Hi All,
I will start by thanking the wonderful people who run this site which is an immense base of information and comfort for all the sufferers like myself.
I am a 35 yo male based in London. I work in IT so sitting in front of computers all day is what I do.
My issues first started about 5 years ago when I got a bad AF and ended up in hospital A&E at midnight because of severe pain. At the time I was given some sort of ointment which didn't really do much and then one thing led to another and I ended up at a BUPA hospital where I was given Botox injections and also had haemorodectomy.
From that point onwards I was mostly pain free but say every 3 months or so would get a painful bowel movement and the pain would last from hours to a few days and then I would get on with normalcy. One thing I always noticed was that when driving long distances I would start getting pains in my rectal region just because of that posture for long periods. Its some thing to do with pressure which I have never completely understood. Anybody else has this?
So we get to about 6 months ago when I again got a bad AF most probably from diarrhea this time. Spent about 2 months in varying levels of some discomfort to absolute agony and eventually ended up in A&E once again. The doctor over there after examination told me the good news that I have AF once again. He prescribed Xyloproct Hydrocortisone 5% and some lactulose. It worked for a couple of weeks then pain came back. I think its also my stupidity of thinking that after being pain free for a week I would assume that the AF is healed and I would go back to my bad habit of eating junk food and not much water etc.
Then I saw Dr Carapeti in London Bridge hospital who prescribed me Rectogesic. It gave me horrible headaches but the AF pain was unbearable so I continued with it. The headaches that were initially quite bad became manageable after a few days. The doctor called me in for an endoscopy and haemorrhoid banding in a couple of weeks which I did and it all went smoothly. By this time I was quite pain free and thought the AF has healed or on its way to healing. But the doctor did warn me after examination that the fissure was still there but I was quite optimistic. Any hoo a week or so after the Endoscopy the fissure came back with a vengeance where once again I would have a BM and then lie down in my bed and roll around in agony for hours trying not to scream and scare my family. I tried working from home for about a week like this but then just took the next week off work. By this time I had had enough so I booked in for a LIS surgery with Dr Carapeti. Luckily I got the date in a few days so went there and got LIS done. By this time I was having thoughts about ending my life due to pain so when told that there is a chance of incontinence I was perfectly okay with it. Infact I went in the surgery mentally prepared to wear adult diapers for the rest of my life. It has now been about 2 weeks since I got LIS done and so far I have minor pain in the surgical wound but have not had the horrendous fissure pain again touch wood. The incontinence is basically soiling of underwear which I am fine with. I just keep some wet wipes in my jacket pocket and use these at work or public places as needed. At home I just wash or take a bath.
Dr Carapeti gave me some Sevredol 10mg(morphine based) pain killer tablets which I used for about first 3 days. These and almost all other strong pain killers cause constipation so need to be used with stool softeners and good dietary habits. NHS website says you will be back to work after 2 days of LIS. This is absolute bollocks and some one retarded wrote this. I was completely bed ridden for the first 3 days. Luckily I had a television infront of me and a toilet close by which is all I needed for first few days. If you are having LIS sleep is very important for healing. Try requesting your doctor for a few sleeping pills for first few days and strong pain killers. You probably wouldnt need them but just incase. Also for the first week or so I religiously took baths every day. After first few days even though I was in discomfort I tried walking around inside my flat as much as I could. It improves blood flow and quickens healing. Dr also said that my skin is just more prone to fissures. I guess its just bad genes. I am hoping that in future if I get AF's atleast they wouldnt cause spasms and heal by themselves. But in any case I am mentally ready for another LIS if and when needed. This time I will go to Dr Windsor to see if he does anything different. F*** fissures.
I found this to be really comprehensive guide on what to expect and do post LIS ->
https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/afte ... wid=ud1292After 2 weeks the issues I have are:- when I walk I have this chaffing feeling + itchiness probably due to the discharge in the bum. I do have a shaved bum so its probably contributing to it. So basically I cannot walk for more than 15 odd minutes at a time. Any one else had similar experience?
- I feel some pain during bowel movements but nothing compared to a fissure pain.
- I have this very dry bum/sphincter feeling constantly. Should I use some sort of cream for this?
- I still have about 15 + 15ml of lactulose a day. Not sure how long I need to keep this going.
Over the years I have experimented with foods so sharing this info for benefit of others.
Foods that make my poo hard:-nuts specially peanuts
-Junk food specially deep fried chips.
-coconut whether its raw coconut or coconut oil or some thing like a coconut biscuit.
-Too many bananas. I can eat about half a banana comfortably but more than that some times makes things difficult.
-Too much milk and caffeine. I try to stick to like 2 cups of mild tea with small amount of milk a day.
Foods that help me have a good smooth BM:-Honey added to tea or cereal etc - too much of it causes diarrhea though.
-prunes.
-Figs.
-Fruits such as pears, Apples, Kiwis, plums, nectarines etc.
-Vegs such as carrots, lettuce, cucumber, peas, sweet corn etc.
And stupid amounts of water until my tummy makes funny noises. I find it a sign that its basically dissolving any thing hard in the tummy.
Thanks for reading ... Feel free to ask any questions.
Hope you get well soon :)