Hi everyone,
I'm a 49yo male, and I've been experiencing problems since my mid-20's. Let me go back a little...In my mid 20's, I was very athletic and doing a lot of running. It was during this time that I started to notice blood during a BM (lots of blood), but no pain at all. The bleeding seemed to correlate to times when I was in heavy training. Of course, as a 25yo, I was so freaked out by all the blood that I decided to ignore it. Over the years the bleeding would just sort of come and go, but there was never any pain.
The years passed, and as I entered my early forties I was starting to put on lots of weight, so I decided to start a rigorous running program (this was January 2009). As I ramped up my running, I did lose the weight (dropped 45lbs in three months), but the bleeding returned with a vengence, and this time there was also very severe pain. To make matters worse, I also developed a fungal infection in the anal clef, so I got a delightful triple whammy of blood, severe pain, and un-ending itching that couldn't be relieved. During this time, my BM's were so incredibly painful that I started having panic attacks before going. Typically, I would sit on the toilet and go, and then afterwards fall to the bathroom floor and lie in the fetal position for about 1/2 hour until the pain subsided enough for me to get up (literally on the floor, pants around my ankles). It was so bad that I was actually contemplating suicide at this time.
I was immediately referred to a colo-rectal specialist who quickly diagnosed the fissure. He was a smart/compassionate man. He suspected that the fissure had probably developed years ago when I was training (running) because it's not uncommon to athletic people to become dehydrated which can result in hard/irregular stool. He suggested as a first line of treatment to switch to high fibre diet with lots of water, which I did and it helped immensely. At the time, I was sure I was dying, so it was a relief to learn what I actually had !
Now here I am...once again, the fissure is back, and I've been struggling for about six months. Fortunately, it's not nearly as bad as described earlier, but it's still very painful. I finally talked to my GP about a week ago, and I'm going in for an examination by a specialist in a couple weeks (they want to make sure it's not something other than the fissure). This time, the fissure once again starting acting up when I began a rigorous running program. I joined a running class last January, and we really did train at a high level. I've been running very heavily since, and I'm now convinced that this, for whatever reason, is agitating the fissure somehow (I know..exercise is supposed to be good for a fissure, but this might be too much exercise).
I've decided to take a couple weeks off heavy exercise and instead take it easy (walking, light cardio, etc).
For me, the BM itself isn't all that painful, but typically an hour or so afterwards I can count on bad pain. It feels like the entire pelvic region is inflamed. If I do nothing, this pain will last for a few hours.
So, here's the regiment I'm currently doing...I don't seem to be getting any better or any worse, but this seems to mitigate the pain:
1. high fibre, lots of water (as If I even need to mention !)
2. Immediately when I wake up in the morning, take 600mg Ibuprofen in anticipation of the upcoming BM
3. After BM, I don't wipe..instead I hop into the shower and wash everything away. Also, I concentrate a shower jet on the area.
I hate to go on with a pity party, but I must admit that I'm really in a very bad mental place these days. I don't have any friends or family that I could talk to about this, and as I'm sure most of you know this is a very lonely and excruciatingly painful situation to deal with...any positive comment would be very greatly appreciated !