I am now in week 7 of my first anal fissure. It started out as what I thought were hemorrhoids. I always sat for a long time during bms, usually playing on my phone while occasionally giving extra pushes over the course of anywhere from 30-60 min. For as long as I can remember, I never had complete evacuations. I only realize now that it was due to lack of fiber. But what I would do during clean up is put aloe Vera gel on several pieces of toilet paper, and proceed to use my index finger to push the toilet paper deep inside to scrub out the remaining feces. I've been doing this now for a couple of years with no real problems. Occasionally I would notice a little throbbing after a bm, but it would be mild and subside within 30 min post clean up. About 8-10 weeks ago, the throbbing started lasting longer and longer. About 7 weeks ago, it started to throb all night until I would go to sleep (I always have bms at night) I attributed this new problem to being hemrrhoidal. What I tried to do was treat the problem with a prep h suppository. A few min after inserting, I felt splitting/burning pain that I never experienced before. This in my opinion was the creation of my fissure.

For the next 2 weeks, the pain I had post bms would carry over to the following day. It became increasingly harder to sit down and I started to experience more pain each time I had a bm. By week 3, I went to see a gastroenterology doctor. He did a digital exam, which made me yelp a couple times and confirmed I had a fissure. He prescribed me .4% nitro ointment and 2.5% lidocaine and scheduled a 2 week follow up appointment. 2 weeks came and went, and the symptoms hadn't improved during that time. He then referred me to a crs who I saw 2 days later. The crs gave me instruction on changing my diet. I am now doing Metamucil and stool softener twice a day along with eating no meat or dairy. I've seen significant improvement since starting this. It's been almost 2 weeks and I can sit again pain free during the day. I no longer have any burning pain associated with the fissure. However, bms are still a problem.

Immediately after bms, I begin to have some minor pain and immediate swelling. I feel like this is from hemorrhoids, which I've developed additional ones since the fissure due to my sphincter spasms. I will immediately soak in a bath post bm now and that will postpone my pain from the spasm. But as soon as I get out of the tub, the spasm starts and doesn't end until I wake up the next morning.

My question to those that have healed naturally is, how long until I get to the point where I no longer experience any spasm post bm. Like I said, I no longer have the severe burning sensation which occurred at the fissures height between weeks 2-6. I know these things take a long time to heal, but I'm hoping to get a sense of the various stages of healing I still have to look forward to!

Thank you so much all for your help!

Hi Don,
it took me a few months. It took a while to find the right combination of diet and stool softener and medication, and once I got that all sorted there were several weeks of progress followed by set-backs. Don't get too worried or frustrated if it takes a long time.
I know it can feel like forever, when you are in pain, but hang in there, you can probably heal without surgery.
But - Dude! no more scrubbing inside your anus, OK?
Get a good diet, drink plenty of water, and don't sit on the toilet for more than a few minutes. If the poo doesn't come, get up, drink some water, move around.
Good luck!

Thank you scientist... I definitely learned my lesson from my poor bathroom habits... As far as the spasms go. How long did it take for u to no longer experience them? I feel like everything right now has become manageable again except for that.

It's a gradual process, so I can't really say just when the spasms ended. I got my fissure in May 2013, had my diet etc sorted by around July/August, started nitroglycerine in August, and felt that I was really on the mend from that point on.
From about October, I very rarely had spasms. It was more a soreness and inability to exert myself that lasted several more months.
Now you may heal far more quickly. And while the soreness was a nuisance, it was never ever as bad as it had been, from about August onwards. June and July were the worst months by far. After that, I felt great in comparison!