Hello,

I went through an acute fissure and was searching these boards for any help possible while I was going through it so even though I am healed now I wanted to make sure to post my journey.
So it started a couple weeks after giving birth. It was thanksgiving and I was so excited to eat good food after spending my whole pregnancy nauseous and throwing up. I ate a lot of constipation causing foods—cheese and meat, sweets. On top of that i was breastfeeding and probably not drinking enough water. Also, I was taking stool softeners because I didn’t tear doing birth and didn’t have hemorrhoids so I thought I was in the clear. So a few days later I finally have an extremely painful bm with a lot of blood. And pretty much went downhill from there. I start having severe spasms after very painful bm. I start doing sitz baths and using witch hazel pads. Then I start taking ducolace (sp?) which did not help soften my stool. I would say I spent a week where I was really struggling on how to treat it. Finally I get Miralax and colace and also spend way too much on ‘healing’ fissure oil I find online. I start eating a lot of fiber. I get my bms to pretty much not hurt but spasms afterwards would less for like 5 hours. I would rather go through labor and delivery over and over then go through that excruciating pain of spasms. Another week passes I finally call my ob gyn and tell the nurse I need nifedipine cream. The nurse is rude and said how would I know I even have an anal fissure but she bumps up my 6 week appt for that week. The night before my appointment I come across a Reddit thread that says holding your coccyx can help decrease stretching down there thus not reopening the fissure every time you poop. So I try it when I have a bm the next day and have no pain when pooping my spasm pain is reduced significantly. I have my appt with my doctor who was rude and rushed the whole appointment then wanted to prescribe me something for hemorrhoids. I never filled that prescription. I just kept holding the coccyx during bms and doing my sitz baths. It’s been a few weeks and I feel 100% again. But I have learned my lesson, take the stool softeners now matter what after giving birth.

Can you post the link to this? Or any guidance on holding?

I too have been suffering from a postpartum fissure for about 3 months now. I’ve made so much progress from where I started but can’t get myself over that final healing hump.