Life (long-term) after LIS?

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Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby Guest » 01 Dec 2010, 23:29

Hey folks, I just scheduled LIS for next week and just found this message board. To whoever's in charge here -- you're awesome. Oh, and I love the graphics; I find them goofy but soothing.
Anyway, I'm wondering what life is like long-term after surgery. By "long-term" I mean many months or even years after surgery -- basically once you're as healed as you're gonna get and you've hit a "steady state".
Do you still keep to a modified diet with heavy fiber intake? Do you take stool softeners or similar? Has all your BM pain gone away? Any other BM issues? Do you follow a special cleaning regimen? Sitz baths? Any (even minor) incontinence to flatulence or feces?
I'm certainly hoping that the majority of folks poop rainbows and feel like their butt is 18 years old again. But if not, I'd like to know what concessions they're continuing to make to their special-needs butt. Of course, the truly happy customers probably don't read this message board anymore (no offense, but I assume it's the rare person who hangs out on an anal fissure board for years with a totally health butt), so I may not get a truly representative sample. But I'd love to hear what anyone has to say.
Thanks!
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Re: Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 01 Dec 2010, 23:51

Alright let me start by saying that I think "sphinctersaurus" and "happyass" officially have competition in the best username race now :)
Anyhow I think the range of response you'll get will vary. There are definitely some who have healed completely, put the entire experience behind them (pun intended), and resumed an entirely normal existence just like the good ol' days before "anal fissure" ever entered their vocabulary. As you'd surmised, these blessed souls have largely moved on from this message board. There are also some for whom LIS didn't work, which is rare, but it happens, unfortunately.
Me, personally, am somewhere in between the two: eating nearly whatever I want, but still being careful to eat lots of fiber, and still taking stool softeners (Miralax) every day. I'm only 6 months out from LIS, though, so I can't say I really know what the long term holds for me butt-wise.
On the specific items you mentioned, I'd say the following for myself:
Modified diet with heavy fiber intake?
Yes. I still eat veggie soup for one meal nearly every day. Some days I skip it and am fine, but most days I have it.
Still taking stool softeners?
Yes, Miralax every day. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but always some daily.
Has all BM pain gone away?
Not 100%. But about 99% of it has. A difficult poop here and there will still come to haunt me, but absolutely nothing like the insane agony of acute fissure pain. More like a dull achy annoyance once in a blue moon.
Other poop issues?
Nope, none that come to mind.
Special cleaning regimen?
I do try to soak my butt in the tub after every poop (when possible of course). It feels nice. But this one is largely psychological. I got used to doing it after LIS, and now my butt doesn't feel as clean as it could be unless I do the soak. Certainly no other reason for it, as I can wipe my butt and everything just fine, even with el-cheapo toilet paper.
Any incontinence?
Nope. I did have mild incontinence to feces for the first few days after LIS, and had annoying drainage ("skid marks") for maybe 2-3 months afterward. That all eventually subsibed and no issues now. I think my f arts have gone through puberty and developed a deeper tone now, but that's about it.
I'd liken life after LIS to probably most other surgeries out there: you may or may not capture the full glory of your 18 year old butt/knees/neck/whatever, but you're certainly a lot better off than when you were hamstrung with the condition that necessitated the operation. Personally, I'm open to the possibility that a lot of what I'm doing these days is anxiety related. The fissure has left such a deep psychological scar that I don't even want to try stopping stool softeners or a high fiber diet, for fear of returning to square one. Some people do it, however, so it's certainly in the realm of realistic possibilities. Not that I can read much into you from just one post, but you seem a lot less neurotic than I am, so I'd figure your odds are probably a heck of a lot better than mine haha :)
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Re: Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 01 Dec 2010, 23:56

Oh, one more thing: I just re-read my post above, and realize that from first glance, it may not seem that LIS has actually done that much for me. But believe me, it has. I can eat McDonald's, down potato chips and pizza, and as long as I take my Miralax and have at least some veggie soup, poops are just as enjoyable and unremarkable as they were before I ever had a fissure. There's no way I could say that before LIS. If you happen to stumble upon my old posts on this board, you'll find a terrified dude whose life was spent in pure fear of what the next poop would bring. Now it's basically just normal life with a few concessions, which isn't 100% ideal, but is about 99% there, and hey that's life :)
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Re: Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby StevePain » 02 Dec 2010, 03:37

I'm 4 months post LIS, and still have discomfort after loose/runny BM's, as for the long term, I believe the prognosis to be good, like NG I eat McDonalds, Pizza and crisps and everything comes out better than before LIS, so my verdict is that LIS has been successful and it's now just a case of waiting for this thing to heal 100%, I feel about 98-99% better so I guess I could live with that in the long term anyway, as NG says - that's life!
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Re: Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby Guest » 02 Dec 2010, 09:22

I'm six weeks and it's the best thing I've ever did! To me it's an easy decision- live in hell with a fissure with painful poops, watching everything you put in your mouth, cleaning with wipes, showers,etc, putting on ointment to cure/soothe a fissure or Have the surgery and get rid of the spasms, poop easily,etc... Already at 6 weeks I'm eating more foods than I could with my fissure, no incontinence, able to sit anywhere. I'm still on the stool softeners, eating healthy with some junk and if I have to do this the rest of my life, It was a good trade off! The way I seen it was what did I have to lose?! My fissure altered my life. Some may be able to live and function with one but I wasn't.
I know three people(persoanlly) who have had LIS and all have said they haven't had any trouble since and would do it again.
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Re: Life (long-term) after LIS?

Postby Guest » 02 Dec 2010, 09:31

like to add: I agree all the past LIS-ers who have disappeared don't need this board anymore, so that's the long term results of Lis in my opinion :)
Honestly unless something comes out of no-where, I don't feel I need this board like I did pre-LIS. I just want to help a few others the way I was... Image
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