20 years of hell solved by LIS - 1 year Post OP!

1 year Post LIS OP update.

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20 years of hell solved by LIS - 1 year Post OP!

Postby jis76 » 17 Jul 2020, 09:12

I am one year post-LIS, and now feel comfortable enough to say I am fully healed and have a great prognosis after dealing with this hell for over 20 years. I want to share my story like others that helped me through this mess on this board.
I am 43 years old, and had been dealing with fissures on and off for at least 20 years. I have a memory of the first time a doctor looked in my early 20s , told me to increase my water and fiber intake and my fissures would heal. For years it would disappear and come back, disappear and come back.
It never really hurt that much until I got a bit older in my 30s and had my first really painful fissure. I saw the CRS, and he gave me the nifedipine .2%, lots of baths and miralax later I was good to go again. It would come back from time to time, sometimes painful, sometimes not. I would go through the procedure. Bath + Nifedipine + miralax + water + exercise. I had it under control, or so I thought. My quality of life was effected because I always had anxiety whenever I went to the bathroom. I would go through weeks of pain when it would get bad 3-4 times a year.
So the fissures would come and go for the next 8 or so years. There were some really bad moments where I would find blood stains in my underwear at the end of the day, but I never thought it hurt enough so that I should go back to the surgeon.
Then around January of last year(2019) it all got real bad, healed again, and got even worse from April to July. I made an appointment with the CRS and just as I was about to go in, I started feeling good again. The exam ripped me back open again, and I was in the worst pain I had ever been in with this. The surgeon had told me that I will continue tearing if I didn't have the surgery, but I managed it so well for so long that it was really my choice. Up to me....
Within a week of basically soaking in my bath I begged the receptionist to get me on the schedule for a LIS (I had agreed with the doctor if anytime in the next 6 months I wanted it, he didn't need to see me, but just to schedule the procedure). I was unable to work at the time as the pain would not relent until after about 4-5 hours post BM. A miserable experience (see these post from last year : need-lis-but-i-m-not-quite-there-yet-t25630.html post157321.html#p157321 )
Day of the LIS I was super nervous. Despite reading all the positive stories and outcomes on this board, and knowing the likelihood of complications were low, I am a nervous person, and the idea of going under and someone slicing in to me had me freaked out. My blood pressure was through the roof.
I had a great nurse at the surgery center who helped calm me down. It was an intimidating experience having them roll me in to the OR turn over and start applying the numbing spray. That was last I remember though before I was under. I woke up with no pain and that wonderful Propofol sleep.
The recovery went really well, took the heavier dose pain pills for a day or two, then only advil and tylenol rotated. I stayed ahead of the pain. Had blood for quite a while post surgery, I took it easy for about 2 weeks for this to get to zero blood, leakage, and pain from what I remember. I do remember there was a lot less pain post surgery than pre!!!
Within six weeks I was doing a bit of running and weight lifting again. One year later, I haven't seen a spec of blood in my poop, nor had any pain or leakage.
So the key things that have helped me recover pre and post LIS:
1) Miralax -- I am still on this, and will likely stay on it for the rest of my life.
2) Metamucil & fiberous diet--- Post LIS it's been key to keeping my stools bulked. I had some severe stenosis, and my stools had gotten too thin from just using miralax. If you use Miralax
3) Find a great surgeon. Clearly my guy knew what the hell he was doing. He had performed nearly 1000 LIS, was in his late 40s and knew what to do right with a nearly 0 complication rate over his many experienced years.
4) General good diet and water -- don't eat crap, and make sure you are getting enough water.
5) Bidet -- this may not be for everyone, but I do believe excessive wiping aggravated my fissure. It really keeps things clean compared to wiping in my opinion. I even have a portable bidet for when I travel.
My final parting words, and you'll see this all over this board.... DON'T FEAR THE LIS! Find yourself a great surgeon, and get this thing done and healed. You can be like me , and manage things in misery for 20 years, or you can get the surgery and likely 100% heal for years or forever! Greatest regret is not having this done in my 30s when the surgeon first mentioned it to me.




Hope this helps others heal in their journey, and especially those consider LIS... it was a game changer for my recurrent anal fissure.
jis76
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Re: 20 years of hell solved by LIS - 1 year Post OP!

Postby chachacha » 17 Jul 2020, 15:43

Congrats and thanks for coming back to post in our Success Story forum!
Fissure since about 2007
Fissure diagnosed in 2011
Diltiazem for two years - didn't work well
LIS January, 2015
Hemorrhoidectomy December, 2017
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Re: 20 years of hell solved by LIS - 1 year Post OP!

Postby johnnyp433 » 07 Aug 2020, 20:04

Congrats and thank you for posting your success story. How long did it take before you felt that you were truly healed? My surgeon at post-op 3 weeks said that I was on my way but then I experienced bleeding following nasty runs. I’m 9 weeks post-op and still noticing blood in the bowl and on the paper following a BM. I’m trying to come to grips with the fact this is to be expected and there’s still hope for me to fully heal. Thank you!
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Re: 20 years of hell solved by LIS - 1 year Post OP!

Postby jis76 » 09 Nov 2020, 12:55

I know this is a bit of a late reply, but I recall feeling pretty good about 6-8 weeks Post Op and not seeing anymore blood. Everyone's healing process is different so I wouldn't be worried even at 9 weeks or more still seeing a bit of blood. Hope everything healed well for you johnnyp433!
jis76
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