What were you doing to baby it? Food? Stool softener? Etc?

I just had my follow up appt after Botox. I'm really surprised that my doctor said she was actually considering LIS after the Botox caused me to retear. She had been pretty adamantly against it before since I'm a female, but I think it's pretty obvious that after 3 years, this thing will never truly heal without it. I haven't scheduled it yet because I'm going to see what happens when I stop taking Miralax. If it retears, then I'll likely get LIS soon too.

Good luck with your procedure! I think it's likely the best choice after fighting this thing for months/years. Keep us updated.

It’s tough because I have felt completely normal for 3/4 days now. The procedure is still three weeks away. I might reach out to my doctor a week before the procedure to see if it is still necessary to have it done.

Are you feeling normal without any medicine or supplements? I can feel normal with Miralax, but I don't really want that to be a long term solution. If you're feeling ok without using anything that's only a short term solution, I'd maybe wait a little longer for the surgery. You can always reschedule if you retear, and then you can get it done with the confidence that you're making the right decision.

I still take miralax daily. Ideally, I would like to be off of it soon. I think I’ might start taking smaller doses of it and see what happens. The problem is getting scheduled takes weeks.

My doctor recommended switching from Miralax to Benefiber since that's a better long-term option. I'm going to give that a try and if it fails, I'll probably schedule the surgery. Maybe you could try something similar?

A few weeks does seem long if it retears, but maybe you could use Diltiazem and Miralax to relieve the pain until the surgery. For me, it's worth it to see if I can manage without the surgery.

Either way, good luck. Seems like we are on a similar path for now. I've already started halving my Miralax. Fingers crossed for no retears.

Same boat here. I was having success with Miralax, but then had to stop as I got a stomach bug (sorry for TMI but it gave me the runs). Once it passed, I had one semi-hard BM and boom, fissure back. Not the first time. I seem to do well on Miralax but as soon as something changes, I re-tear.

So I'm not sure if this helps, but Miralax is an osmotic laxative. It draws water into the bowel. I read somewhere that high fodmap foods can do the same. Anyway, at one point, I was down to half a cap of miralax every other day with a daily glass of prune juice (which is high fodmap). It seemed to be working until my stomach bug. I'm trying that route again. High fodmap, though, can have the opposite effect. A family member has IBS and has to cut high fodmap out totally.

I've never heard of high fod map foods. I'll have to look into it because I'd really like to find a natural alternative to Miralax. How long have you been trying to heal your fissure?

Thanks for sharing. I’ve not hear of high FODMAP. I have no constipation issues, or gas or bloating. My diet is really restricted because of eosinophils esophagitis so I really don’t eat meat anymore besides occasionally pork, no dairy, no gluten, limit soy, no tree nuts. A typical day is gluten free oats raisin a little of maple syrup, lunch is usually avocado, peas, broccoli, rice burger that is free of all common allergies, and dinner is usually some variation of that. Snacks are bananas, apples, rice Chex, miralax after dinner, and I also take a 80billion probiotic which seems to help too. Been fissure free for 2 weeks now even though I have surgery scheduled for 4/1 - will more than likely cancel it if I’m good up until then. Probably ween off of miralax on the coming months and see what happens.