I've been on it since June of last year but I started out small.

Did you try to lower the dose during this time?

Yep. Ended up with gastro in Dec so I had no choice. I dropped the docusate and dropped down to 1-2 doses of miralax. I felt a pull pain on my fissure like it was about to retear once I was over the gastro. It did not retear nor did it hurt after but it scared me into diving back to my old routine. I just had a bunch of blood tests and I'm doing ok, all good results so no electrolyte imbalances so I'm going to stick with my current routine. Also, I've learned I don't have hypothyroidism and my A1C shows no diabetes. All results are within normal healthy ranges.

So I'm going to stick with gluten free for now. Otherwise it's the excessive gas and loose stools that's causing my fissure not to be healing.

Loose stools? Then why do you keep taking Miralax?

Perfect solid bowel movements cause that pinching pain on the fissure like it did when it used to retear. That's why I went to the crs. I prefer to keep it on the level just below that so that it's mostly solid but very small. However it's like playing darts when trying to keep BM consistent. It's not usually watery now so I'm going in the right direction.

That sounds like the usual progression, two steps forward then one step back. Everyone has setbacks with AF, sometimes self-induced (eg red wine when you KNOW what it does to your butt), other times for seemingly no reason at all.

Especially in conjunction with Rectogesic, you can often feel it healing for a week, with blood spots getting less and less, then suddenly you have a bad BM and the tear opens up again.

Keep at it! There is *always* more you can do, especially when it comes to adjusting your diet. It might be one simple food or foodgroup that is causing it, you just need to find what it is.

Thanks! I needed to hear that. Antibiotics are doing some wonky things to me right now. I fought through what seemed like constipation, ended up with total diarrhea that made my bum sore in another spot (I don't think that is a fissure)

Then today had a harder bm. No pain at the fissure, no familiar pinch. It wasn't comfortable but there was no blood in the toilet however when I wiped there was some pink. Not a lot. No pain after, no sting, so maybe the pink/orange was something I ate or maybe it's that sore spot (that is improving)

Strangest thing ever but it sent my anxiety and depressed feeling straight back up thinking, well, square 1. I've been so good since September. But this doesn't feel like square 1 as I have no fissure pain and didn't feel it pop open.

I'll count myself fortunate, pick myself back up, and move on.. I wish the public patient waiting list wasn't 6mo+ but I'm still motivated to heal. I've got this even though I wish I could stop worrying about my bum. There are worse things in the world, I keep telling myself that.

I’ve experienced the same thing, except since January 2018.

A large fiber supplement prevents it for me almost all the time. I eat three tablespoons of Metamucil mixed with frozen fruit I put through a blender with some water. It actually tastes good, like a sorbet. My BMs are regular, formed, soft, and require virtually no clean up now. Rarely have to push, and less wiping means less irritation.

However, it’s not foolproof, and I’ve finally decided to undergo LIS to prevent another retreat (I hope).

It was a hard decisions as I’m not in nearly as much pain as I was the first time. I could just live with it at this point, but I don’t want to live like that. So I’m taking my chances with surgery.

Good luck ryan.