Hello

I’m a UK fissure-sufferer in need of some cameraderie.

My fissure story? About 20 years ago I got giardiosis (‘Beaver fever’) which wasn’t diagnosed for a long time. Gave me chronic loose stools, which led to an anterior fissure. I was going ‘under the knife’ but my doctor suggested Nitro - which, despite the rocket launch headaches, worked. Roll on a few years - the split reopened, Nitro worked. A few years back it happened again - this time Diltiazem worked.

Fast forward to Aug 2018 - Things were ‘firm’ down there and I eat a lot of nuts... ouch! I felt that sweet spot and on cleaning up could prompt fresh blood from it. So, I went on stool bulker and ate better, bit of nappy rash cream and all good... then a holiday and on return from France (cheese, wine, cycling etc) it has reared up again - around 7 weeks now.

A doc could see no tear and said try steroid suppositories for a week first - I did with no real joy. So I went back on Diltiazem, but itch this time forces me to do about 5 days using it them 3 days to recover!

My pain profile isn’t the worst: with bulkers and now softener plus water and lots of veg, I pass a stool with little pain, then have a ‘latency’ time of no pain (I read once that this is typical of old chronic fissures) but then the pain comes - typically a random prickling/fizzing pain that really jumps about the rim and surround of the anus, sometimes a sharper pain a bit further in - at 11-12 o clock (with anterior as 12) - occassonally a deep tickle. No blood at all except that first tear.

Also visible is a ‘fold of skin’ coming out of anus - tag? And, when I walk, a sense of things not fitting together quite right.

Put all this together with an imminent house move, stressful, and I get low and frustrated with time taken to heal.

Any of this ring bells? Any tips? A way to stop the ‘Dilt itch’ so I can persist with it?

Hello all and sorry for this epic post.

Welcome to forum, and sorry that you've been dealing with this for so long. The diltiazem itch that you mention is well documented on this forum, and it doesn't seem to have any cure besides just stopping using it. The tag you're seeing is probably what's known as a sentinel pile, that your body creates as it tries to protect the fissure. Steroids are a bad idea for healing fissures because they thin out the skin, the opposite of what's required. Has your doctor given you any other options besides ointments?