Unfortunately, I had quite the scare this morning. I felt a brief stabbing pain, not as bad as I've felt before. But, I realized I was bleeding a lot more than I ever have. It was bright red blood and it bled for about 5 minutes. Weirdly though, I don't have a lot of soreness. Before, I would have pain throughout the day.

I have switched from diltiazem to nitro. I was really hoping this would be effective but I worried I just ruined all my progress. I told myself to take a shower and when the shower was done that I would stop feeling sorry for myself. It is finals week and I have a part-time job, so I don't have time to mope like I normally do.

I really consider going back to that CRS and just getting the surgery. But I can't get over how awful I felt after meeting him. I plan on making an appointment this coming week to meet with another CRS before I leave for my trip. I decided that I will get the surgery late June after I return from my trip. Unless this new CRS does botox, I feel like it's my only option. I start grad school in the fall, and I would really like to have this resolved.

I'm hoping when I look back at my last weeks as a senior, I don't have this in my memory. I feel very lucky I even graduate on time, but I'm too upset with this to be happy about everything. I like to think I'm a positive person, but this has been going on so long that I'm so discouraged. Just venting…

Always smile what did you decide botox or lis? Did you find a new crs? I had lis 6 days ago. I've had csections and many kidney stones and interventions and truthfully this surgery recovery hasn't been bad. Also I know that it's high success rate will eventually help me heal the horrible fissure pain. The surgical pain isn't much worse than fissure pain itself. I did my surgery when I had a window of time to recover without many things going on. I suffered for 8 months with really awful pain after treating with compounded creams nothing worked. My crs never even offered botox to me. Good luck to you I hope you are comfortable and not in pain soon!

Lincoln,

I think I'm going to go with LIS and skip botox. The CRS that I saw (that I did not like) did not recommend it and since I have a short timeline until I start grad school, I'm going to have to go with the most common/potentially effective option. I'm seeing another CRS before I leave for my trip late May, but definitely don't want to have it done until I get back in case theres any complications. I have the rest of the summer for down time so I think it would be perfect. Really hoping I like this doctor.

Your story sounds similar to mine… Been about 8 or 9 months for me now. I've used diltiazem and nitro. Only been using the nitro for a little now, but I feel like nothing works to heal my fissure. I know I need surgery or I most likely will keep suffering. I am so nervous though. When I set a operation date I will definitely been super scared. I hope I don't talk myself out of it! It helps to hear that it went well for you. Are you starting to feel better?

I've been suffering for 6 months and nothing worked until I started NITROBID 2% cream about 3 month ago.
It took my pain down from 7-10 to 1-2. I now experience some burning and together with a high fiber diet I can
withstand that and some residual pain during BM. I also think washing yourself after BM with warm water is helpful.
I am not sure if I would go through a LIS. The videos that I have seen of it look painful and don't want to
take the chance of fecal incontinence down the road.

Hi everyone! Just updating

I did go to another CRS. He recommended botox, because he could not find my fissure. At this point in time, I wasn't experiencing fissure pain so that may have been why. I wish I had went to this doctor first because I had been looking trying botox before LIS. The timing was bad so I choose (if I had another retear) to get the surgery with the other CRS. Unfortunately, if I tried botox I would be unable to have the surgery before I start grad school in August. I would really like to go the most effective route at this point.

For about a month and a half, no pain or bleeding. I kept a very regimented routine and while mentally exhausting, I was able to have a pain free graduation. I was doing well up until the 3rd day of my trip abroad… I retore. It was very very painful. I got back to the states around June 12th and returned to the my first CRS and set a surgery date, July 2nd. Its been a rough two weeks waiting. I have had terrible pain, way worse than I ever remember before. I have been taking a lot of Advil. Although I am trying to see it in a positive light because there is no way I would back out of the surgery now. If I wasn't experiencing this much pain I may try to see if it just heals on its own. So, in a way, I'm glad this tear has happened.

Today, I am trying to keep my mind off the surgery. My biggest concern is infection or incontinence. I have plenty of time to heal and relax, so I'm hoping it all goes well. I'm so nervous that this would either make things worse or not help at all… Any post-surgery advice?

Sorry to hear your fissure returned with a vengence. Glad to hear you have your surgery date set for very soon though. Hopefully your suffering will be over really soon. As for infection, I developed one. The only thing you can do is try to keep very clean down there with shower spray nozzles or baths and don't wipe. Keep an eye on things and if the pain starts to increase rather than decrease then you could have an infection, but they are extremely rare. And keep an eye out for new lumps and bumps. As for incontinence, that is up to your surgeon. If they are experienced in this, I wouldn't worry. Hope all goes well. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

Ugh! I had typed up a long update a couple of days ago but I'm just realizing now that it didn't post. Bummer.

msimon- Thank you so much for the advice :)

Here is my update… So I had the surgery about 6 days ago. The first two days after the surgery were rough because of the nausea from the anesthesia. I did vomit a couple of times the night after the surgery. Didn't have my first BM until about 2 days after the surgery. While I was super nervous about it, there was no reason to worry. It was painless. No horrible spasms after either. I have had a BM once a day since and every time has been fine. I've been taking Mirolax and about 3 stool softeners a day. Also drinking a ton of water.

I was really surprised with how well I was recovering. Had my surgery on a Thursday, was able to venture out for a light hike on Sunday. Actually, I'm also getting an IUD inserted tomorrow. CRS said it was fine and I feel okay enough to do it. I've heard thats pretty painful so I just feel like I'm getting all the things I've put off out of the way.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this finally allows the fissure to heal. It would mean so much to not have to think about this every day.

Thanks for the update alwayssmile. Glad the worst is over and you seem to be recovering very well. I hope it continues and everything is back to normal real soon. Keep us updated. We can never have enough success stories on here.