'm not on any painkillers besides Tylenol. Lots of fibre with fruits and veggies, with Miralax morning and evening. I'm scared to try anything new at this point, because if it happens to make me constipated or give me actual diarrhea I will die of the pain, and I'm not exaggerating that much.

Anyone out there who can tell me this is going to be OK soon?
lisa27
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Re: Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

Postby Roidsfizzman » 24 Sep 2014, 18:09

Hi Lisa,

I am so sorry to hear that you are having such a difficult time. I know it is scary, but you need to consider cutting back on the MiraLax. You can not keep going at your current BM pace or your whole bottom is going to be raw and you will delay the healing. You may want to try a Probiotic to help put your digestive system get back on track. I use the brand Align as it works best for me when I need to get things balanced.
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Re: Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

Postby msimon » 24 Sep 2014, 18:43

Lisa. I am so sorry to hear of what is happening to you. I actually had a similar thing happen to me after getting botox into the internal sphincter. I have a weak pelvic floor from years of botox injections and a small dose did a similar thing to me. In my case it has somewhat worn off. Since I didn't have surgery I cannot completely relate or give any advise except to say that from what I have read from other accounts of LIS, the first few days really do not reflect how things are going to settle. Muscles will adapt and hopefully you will regain some more control of things soon.

Is there another Doctor you could see while yours is away? Did you get anal manometry done before your LIS or how did your doctor determine that your sphincter was too tight?
Dec '13 Fissure from anoscope
3 X internal sphincter botox
'08-'15 Botox for pelvic floor dysfunction
Nov '14 LIS/sentinel tag removal
Feb '15 Deroofing of recurrent infection from LIS
summer '15-healed but still ongoing muscle dysfunction/pain
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Re: Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

Postby mmklinemm » 25 Sep 2014, 19:57

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Have you tried squatting when you go to the bathroom? I put my feet on a footstool when I first read about it. Bringing your knees up changes the angle of your rectum and allows you to clear your bowels more fully. It was a game changer for me when every BM was excruciating. I've since upgraded to Squatty Potty stools in all of my bathrooms. Their site explains why squatting works so well. I hope you get some relief soon!
Status: LIS 20 Oct 2014, 2nd LIS 05 March 2018.
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Re: Poop trouble after 2nd LIS

Postby msimon » 05 Oct 2014, 03:11

How are you doing Lisa?
Dec '13 Fissure from anoscope
3 X internal sphincter botox
'08-'15 Botox for pelvic floor dysfunction
Nov '14 LIS/sentinel tag removal
Feb '15 Deroofing of recurrent infection from LIS
summer '15-healed but still ongoing muscle dysfunction/pain
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