Which one is more effective ?

Miralax is an osmatic laxative that draws water into your intestines to make a bm soft and easy to pass. Docusate sodium is a stool softener. I personally don't think it does much of anything but some people like it. I prefer the miralax, I take it before I go to bed. I also take benefiber 3 times a day. It's important with fissures or anal narrowing to keep your stools soft and strain free. The best way to find out what works for you is to give it a try. Suzy

Hi jeff, I use docusate sodium 4 times a day and have never had any problem with it, on the other hand i've also used Macrogol (movicol/miralax) with the same effect, so I guess it's just what works best for you, the only one I found that wasn't effective was lactulose..

Thanks for the info. Is there any side effects if we prolong use of docusate sodium or miralax ?

I'd personally vote for Miralax hands down. Doctors love suggesting docusate sodium for some reason, but I used it for a while in the beginning of my fissure fun and it never seemed to do a thing for me. Miralax however made a very noticeable difference.
Most doctors consider docusate sodium and Miralax safe for long term use, but as with anything, there's some level of debate on the topic. I know a number of us here have taken Miralax for quite some time. I personally don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

I will continue taking stool softeners for the rest of my life if necessary, as long as my stools are good to go then i'm quite happy to keep using, if there's any long term side effects i'll deal with them "if and when", to be honest though, nothing could be as bad as fissure pain! and I know that my good friend NG will surely agree!!

Hear hear, in the beginning I had concerns about taking laxatives, and even discontinued them completely a couple of times when I thought I was making progress. But that was a hard (literally) lesson learned, and I'm not sure I'll do so again, even if I manage to somehow put the fissure behind me (man this post is just full of puns :)).
I guess if I ever manage to heal the fissure, maybe I'd try doing without Miralax a few years down the line, but even then I'd be cautious. The thing is pretty much a part of my psychology at this point.

Same for me, even if I somehow heal the enemy within, i'd be far too paranoid to stop the stool softeners knowing full well that one hard poop could start the whole thing again I'm just too damn scared of producing a solid poop full stop..

Docusate sodium did little for me. I vote for Miralax hands down and plan to take it for the rest of my life. My doctor told me I will always need it, but I have been able to reduce the amount significantly since taking the pelvic floor retraining class at Mayos.

I have some Macrogol, Macrogol is the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) for polyethylene glycol, which is Miralax/Movicol, jeez, why do they have so many names for the same product? Anyway I have some which the doc gave me incase the docusate stopped having the desired effect, I plan to start on that if and when, but don't want to interrupt anything at the moment..