Hi All,

Just wanted to post a success story with Botox. I'm a cancer patient and developed a fissure (doc said, "worst I've ever seen.") as a result of secondary side effects from chemo. I had both my children naturally and this pain was as bad and maybe worse at times. Awful.

Anyway, I'm not a candidate for the surgery because i had rectal cancer and already have had radiation and surgery on that tissue. So Botox was my only hope to stop the terrible spasms that came with the fissure. Fissure occurred 2/17/15. Had first Botox 3/18/15. Hurt like hell that night but then started to improve. By about 10 days out the spasms had stopped. On 4/8/15, I re-tore the fissure a bit and that set me back pain wise but the spasms did not return so it was manageable. (NOTE: my healing was slower because of chemo)

Had second Botox today because first is due to wear off soon and I'm still healing but SO much better. This time, I have almost no pain post-procedure. My doctor viewed the fissure and said it is significantly improved and expects it to close fully in two weeks. The Botox has stopped the spasms and has really helped the healing. I am thankful and wanted to let people know that it CAN work.

Now... I did my part. Lots of water, stool softeners, hot baths, sitting on a heating pad every chance I get (including at work!) because heat increases blood flow which encourages healing. I also rubbed coconut oil infused with clove oil on my butt about twice a day. All of these helped but without the Botox to stop the spasms, I don't know what I would have done. I was absolutely out of my mind with the pain before.

Finally, a note about the coconut oil and clove. I found a real clinical study that showed the combination to be effective. You can google it if you like. I made my own concoction by mixing 3 parts coconut oil and one part clove oil. The clove oil is liquid and stings like crazy if you use just it, so you want the coconut oil as a delivery mechanism. Also, the coconut oil is super soothing just on it's own.

I'm healing from a VERY nasty fissure with the additional challenge of being on chemotherapy. Botox helped and i just want to let people know.

Wishing healing to anyone who finds themselves on this thread!!

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I had my first botox procedure this morning and am still so uncomfortable from the injection, so I decided to come on this site and hopefully find some inspiring/comforting stories. I hope your body continues to heal and that your cancer heals as well. Best of luck to you!

DrMommy - hope you're feeling better this morning! Glad my story helped. Still healing!!

HI Dallasgirl, I'm so happy that botox helped you. Thank you for posting your story. I winced when I read "clove oil" but if the coconut oil stops the stinging, that's excellent. Clove oil is a good antiseptic, and used to be used to relieve toothache. It smells good too, at least I think so.
All the best with your cancer and chemo. It sounds as though you've been through a tremendous amount, and I HOPE your health improves very very soon.

This is a tale of caution-I was in so much pain this morning (morning #2) and called my CRS. She was surprised by my level of pain, saying she never had a patient complaining of this amount of pain, but welcomed me to come to her office for a brief exam. Turned out, she left a small piece of gauze wedged inside my anus (where I have three terrible and swollen hemmhiords which we hope to deal with later). Once she took it out, after several hours, I am feeling great :) Insane..... oddly enough, I am not angry at her, just so happy with the universe that I am feeling completely back to myself! Now lets see how my first BM goes....