Hey, everyone. It's been a looooooong time since I posted here, but I wanted to update everyone now that enough time has passed and I can confidently say that I'm healed. I did it through Botox and Lactulose.
MY STORY:
I noticed minor bleeding for about 2 years. It was misdiagnosed a couple times (as hemorrhoids and then psoriasis). I didn't give it much thought because it didn't bother me much. Then by 2007, I started noticing more bleeding, and finally one day got really constipated after being under a lot of stress and eating a big, spicy meal -- and tore myself open even worse. For the next 8 months, I tried to heal it on my own, going to 4 different CRSs. I tried suppositories, sitz baths, saltwater sitz baths, metamucil, A&D ointment, a variety of dietary restrictions (no meat, no dairy, high fiber), drinking lots of water, exercising, squatting on the toilet, diltiazem, colace, various supplements (like fish oil). Nothing seemed to work -- at least not consistently. Sometimes I healed for a few days, or a week, but eventually I just kept tearing myself open. My symptoms included: prickly/sharp pain during bm, feeling like the bm was too big and I was plugged up, difficulty passing stool, bleeding -- long streaks of blood on the stool and patches of blood (nickel and even quarter-size) on the toilet paper, water in the toilet discolored pink from blood on rare occassion, burning/itching/irritation from the anus periodically throughout the day. I did not experience bad spasms like other people have described. At one point, my doc noticed that a second fissure had appeared on the opposite side of my anus.
In January 2008, after considering all of my surgical options, I decided to get Botox, which my 4th CRS suggested as a good option. She also put me on lactulose -- an osmotic laxative (a relatively harmless laxative). The name of the lactulose was Kristalose. I took one 10gram powder packet mixed with water every morning. At night, I also took a tablespoon of Milk of Magnesia. The combination of the kristalose and MOM helped keep my stool relatively soft.
By March 2008, my doc said I was 50% healed, although I wouldn't have guessed it because I was still bleeding and experiencing pain. I received a second set of shots in March. By the end of April my doc said I was completely healed. I wasn't convinced -- it had definitely improved but in the next few months, I had a few episodes where I felt like i tore myself open and experienced a lot of bleeding.
Now it's late December 2008. Occassionally I see minor spotting of blood on the toilet paper, but the heavy pain and bleeding that I used to experience are gone. And they've been gone for about 6 months. I slowly phased out the MOM, and then the lactulose, but not until recently.
So I'd say I'm healed for now. For me, I think the cause was constipation and the root cause of that was a poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle including too much alcohol and stress and not enough exercise. That was causing large, knotty stool.
To combat the constipation I still do the following: exercise regularly including aerobic exercise, eat less meat and dairy, eat more high fiber foods, eat more fruit/veggies, drink lots of water, drink less alcohol. I think I'm naturally more susceptible to AF (which would account for the fact that I still have minor bleeding every now and then -- probably small new acute fissures that open up and then heal quickly)
In conclusion... I'm amazed that my big fissures healed. I never thought they would. AF can really beat you down psychologically. Best of luck to everyone out there suffering with it. Hope you all feel better soon!!!!!