LIS Success/fissure story

3 days out from surgery

Are you having, or have you had a Lateral Internal Sphincterotomy (LIS)? Please share your experiences here, or ask any questions.

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LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Helpmeheal » 04 May 2015, 09:26

I am a 47 year old female fitness instructor. I eat healthy, I obviously exercise, I'm not overweight and I don't get constipated, yet I have a fissure. I have been in excruciating pain for 7 weeks although I now believe I have dealt with a form of this issue since my son was born in 2002. But this pain for 7 weeks has been mind blowing, life altering, burning searing, debilitating pain. I told my kids that I'd sit down and birth another baby without drugs if I could trade the pain. Weirdly enough, the only time I could kind of feel good was teaching my fitness classes in the morning. I'm a morning person so I like to wake up and get moving and go. For the past 7 weeks, I'd wake up, use the bathroom and my private hell would start and last at least until 3-5PM with some reprieve during workouts. It was really wearing on my psyche. I saw a CRS back in early March and cried in her office. I cried in the car, I cried at home. I tried the Nifedipine .3%. I tried coconut oil, Vit E suppositories, A and D ointment, Fissure oil from Whole Foods. At first we compounded the Nifedipine .3% in Analpram but that just stung so I got another one compounded in vaseline. The headaches that the medicine caused were temporary, and I didn't have any issues on it other than it didn't really work after 5 weeks. It probably worked some but not enough to get any real healing. When I'd think it was working because I'd have a decent day, then the next day would be unexplainably bad and this kind of emotional roller coaster is not okay in my world. I had read that Botox has about the same success rate of the medicine so I figured that probably was not going to work for me either, but I was willing to try it before cutting the internal sphincter. My CRS was nice to agree to LIS or Botox depending on my situation on the actual day of surgery when she could actually look at it. The few office visits I had with her I was in so much pain that if she even got near it, I'd practically jump off the table. One day she did touch it and I cried on her table in the fetal position for 5 minutes! What a low point. So the surgery was set for Friday, May 1, 2015, with the idea of taking the conservative route if she thought it was going to help. Otherwise, she'd do the LIS….but they call it LIAS in this practice (Lateral Internal Anal Sphincterotomy). So a few days before the procedure I had to go to the hospital and do bloodwork and an EKG. The day of, I had to arrive 2 hours early (nothing to eat or drink after midnight), meet with several nurses, fill out paperwork, start the IV, talk with the anesthesiologist, nurse anesthetists, and my doctor. My husband had to take off of work. It was a big deal and something I didn't want to repeat. I want to be healed and all of this to be over, and I feared if the Botox didn't work then I'd be back here doing all of this again. I told my surgeon that I didn't want to come back so please do right by me and fix it based on my situation. What she found when she was able to put me to sleep and actually see it was that I did indeed have a "huge" fissure and she proceeded with the LIS procedure and not the Botox. I don't know if she did the open or closed LIS procedure and I hope to find that out in the near future. They put me under at 2:45pm and at 3:40 I was waking up in the recovery room feeling a little groggy but mostly normal. I remember all of the conversations I had with my doctor and the nurses. I had a big bandage on my butt and some gauze in the canal. I felt fine enough to talk on the phone to my mom and my brother. We stopped by the store to get some food and my prescription for Percocet and then home. The bandage was a little awkward when I needed to pee so I just stood up and went in a large cup so I didn't get my bandage all wet since that was going to have to stay on for the night. That was a great plan, by the way, and if you come home with a huge bandage like that and you're female, I recommend it. The plumbing in that area is just too close to each other so the cup worked great. I did everything I could that afternoon and evening of my surgery to get in some fiber and drink plenty of water. Since I hadn't been able to drink anything until around 3:45pm I had some catching up to do but it wasn't a problem and I didn't overdo it on the fiber, I just drank some (not a full dose) Metamucil. I chose not to do a laxative and see what the next day would bring. I set my alarm Saturday morning to get up at my normal time to stay on my routine and see if I could have a BM. My body does better when it's in a routine. I had gotten up in the night around 3:30am and taken 3 Motrin so I'd have some pain meds in me in case. I decided not to do Percocet right away and see what I could handle. The pain was around a 3 so it was easy. I did get up at normal time and have a BM like I always do which I was pleased with because of the fear of being constipated from anesthesia. And the thought of the BM after surgery was of course terrifying, I just wanted to face it and get it done. The BM was not bad at all. The more painful procedure was pulling all of the tape off my butt holding the bandage on! Yikes. I took 4 baths on Day 1 after surgery and celebrated the fact that the debilitating spasms were not there AT ALL. I did continue to take Motrin that day but not more than the recommended amount. On Day 2, I took 2 Motrin at 4:30AM and nothing for the entire rest of the day! My pain level was seriously a .5 yesterday. I had a little awareness of possibly my incision somewhere in there but I got up and made breakfast, hosed the pollen off of both porches which took about 2 hours, made lunch, painted our front door, played a few board games with my husband and then went to a National Honor's Society function at my daughter's school. I did work in time for 3 sitz baths plus a shower and some relax time. It was a great day.
Today is day 3 and my pain level is awesome (low to non existent except when I first sit particularly in my car trying to get in). That's like a Ninja move I have to do. I've gone to the bathroom all 3 days on schedule with little incidence. There has been no incontinence. The canal is still draining a tiny bit so I am just wearing a panty liner and that's keeping it off of my underwear. But it's truly not a big issue and if I had to live like this, I'd be okay. I still have a little swelling. My two biggest fears in this were Incontinence and Infection. So far I'm not concerned about being incontinent so that's a HUGE relief. HUGE. The only question mark I have now in this journey is the infection, and I'm praying all will heal properly and not get infected. I'm using a topical antibiotic on the area. I will have to follow up here on this post about that. But so far, so good and this procedure has given my my life back. I can't believe the dramatic difference in pain in just days. I'm so thankful that this has so far been a positive experience.
You'll know when you just can't take it anymore. It will become so clear to you that you'll be willing to take the risks in order to get your life back. I'm so glad I did. There's a reason LIS has become the "gold standard" procedure for this. And I still have a huge fissure (likely... I'm sure that hasn't healed in 3 days) but I barely feel it anymore and this is mind blowing to me. Good luck everyone. I hope my story has helped because I have gone online and read everything I could about procedures, natural cures, medicines, surgeries and this site helped me a lot.
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby chachacha » 04 May 2015, 13:40

