In the recent 2, 3 days, the itchiness is sometimes through the roof! I don't remember it being this itchy last time I was healing from an active fissure. Is that normal? Grh....

7/1

bm: went twice in the morning. Perfect Bristol type 4 stool continues. Pain of pushing hemmie back in: 1.5.

***

started incorporating real food, little by little

cod liver oil
1 small apple + half a pear + 1/4 cup oatmeal cooked into a sweet soup
1 cup coconut milk + smashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash + coconut oil
1 slice gluten-free toast
a few bites of a vegetarian omelette and baked potatoes
pig feet soup, brussels sprouts
strawberries, blueberries, 2 figs
snacks: hummus, almond butter, medjool dates

7/2

bm #1: 8am. I took the usual miralax plus 100mg mg citrate yesterday (cuz I ate more compared to other days). 1st bm is very loose. I'll have to go again at some point. pain of pushing hemmie back: 1-1.5

terrific news is that I'm basically feeling zero pain or spasms after bm. Just itchiness (some of which is caused by this treatment cream I injected up my bum, which is a normal reaction).

Although I'm not making strides these days, but if I compare my "performance" by weeks (instead of by days), I feel like I've come a long way. From the level 8-9 pains, all day spasms, to what I'm feeling today. Wow. What a journey. I still have like 15%-20% of healing to go, but thank you, body! Keep it up!

bm #2: around 11am. just a little bit. I deviated slightly from my fruit-based diet yesterday. getting a bit nervous about backed-up stool again.

*
1 cap miralax in prune juice/water
1 cap miralax in coconut water later in the day
1 tiny apple and half a pear cooked with 1/4 cup oatmeal, coconut oil
smashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash with 1 cup coconut milk
about half a cup kefir
strawberries, 3 figs, 1 pineapple slice, cherries
bone broth (20g protein) + see cucumber + boiled asparagus
snacks: hummus, almond butter, dried coconut strips

*
saw a TCM practitioner/acupuncturist today. the fissure problems really reminded me to care more about my overall health so I think i'll continue to see her for a while.

7/3

Went twice in the morning. Once right after I woke up and once after I ate. No more back-up problems. Phew!

Saw pelvic floor PT again. She said I'm much better compared to last week. Muscle is a lot more relaxed, and after a week of daily meditation/breathing exercises, I seem to have got better at fully relaxing my pelvic floor as well.

***
1.5 cap miralax
1 pear cooked in white fungus sweet soup
strawberries, raspberries, figs
1/4 cup oatmeal cooked with 1 chopped carrot and about half a squash
snacks: medjool dates, hummus, 1 tsp peanut butter, dried coconut strips, candied ginger, a tiny piece of seed/nut cracker I got from Trader Joe's
bone broth (20g protein) + 2 scallops, boiled asparagus, 1 peach

The itch!!! Omg. Driving me nuts at night!!!!

Sorry to hear about the itch! That must be so annoying but I have heard it is related to healing so hopefully it's a good sign

I am so curious about the pelvic floor therapy! A few people have spoken about it on this forum. What exactly does the therapist do in a session (if you don't mind my asking)?

tightbutt5678 wrote:Sorry to hear about the itch! That must be so annoying but I have heard it is related to healing so hopefully it's a good sign

I am so curious about the pelvic floor therapy! A few people have spoken about it on this forum. What exactly does the therapist do in a session (if you don't mind my asking)?

Basically she inserts her fingers vaginally to access my pelvic floor muscles, and do trigger points (or other things which I don't have a technical name for). In the first session, she told me we have 3 levels of pelvic floor muscles and evaluated how am I doing on each level (how I respond to pressure on certain points, how well I relax and contract on cue, etc.) In the 2nd session, she did more trigger points (with coordinated breathing).

She did say after this 2nd session that I didn't "need" to see her since as my fissure is healing, I seem to be doing quite well muscle-wise. I'm super glad I found her and saw her (at least) twice though. I got much better awareness of my pelvic floor muscles and it is such a positive reinforcement to hear her say that I am on the right track of healing.

Oh that is really interesting. I actually wish I knew about PFTs when I was younger as I had vaginismus as a teenager and this kind of therapy would have been perfect for it. Great to hear it has helped you!

7/5

Saw new CRS today. He and his staff are so pleasant, compared to the dismissive previous CRS.

He confirmed my current active fissure is a posterior fissure, and confirmed presence of a skin tag (sentinel pile). The skin tag seems to be related to a anterior fissure though - maybe carried over from my last fissure in April? I remember the previous CRS noted both anterior and posterior fissure in her clinical notes.

CRS prescribed diltiazem+lidocane (mixed into a compound cream).

CRS also made the following advice, which kind of goes against some common themes on the forum:

1. He wanted me to go off Miralax and start fiber supplement, such as Metamucil. Said the anal canal needed the "exercise". (I'm nervous about this. Think I might ween off Miralx in a week or so, and then slowly adding fiber supplement.)

2. He wanted me to stop using Prep-H wipes. Too much irritation for the area. Wanted me to use regular soft tissue, and dab, not wipe. (I'm too nervous to go straight to regular toilet paper. Think I'm gonna switch to unscented baby wipes first.)

3. Sitz bath with just warm to hot water, nothing in the water.

4. Continue to drink >2 liter of water a day.

5. Stop using all other cream, oil, ointment. Just use the prescribed diltiazem+lidocane.

7/10

This past week:

Internal hemmie has shrunk to the size of a small chickpea. BM is for the most part painless, but there's some discomfort. Still get post-BM pain/soreness, sometimes mild spasm pain. What has been driving me nuts more than the pain (during BM and post BM) is the itchiness though. It itches like crazy every time I do anything to "wake up" the area: passing stool, applying topical cream, even cleaning. At night it gets so unbearable that I've been falling asleep gently (as gently as I can, with the crazy itch) massaging my bum for the past week or so. Sleep quality is terrible.

Good news is that now I seem to be able to sit (with weights on both cheeks) sorta like a normal person. I don't think I could do this last week.

Started taking levofloxacin two days ago. 500mg the 1st day, and 300mg from the 2nd day on. Still too early to say how well it's working.

Topicals I'm on now:
- propolis suppositories 3 times a day
- TCM-based fissure cream from China, 5-6 times a day
- TCM-based hemmie cream from China twice a day
- propolis cream (applied into anal canal, near fissure site) 3-4 times a day (I started using this again since propolis has antibacterial properties too)

Started dialing down Miralax two days ago. Now just half a cap a day.