Thanks Phil, I read your posts again and can see that I'm going through pretty much the same as you were, and it would seem that I am at the pinnacle of discomfort, last night was an absolute nightmare, I have never felt pain like that in my entire life and can honestly say it's been the roughest I've ever felt, the weakness and fragility is almost unbearable, I've had kidney stones in the past and even that doesn't compare to this feeling. With regards to the pain pills, I should be fine as long as I keep up with the Movicol and fibre, I cannot contemplate stopping the Movicol, I'll probably keep on it for ever.

Nice, hope those tablets did the trick Steve. I'd forgotten that codeine is available over the counter in the UK. Here in the US it's prescription only. I wonder what strength they are. Across the border in Canada, the weaker codeine tablets (15 mg codeine + 325 mg paracetamol) are available over the counter but anything stronger still requires a prescription.
I'm going high fiber and Miralax for life too. The whole ordeal just kind of stays with you and lodges itself in your psyche.

Hi NG, the strength of these tablets are Dihydrocodeine 7.46mg and Paracetamol 500mg, they may not be all that strong but definitely take the edge off the pain, funny how in the US it's prescription only but you can get Valium quite easy, over here in the UK it's very hard to get Valium, I think a move to CA is in order

lol actually I had the opposite impression from my time on the benzo withdrawal support forums. Most of the people on those seem to be from the UK. Although I'd say the majority of them have Klonopin or Ativan rather than Valium dependencies. I think part of it is that Valium has a bad rep, whereas newer benzos like Klonopin and Ativan don't even though they lead to the same kind of issues after a while (and are actually harder to quit than Valium).
For what it's worth, it's not exactly easy to get Valium here either. Mostly it's prescribed by psychiatrists and certain specialties. But it's pretty easy to get Klonopin, Ativan, or even Xanax from a general physician. My previous general physician actually insisted that I take some even though I didn't want to. Go figure.
There's actually a big brouhaha over narcotic painkillers in the US right now. Last year it was proposed that Vicodin and Percocet be taken off the market because a lot of people were getting addicted to them. That proposal was met by a huge backlash from people with chronic pain (and understandably so) so it's in limbo right now.
If there's a reason to move to California, well it's a bit off topic, but let's just say it's not for Valium -- we have a proposal on the November ballot this year to legalize a certain pungent herb It's been legal under state law for medicinal use for years now (and muscle spasms are one of the indicated usage cases) but this time around it's on the ballot for all out legalization and the polls are predicting it to pass :)
Anyhow with that bit of a tangent out of the way, glad you're finding some relief now. 7.46 mg of codeine is really low, I'm positive there's no way that will stand up to Movicol at all.

Almost certainly a move to California would be for the change in climate here in the UK, as your probably aware of, the weather is poop, unpredictable is the word!
re the pungent herb, would that be cannabis or weed? over here they are trying to get it legalized for medicinal use for patients with MS, spinal cord injuries and other chronic pain conditions, infact some trials have been carried out on patients with promising results.. :)

Well, after a reasonably good nights sleep I've had several BM's this morning which is what I was like pre-surgery, hopefully that's a sign that my bowel is returning to normal activity, although there was very little pain during BM, afterwards the pain is more noticeable, not excruciating like a few days ago and definitely feels like a different pain to fissure pain, I've also found it a little easier to clean the anus today whereas in previous days it's taken a long time, I'd go as far as to say it was a painstaking task, it still takes some time to clean but nowhere near as long, thank god for cotton wool balls and warm water, they are the best things to use IMHO..
I'm still gonna continue with the regular sitz baths throughout the day as I am now having more faith in them promoting the healing process.
Since my surgery I've only really had discharge on days 1 and 2, since then I've only had a bit of moistness, I.E. If i dab the anus there's just a bit of faint blood not enough to stain my clothes and it's not often, there's no odd smelling odour coming from the site either so I'm fairly confident that no infection has occurred, so far, so good.
Pain is to be expected, after all I had both LIS and Fissurotomy the latter causing the most severe pain, healing is a very slow process with little or no noticeable change but I'm not gonna be discouraged by this and will keep positive, I've come this far and am not prepared to give up now, I have to compare the 2 years of an active fissure to where I am now, there's no comparison, I want my life back and will endure this pain if it means being "normal" once again.

I had another tricky BM this afternoon which has left me in pain, I've taken 3 sitz baths so far and plan on taking another later on, still can't sit full on, having to edge about to find a suitable position and even then it still hurts, I tried driving my car to the supermarket today which was a massive task, I was driving with just one butt cheek on the seat leaning toward the door, fortunately it wasn't far away, I then walked slowly around the shop clutching on to the trolley while my wife shopped, I kept stopping for the pain and that's the first time I've been out since my surgery last wednesday, it was hard but I had to try.
I've been keeping to the high fibre regime and plan on never stopping, I was already on the fissure diet before surgery so keeping it up isn't hard and I've been drinking between 1.5-2L of water every day since my fissure began, so once again this isn't hard to keep up. Here's a snippet of what I have: Porridge oats with fruit for breakfast, soup for lunch, fruit mid afternoon and non fried foods for tea, this could be wholemeal pasta or boiled rice with veg or boiled potatoes, I try to alternate these foods and add to them so I don't get bored with them. Fried food is out and has been for a long time, along with red meat and cheese, I do eat chicken and turkey but mainly vegetables. And tons of water

Whoa dude you're the man for driving this soon after the surgery! Driving was a big no-no for me for a while afterward. I did try once about a week after (Vicodin must have made me brave) but barely got out of my garage before I just circled the block and came right back home. Even riding in cars was uncomfortable for me for some time. When I came back to work I sat on a pillow for a couple weeks before I dared park my rear on a chair :)

NG, I won't be driving for a while now LOL.. I was being far too brave for my own good, I'm now sat on one cheek typing this.. In pain !

High fiber is also good for cholesterol! Steve, I shared your update with my friend Dwight today. Also, is "Pain" your real last name??? For a long time I thought it was!!!