Hi all,
6 weeks ago I had an open hemorrhoidectomy to remove my grade 4 thrombosed haemorrhoids. The haemorrhoids were all around the anal canal, so quite a lot was removed. Around week 3 I began having a hard time expelling stools. At times i was pushing and grunting and sweating, with involuntary spasms but nothing much was coming out. The surgeon did a sigmoidoscopy on me but asides from aggressive granulation around the anus, the canal seemed unobstructed. IN week 5, he performed anal dilatation under sedation on me, and while I was able to expel stools after, they were still narrow and it takes multiple BMs each day to get rid of them. But today I had a really hard time again, it felt like i was back to square 1, even if i was doing anal dilatation myself at home once a day. I forgot to take my stool softeners yesterday, and today it was a nightmare. I had to use a fleet enema in the end.
I’m wondering if anyone else has been through this, and could advise on what to do. I‘m so worried that this is going to be my life, and the worst would be not being able to do a BM despite all the pushing and straining. My surgeon says that if the self dilatation doesn’t work, then he would try Botox injections to relax the sphincter muscles. Has anyone done this for anal stricture/stenosis? Why would botox help with scar tissue that is reducing the size of the canal? He and i are reluctant to do a LIS.
Thanks for reading! Appreciate any suggestions.