My success-story

My success-story

Please help others by posting your success story here. Tell us what worked for you, before you move on with your fissure-free life!!

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My success-story

Postby swedtrouble » 10 Apr 2023, 15:10

Hello all. Please forgive my english as i'm not native english speaker.

I first had my fissure around October, i'm certain it's a mixture of several problems leading to me having my fissure. Hemorroids and surgically removing an external skintag together with poor diet lead to me having my fissure in Oct.

It immediately halted my entire life. I was unable to work, put intense pressure on my relationship with my SO and family. I'm beyond impressed with how many of you can still manage your life while suffering from this, I couldn't function as a human with my fissure.
The bleeding I could live with but the pain from spasm was unbearable. Mentally I was ready to made the commitment to end my own life -> I was so ashamed that my body couldn't heal, always checking with a mirror for hours each day!

I started lurking on this forum and others like it and it caused even more stress because of how much LiS is pushed as the only successful treatment. Therefore I wanted to share my healing!

Here's what I did to heal my fissure:

1. Dilitiazem twice a day, 12h interval.

2. Getting my diet in check, I started eating 80% the exact same food each day. This because I needed to standardize my BM. I ate rice, chicken, broccoli & brussels sprouts for each meal. Drinking atleast 4L of water everyday.

3. Also found what amount of laxative gave me soft, smooth and easy BM. Took this every single day

4. Lubricate before each BM.

5. Anal dilation!!! No doctor ever mentioned this to me. I only learned from it because of the forums. And my god it works! First using fingers and then bought plugs. Two sessions a day, first session was actual stretching. Slow and steady, lubrication and teaching my sphinctermuscle to relax.
The second session was only using my fingers with focus on relaxation and teaching myself not to tense up as something exits the anus.

6. Baths after each BM and before bed.

7. Re-learing how to actually poop. Finding a way to poop in a squat position with minimal time spent on the toilet.

Doing dilation really taught me to relax my sphincter. I could notice myself during the day constantly being tense.
I am certain that I have for several years walked around in life constantly tensing and flexing my sphinctermuscle and that this together with poor diet caused my hemmoroids which eventually lead to my fissure.

After starting dilitiazem and dilation I could immediately notice improvements.


I followed the steps I've given above for 12weeks. I was going in for scheduling botox-injections and to my surprise the surgeon told me I was healed.

I now have painfree BM, I'm still on laxative but a considerable lower dose. I'll probably keep taking laxative for atleast a year.


I want all of you who are struggling to know that I'm in your corner cheering for you! YOU CAN DO IT!
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Re: My success-story

Postby gsmthe » 27 Apr 2023, 02:42

I am doing the same routine (almost) and I saw a lot of improvement.
I did 2 haemorrhoid surgeries before and 1 of them led to the fissure.
How much did it take you to heal?

My doctor said, if I have soft bowels and also take GTN (or diltiazem) it takes at least 3-6 months.

Currently, my diet is not the same every day but I noticed that if I eat a new food I might not take the right amount of laxative and this leads to have harder bowels which leads to the fissure opening again. This means basically I am starting from scratch every time this happens. So, I'll focus on eating the same food every day, same amount of water (more than 3L) and same amount of laxatives
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Re: My success-story

Postby Hazey123 » 02 May 2023, 10:26

Thank you for your inspiring post!! I’m kind of doing the same routine as you although my doctor has recommended dilation (rather than initiating it myself I would be too scared!) which I’ve been doing for about ten days now. I’ve been in so much pain and just so fed up I’ve thought that it’s not much of a life like this. So I’m hoping so much that I can end up pain free like you. How are you feeling now? Still dilating? I’m feeling a tiniest bit better than I was… altho that may just be temporary (it has this habit of dashing your hopes time and time again I find)
AF following skin tag surgery Feb 2022
GTN ointment
sigmoidoscopy & EUA Sept 2022 no fissure found
2nd opinion Jan 2023 fissure diagnosed, diltiazem - allergic
recommended Botox Fissurectomy
3rd opinion - dilation 2x per day plus GTN ….
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Re: My success-story

Postby gsmthe » 03 May 2023, 02:37

How do you dilate?
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Re: My success-story

