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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

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)

How do you dilate?

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 .

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.

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

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.

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…)

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