What a great story - thanks so much for sharing it. I had my LIS 3 months ago, and not an hour goes by when I don't remind myself how lucky I am now that I'm finally pain free. I too, finally have my life back and will never stop being grateful.

Congrats to you and I'm sure that your story above will be a great help to those who come after.
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Scientist2516 » 04 May 2015, 14:04

Wowee, Helpmeheal, what a great story, and thanks so much for putting it all down here for people to read. I'm so happy for you that you are feeling pain free, and I have to say I am in awe of your strength and stamina. Seriously, hosing the deck for two hours, and painting a door, two days after an operation? Good grief!


:wel: and :woohoo: for your recovery!
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Helpmeheal » 04 May 2015, 15:18

Thanks Chachacha and Scientist2516 for your comments. This truly is a problem that you can't imagine or understand until you have it! Right? I hope I'm commenting on this correctly. I have not done this part on the site before. Glad you appreciated my story. Thanks for the feedback. I'm happy to help others if I can.
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Helpmeheal » 04 May 2015, 15:21

I clicked on the thumbs up by your comments, then they turned to thumbs down. I hope I did that right because I wanted to show I liked the comment. Is that right?
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Scientist2516 » 04 May 2015, 16:14

You did it right, Helpmeheal. If you click again on thumbs down, you cancel out the thumbs up.
You are right, nobody knows or understands this problem until they have it themselves. Makes you wonder who is walking around in agony and nobody knows about it.
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
User avatar
Scientist2516
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Helpmeheal » 04 May 2015, 18:15

Well, Scientist2516, I was definitely one of those people suffering in silence. No one knew because I was hiding it….but when I'd finally start telling someone, I'd just break down…..it's such a painful condition.
Helpmeheal
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Scientist2516 » 04 May 2015, 20:41

That's one reason why this forum is so great. It's not just about the advice and information, though that is fantastic too. It's really just knowing that people here understand and don't think anyone is a wimp for being in tears or unable to get out of bed.
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
User avatar
Scientist2516
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Posts: 1120
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby Helpmeheal » 11 May 2015, 14:59

Today is May 11 and my surgery was May 1st. I went back to my workouts today. Everything has been great. And I have had to use the bathroom 3 times today which would normally send me reeling…..I'm great. I have some sensation of the fissure but not pain. This has been unbelievable because I was in so much pain for so long. I just keep thanking my lucky stars!
Helpmeheal
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Re: LIS Success/fissure story

Postby chachacha » 11 May 2015, 15:29

What great news. I'm almost 4 months out, and I am still thanking my lucky stars several times a day! I don't think that I'll ever get over the novelty of having BM's like other people, after suffering for so long before.

:goodnews:
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
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