Hello!
Newbie to the forums here, and this is my first post.
Been reading a lot of the great information on this site but I still have a question for the more "experienced" members on this forum: how do I know if what I have is a bleeding fissure or a bleeding hemorrhoid?
Here are my symptoms:
- Slightly sharp pain during the beginning of BM as the opening stretches... kinda like a slight tearing sensation.
- 1 or 2 red spots on tissue and a red drop sometimes inside toilet.
- No spasms or any pain afterwards.
- When applying A+D Ointment, I can feel a very small rough patch (maybe slightly larger than the size of a pinhead) on the inside of my rectum, when I reach in with my index finger approximately 1-2 cm from the opening of my 'nus. I am pretty sure this "interior" spot is where the bleeding is coming from.
- I used to have an external hemorrhoid, but that has shrunk and does not bother me anymore. Also, I do not have any tears or wounds and no bleeding on the outside of my 'nus.
So is what I have an anal fissure or an internal bleeding hemorrhoid? Thanks in advance for any help.
BTW, this site was somewhat hard to find. This site did not show up on Google, even after searching for the keywords "anal fissure forum". I just happened on this site by chance, and I can't even recall how I got here anymore, but I'm happy I found it :D

Hi there : ),
I am glad you found this site and welcome to our small but very supportive community ! I also think that this page should be easier to find - I found it by accident too : ( !
It is very hard to make a diagnosis by just a description of the symptoms - I think that you should see a doctor. Some people who have fissure bleed, some don't. I had a fissure for 5 months and I bled only once. Fissures are almost always extremely painful, so much that doctors sometimes avoid complete exam until fissure is somewhat healed. For me it was impossible to put anything in my anus bigger than a q-tip without excruciating pain.
Since your pain is so short in duration and you can "explore" down there all you like without much discomfort - you either have miniature fissure or something else that is bleeding.
I wish you luck and fast healing. Take care : ) !!!

I think it is still possible you also may have a hemmy, but as Fissulyna stated, only a doctor can make that diagnosis and sometimes, as we have seen here, and as was my case, they misdiagnose!
Well, do bookmark us! We are a relatively new site, so the search engines will have us buried -- but if you use quotes around "Anal fissure support forum" in your google search, we'll be about hit number 5...
I have noticed a lot of web crawlers lately, in the past couple months, so we are getting there...

Welcome to the boards!
It sounds like to me it could be a hemorrhoid since you aren't really having spasming or pain afterwards.
That would be my guess but as the others have said you may want to consult your doctor. External hemorrhoids get the blood source from the internal hemorrhoids so it could be possible that the internal hemmie is flaring up a bit.