Hi, I'm Paul. I'm 56, live in Virginia and have a chronic AF since March, which I misdiagnosed as hemmorhoids until I saw a colorectal surgeon.
Like many, I'm treating my condition in lieu of surgery for the moment. The 2 to 5 percent incontinence rate is something I won't risk if I can avoid it. Though my surgeon says his personal error rate is much lower. This is a lot like lasik. Average error rates don't mean as much as your individual surgeon's error rate.
I'm finding success in pain control with a generic CVS gold bond anti itch cream that contains menthol and praximine. And I also am using orajel (20 percent benzocaine) while I wait for the Americaine (also 20 percent benzocaine) to arrive. Lidocaine, cortisone don't work for me. Make it worse in fact.
I'm going to juice fast and reboot with steamed veggies to take the strain off my fissure.
I may lose some weight too which my surgeon says will help with healing the fissure.
I follow Dr. Joel Fuhrman MD on diet which is copisetic with AF healing. I appreciate the chance to learn here and hopefully can contribute.
Paul