Thanks Cheryl! I'm hoping that this thread will become the story of someone whose fissure healed without surgery, and then I can join your ranks! Otherwise it will be the story of someone who thought they were healing and went through a lot of ups and downs. It's tough when you don't know how the story will end!

I was about to write a post today about how I've hardly had any pain or uncomfortableness at all for the past three days, and that I MUST be healing, and at a fast pace now ... but tonight... I have to admit that I pushed just a tiny, tiny little bit... a very tiny bit!... and boom, blood on the TP.
So this tells me, either 1) less pain doesn't necessarily mean healing ... or 2) this %&#*! fissure is extremely fragile!
Hmmmm.....

That's what happened to me a couple of months ago, just pushed a bit too hard and BOOM!!! bleeding and pain.. Since then I've learnt not to push unless absolutely necessary, easier said than done when you've had a lifetime of bad toilet habits.

Yes, I should have know better... even though it was just the tiniest bit of pushing. I think other factors are involved... I have a deadline coming up and am stressed about it. Plus, I've felt so well, I've been eating bigger portions of chicken (more than 1/2 a breast) and I succumbed and had a baguette for breakfast last weekend. I think these things threw my digestion out of balance.... for now! Back to the straight and narrow...

I push with every BM i have and it's something i've done for as long as i remember. It's not like im trying to push a football through a pinhole but still.
So far i haven't had any noticeable zingers for the past week. The only pain that remains is from this skintag/wound and it's not so much full blown pain but more of a continously present ache.
But so far pain has subdued a whole lot compared to previously.

I have to travel this weekend, and be away from home for a few days. It will be the first time I leave home since I got the fissure in November. Taking my "butt bag" and all the necessary potions. The challenge will be making sure I eat the right things while away. Also, my butt knows when it's away from home, and doesn't usually adjust and cooperate (the regular BM timing goes out the window). So, I hope Movicol will help me through this!
Good luck with your sigmoidoscopy on Monday mk!

Thanks, good luck with the trip :)

I push too, mk87, but I am terrified that I have done very bad damage to the skin next to the A. I have tried recently not to push, and have been eating a bit of whole wheat (ground) bread every evening to try and make things easier. I never know which day will be good/bad. I think I have only had a few "zingers" if these are painful contractions of the internal spincter? Awful. I am off for my first appointment with a specialist in just over a week, so will see what he has to say. Fed up with this.

Never had much trouble with BM in my life, couple of small tears every once in a while but they always healed over night (had them ever since i was young and i was never surprised to see a little bit of blood on the paper ). I push with every BM since i can remember. But i felt off in 2010 with problems with my stomach and feeling nausea and after 6 months of weirdness i felt better and then the wound occurred. So i believe there's a connection.
I think the fissure/wound is caused by something else. the pellet like tissue inside where the tag is connected to...

Hey mk--I worry about underlying causes too, like Crohn's. I have small tears pop up wherever they want to, not just in the typical 12:00/6:00 position (though the main fissures seem to be located there.
My CRS used an anoscope and on the day of my visit I was feeling pretty good, so he didn't see any tears. I have tissue adjacent to the fissure that feels like you describe, but he didn't say anything about it.

My sphincter is really, really tight though...he could tell that much, so I hope the surgery (March 23) works out well for me and stops all the tearing. If not.....I don't even want to think about it.