by NeuropathicGuy » 27 May 2010, 01:01
Hrm yeah if you already had fissures when you had your colonoscopy, I'd think it should pick up more sinister underlying causes. I've read that in rare cases, Crohn's can manifest in the small intestine first (beyond the reach of a colonoscopy), but if it were causing your fissures, I'd think there would definitely be some inflammation visualized already.
Have you tried other ointments besides diltiazem? I tried nitroglycerin, nifedipine, and diltiazem and found that nitroglycerin works the best for me. I also had Botox injections and that healed my fissure for several months but then I re-tore it. It could be something to consider if you want to try something other than LIS.
When I first got my fissure, I did have severe, extremely intense, and yes very, very debilitating pain, along with bleeding during bowel movements. I definitely had the sphincter spasms -- for me it felt like my anus was constantly (and painfully) pushing to poop. All of that stopped after months of ointments, stool softeners, and finally Botox.
After I re-tore my fissure, the pain (it was more like "discomfort") was much more manageable. I don't know if that's because I got used to it, because I was managing it better, or simply because the fissure went chronic and my nerves were deadened to the sensation.
I think I was actually feeling less pain than you are now when I went in for LIS. Although my diet was still mostly veggie soup, I was able to eat other foods (potato chips, chocolate, fried foods) here and there without causing any problems. Bowel movements actually usually didn't hurt, they just felt mildly uncomfortable on most days, and moderately uncomfortable on bad days. It was just that I had some lingering discomfort that wouldn't go away no matter what. The discomfort was a dull ache most of the time, although I did get some sharper pains on occasion that radiated up toward my lower back. The discomfort kept me from doing things like running or riding bikes, but not from doing anything else.
As for my progress after LIS, well that's a little complicated (literally). I had LIS a month ago, developed an abscess 2 weeks in, and then had a 2nd surgery to have the abscess drained. So it's only been 2 weeks since my 2nd surgery. I do feel some progress, but it's been very slow. Right now I honestly have to say that I feel worse than before surgery. But my hope is that in the long run, I'll be better off -- I just can't say that just yet though.
LIS was the last option for me, too, which is why I tried everything else first. There are some risks either way. With three fissures, you could potentially get another, or one could get infected, or they might just become harder to cure (even with surgery) as time goes by. If you get Botox, a bad injection could cause a thrombosed hemorrhoid or something. And of course with LIS you could get some kind of complication like I did... Personally with three fissures I'd consider at least trying Botox and definitely give LIS some thought though.
If I had to sum up my experience with surgery, right now I'd say that I wish I had done it earlier when my fissure was causing me severe pain. That way I wouldn't feel like I was in more pain afterward. If you ask me again in a month or two, I'm hoping I'll have something different to say at that time though :)