by NeuropathicGuy » 24 Dec 2009, 13:29
I'd agree with all of the above jman, fiber alone without sufficient water and/or stool softeners can actually do more harm than good. When I first got my fissure, I went crazy on fiber cereals, granola bars, and veggies, and by itself that just made me poop a lot ... lots of hard, painful poops, that is. After I started drinking tons of water, things were a tiny bit better, but bowel movements were still agonizing. It was only after I started taking Miralax and drinking tons of water that things got somewhat under control over the course of a few weeks to a month or so. Now half a year later I've still got the fissure but it at least doesn't cause me terrible pain day in and day out anymore. Not perfect but definitely an improvement relatively speaking.
And I'm with Nebelwerfer 100% -- I wouldn't worry about making things too soft. If you want to err on one side, that's the side to lean toward. I did colonoscopy bowel prep with an active fissure and basically pooped liquidy stools and water for half a day and that didn't really bother my fissure at all.