Postby Hazey123 » 03 May 2023, 10:27

I’m using GTN ointment morning and night and been told by my CRS to dilate 2x per day for ten mins each time using a dilator he gave me but basically it’s a smallish version of the standard anal or vaginal dilators you can find online. It’s probably a 1.5/two finger width but it’s quite long but with a ridge where you stop pushing in. He’s given me instillagel lubricant with local anaesthetic (lidocaine) in it. But he also said any KY gel or other water based lubricant is fine. So insert super slowly breathing to relax as you insert - once in he told me to almost meditate. Like breathe and consciously relax internally and then slowly pull it back out controlling the spasm that wants to just push it out fast. It’s quite hard to do this and sometimes I can sometimes I can’t do it. It’s getting easier to do. I’m on day 11 and I think I’m a bit better at I’m not sure yet! I don’t pull it fully out til after 10 mins as getting it back in is hard work. Ideally the GTN goes on a bit before dilation to help relaxation altho I’m not convinced the GTN helps me too much. I’m just hoping this works. It’s certainly not making anything worse. I’ve got a review in 5 weeks… I’m also using Lactulose at night to keep everything soft and the usual dietary stuff. Plus the doc told me to use a stool to raise my feet and include flaxseed in my diet .
AF following skin tag surgery Feb 2022
GTN ointment
sigmoidoscopy & EUA Sept 2022 no fissure found
2nd opinion Jan 2023 fissure diagnosed, diltiazem - allergic
recommended Botox Fissurectomy
3rd opinion - dilation 2x per day plus GTN ….
Hazey123
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Re: My success-story

Postby swedtrouble » 13 May 2023, 10:54

Hello all.

I had a retear today. I've been weaning of the laxatives which has been going great. But one bad BM was enough for me to retear.

I'm feeling so depressed and defeated. Will go back to my routine and this time not stop with the dilation.
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Re: My success-story

Postby gsmthe » 13 May 2023, 11:40

My doc said you have to continue for 1-2 years afterwards for the skin to be able to return back to normal.

But you shouldn’t feel defeated. Because, you know that you are able to heal.

For example, I don’t know if I will be able to heal but you already did it once. Don’t feel defeated
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Re: My success-story

Postby swedtrouble » 13 May 2023, 11:56

Thank you gsmthe for your encouragement. I'm guessing the skin tag removal and the 4 hemorrhoid banding I had done really messed up my anus.

I've been in some dark places mentally today. Been watching Your Friendly Proctologist on youtube in an attempt to gain some stability and try to make sense of why all this is happening.
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Re: My success-story

Postby Hazey123 » 15 May 2023, 07:04

How are you feeling today?
I’m fed up. 3 weeks into dilation and seen some slightly less painful days but no serious improvements yet. I have days where I feel really hopeless and fed up. This thing is so strange. I keep thinking it will go away eventually and I’m not dying of anything so just learn to be positive and live with it. I’m a cyclist and have had to give that up completely. I’m not sure I’ll ever sit on a bike saddle again!! A comfy sofa hurts currently. Trying to work out why one day is so much worse than another day is so confusing. My BMs are soft but still it hurts sometimes - but always burns during the day whether or not the BM was particularly sore. I’m a super healthy fit person - I can’t understand why my body refuses to heal! I’ve even taken up full on meditation to try to relax my pelvic area. Maybe we need to just pray!! At this stage I’ll try anything (except surgery yet…)
AF following skin tag surgery Feb 2022
GTN ointment
sigmoidoscopy & EUA Sept 2022 no fissure found
2nd opinion Jan 2023 fissure diagnosed, diltiazem - allergic
recommended Botox Fissurectomy
3rd opinion - dilation 2x per day plus GTN ….
Hazey123
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Re: My success-story

Postby swedtrouble » 15 May 2023, 10:37

I'm still very upset about the my retear. Should've waited longer before weaning of the laxatives. It takes maybe a year or more for the scartissue to mature...

I've had three BM sense the retear, no bleeding. But some pain and lingering pain during the day, especially when sitting on a hard surface.

I was so upset when the retear happened... Thoughts of just ending it all were rushing through my head.
I've gotten an appointment with a doctor to confirm the retear, and maybe get some more Dilitiazem.
Best wishes
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