Hi Everyone!
I have been suffering with an Anal Fissure since the birth of my son 8 months ago. After several trips to the docs and countless suppositories later, I was final referred to the surgeon in June. M first visit he sent me home with rectogesic..... which I didn't really feel made any difference! After my follow up appointment I got sent home with Anoheal which I am currently using. Have been using it for nearly a week and don't feel its making a difference either.
The fissure is slightly better since it first occurred..... I'm not in as much pain as I was. But I seem to have a bad week that throws me off and I'm back to square one!
I also feel it flares up or is worse when having a BM when I'm on my period (sorry if TMI!) any other women find this?
Stool softners dont seem to agree with me but I've found some relief with taking a magnesium supplement each night....makes things nice and soft! :D
Any advice appreciated,.....I'm at my wits end and the surgeon seems convinced its very superficial and should heal with out surgery....why isnt it?!

Welcome but sorry you got your fissure and had to find us. I'm not sure what anoheal is but if it has hydrocortisone in it don't use it for long because it thins the skin and makes it worse. Second, fissures usually are small superfical tears but when you get one they feel like a full grown monster. They don't have to be big at all to cause lots of pain. Third, if you've had your fissure for 8 months it's considered a chronic fissure and those usually don't heal on their own. Are you seeing a CRS? There are some topical ointments out there that can relax the sphincter muscle and give your fissure time to heal, nitro and nifedipine are pretty good. I take miralax before bedtime and benefiber through out the day to keep things moving smoothyly and neither seems to upset my tummy. Try lubricating with ky jelly before you have a bm, it really helps and don't use dry toilet tissue, it's just too rough. I use a hand held shower to rinse off and then just pat myself dry. Sitz baths in warm water a few times a day help too. Good luck, hope this helped. Suzy

Hello,
Just from my experience when it gets to the point of wanting "surgery or death" as I like to put it..you'll know. I had the LIS 8 weeks ago and have been basically fine ever since (please realize I seem to be one of the "success stories" -so far anyways). Others haven't had such an easy go of it, but still most are glad they had the surgery.
Also note that I had the surgery fairly early into my fissure experience - I personally believe that this is one of the reasons I had a pretty easy time with it. Good luck and keep us updated..the people here are GREAT!

Anoheal looks like it's diltiazem based. If that's the case it'll probably take longer than one week to see any difference. I've used nitroglycerin and nifedipine (both with similar effects to diltiazem as far as fissures are concerned anyhow) and it took a while to feel any kind of improvement. After a few months I still have issues but it's not quite as bad as before. I know what you mean about going back to square one after a bad poop. That frustrates the hell out of me.
How bad is your pain? Is it "this bothers me and sucks" level or is it more "I can't walk or think after a bowel movement" level?

lisaspoon wrote:Hi Everyone!
I have been suffering with an Anal Fissure since the birth of my son 8 months ago. After several trips to the docs and countless suppositories later, I was final referred to the surgeon in June. M first visit he sent me home with rectogesic..... which I didn't really feel made any difference! After my follow up appointment I got sent home with Anoheal which I am currently using. Have been using it for nearly a week and don't feel its making a difference either.
The fissure is slightly better since it first occurred..... I'm not in as much pain as I was. But I seem to have a bad week that throws me off and I'm back to square one!
I also feel it flares up or is worse when having a BM when I'm on my period (sorry if TMI!) any other women find this?
Stool softners dont seem to agree with me but I've found some relief with taking a magnesium supplement each night....makes things nice and soft! :D
Any advice appreciated,.....I'm at my wits end and the surgeon seems convinced its very superficial and should heal with out surgery....why isnt it?!

Hey Lisa - welcome to my world! :) My fissure developed after the birth of my first child, just over 17 years ago. It went away on its own after a few months, but has continued to come and go since then. I can go months, even a few years, in between flare-ups. I've been to 2 surgeons and only one seemed willing to try to work with me, but insisted I use the rectagel and told me to try and heal! I'll tell you what has and hasn't worked for me and then unfortunately, it's just trial and error for you until you find what works.
*Calmoseptine ointment - works great for me, if my skin in that region feels irritated and sore.
*Balneol - a fantastic cleanser that really soothes after a BM and helps lessen irritation from wiping.
*Philips MOM - I take one pill each night before bed, along with a Dulcolax stool softener. I credit this combination with really keeping my bm's super soft.
*Sitz baths - I take a bath as often as necessary, sometimes a few times each day. During periods, I will take 3 or 4 each day to keep everything clean and lessen irritation.
*Walking every day, if possible! I really notice that exercising every day makes a difference.
I strongly believe that there is a connection between my AF and my periods! In fact, I am considering having a hysterectomy to see if that will help reduce or even completely get rid of any flare-ups each month! I take 800mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day once my period starts and keep it up for 5 days. That seems to help with the pain and inflammation. Of course, the minute my period ends I am at a zero pain level for 3 weeks!
Just know that I have had 3 more children since that time and it never flared up during my pregnancies and births. For some reason, it always appeared about 1 - 3 months later and lasted for months. However, I developed my first case of constipation back in the spring and that really opened it back up to a 10 on the pain scale! It's back down to almost nothing now.
I know what a nightmare it is to have this pain and have a baby, so remember to pamper yourself as much as possible - eat the right foods, take sitz baths, etc. :) I'm glad you found this board - it has to be the most helpful place on the internet!