Hi Everyone
My name is Doug - I'm a 60-year old male living in the south west of the United Kingdom. Like most people on the site, I guess I was born with a hypertonic anal sphincter and have suffered ever since. I had an old 'anal stretch' in 1992 following a prolonged period of traction and a phosphate salt enema - lovely. That was followed by a LIS in 1996 which I believed had sorted me out, but I started to suffer symptoms - which I was only to happy to ascribe to something else - some years later. I began to experience pain/discomfort in the anal/rectal area and a lot of moisture, to the extent that it always felt wet. I believe that this has caused some secondary damage to my intergluteal cleft. First visit to the GP was in March this year and resulted in a prescription for Rectogesic - I don't think this was properly explained to the extent that my application technique was all wrong (don't put your finger in!) and I didn't persevere. Second visit to the GP resulted in a referral to an NHS CRS for "Pruritus Ani symptoms" in TEN WEEKS!. Panicked and got myself into the Private Healthcare system. Initially prescribed daktacort for the irritation/rash/pain. Attended the NHS appointment and the consultant didn't even examine me, sent me for a Flexible Sigmoidoscopy (which would have cost £1400 privately) and said he would review me in 3 months - turned out to be 4 and all this time I was suffering pain and anxiety. At about this time, saw a second GP who finally identified a small fissure at 6 o'clock. Finally took the plunge (I don't think people appreciate how much your thought processes and judgement are flawed by this condition), saw my private CRS last week - he explained all the options to me going first onto Diltiazem and then Botox if appropriate. He is reluctant to do another LIS in view of the increased risk of faecal incontinence, which is definitely something I could do without! He has many patients of my age and older who manage their condition quite adequately with repeat Botox and/or Diltiazem. In addition, I have an appointment with a dermatologist tomorrow to get information and perhaps help regarding the Pruritus Ani and cleft complaint. Stumbling across this forum is almost like a lifeline to me - again, only sufferers can appreciate how truly debilitating and depressing this condition can be. I look forward to hearing from you all