So I have found this rather strange in my stool softener saga. I started taking Miralax back in November and found it to be much more reliable than Colace. There is no doubt it helped consistently keep my stools soft. I was taking only a very small amount- about 1 teaspoon (1/4 a dose) at night. Then after LIS I upped that to almost a full dose while on the pain meds and then kept it at around 3 teaspoons for a couple of weeks. I started to have occasional really loose stools when I backed down to around 2 1/2 teaspoons and have been gradually reducing it. Then starting about a week or so ago I started having burning in my tummy and more of the really loose stools until the past few days have been 4-5 watery stools a day at times. So on Saturday, after only taking 3/4 a teaspoon the night before and spending a lot of time in the bathroom, I thought I should just stop it. And I didn't take anything that day or yesterday (which was scary- 5 weeks post LIS and doing well, but not wanting to mess that up!). Today I still had a couple of fairly lose stools and the crampy, burny feeling. I find it odd that I am having more trouble suddenly when I am taking such a small amount. I know I could have a touch of something, but have no other symptoms really. So tonight I am taking 1 teaspoon of Benefiber before dinner in the hopes that it will help even things out and be insurance against a sudden hard BM. Hopefully that will be ok. I am a little nervous about the change and am tempted to just take nothing for a few days but I'm scared to. I am still trying to eat a good diet and definitely am on top of the water consumption! Seeing that many people on here have had success with Benefiber, I guess it probably will be ok with such a small dose.
Bambi

Bambi,
I think you'll be fine with Benefiber, it doesn't cause big hard stools. In fact I think it works to soften them.
I'm neurotic about the supplements right now wondering if I should switch back to Metamucil. I really liked it, it helped me in ways that Benefiber doesn't, but before LIS it made me tear more because of the bigger stools it caused. Maybe it won't now though, but I'm a little scared to try.
Do you suppose the day will ever come when we don't have to obsess about our butts?

I don't know, Alpine! I would love to see that day come, but I was just having a little bit of an anxiety attack a few minutes ago. The reality is I am doing well, but I get really scared. It is the anniversary of my fissure getting really bad and coming back and staying just about 1 year ago exactly. I swear we do have some degree of post traumatic stress disorder! Thanks- I wish Metamucil had been better for me, too, because from what I understand Benefiber doesn't have the added benefit of reducing cholesterol which would be a nice added side benefit for me. Oh well. I suspect that I am already feeling better off the Miralax. I don't know why it suddenly was no longer tolerated by my body. But I was getting nervous about going out and not being able to get to a bathroom on time. Also I just think I feel "better" in some intangible way off the Miralax- I always did think it made me feel odd and I think it was making me retain fluid. A great stool softener and a blessing for me for a while, but I got forced into changing in the end. Take good care. I hope you are continuing to do well and are ignoring those dust bunnies!
Bambi

What about Citrucel Bambi? I know you tried that one too and didn't like it, but do you remember if it caused big stools? I want to try something other than Benefiber but I don't know what right now.
I get really anxious too. I always have runaway thoughts and it just gets ridiculous! My mom's neighbor had fissures once and when she went in to do the surgery, they discovered that she had cancer that was causing them. So they didn't even do the surgery, they woke her up and told her she had cancer. She had to do radiation instead and she's okay now, but she went through hell. Obviously that's a pretty rare thing to have happen, but before the surgery I kept thinking...what if they wake me up and tell me they couldn't do it because I have cancer?
You see, this is why I need a standing prescription for Ativan.
I've had negative thoughts like this my whole life...I just get anxious sometimes, like especially before my period. I know it's just my mind playing tricks on me and probably 85% of the awful scenarios I envision will never come to pass.
Miralax makes me feel weird too, or at least it did at first. That's why I started and stopped it so many times before I figured out that my body would get used to it eventually and I wouldn't feel as weird. You're right, it's been a blessing to have it. I only had to take about 1 teaspoon too, every day and it pretty much stopped all the fissure pain and bleeding. But I hope eventually that I don't need it, at least not every day.
I hope the Benefiber works well for you! A lot of people really like it. You take care too! Keep us posted on your husband as well. I've been thinking about you both.

Hi Alpine- How are you doing, by the way? I hope things are progressing well for you. I took the Benefiber last night before dinner and this morning had two formed, but soft bowel movements so far. I have to say that you and I sound very much alike. I really have to fight off my tendency to imagine the awful things that can happen. And I have always had a superstition about the first couple of weeks of April. As a child in south Texas, I always had really bad allergies and really didn't feel well in the spring. On top of that, several unfortunate things have actually happened to me in my life that occurred around this time of year- a bad breakup, this fissure happening, some unfortunate job issues. So I am really fighting these feelings off this week. It doesn't help that my husband's cystoscope is this Thursday the 31st. Maybe that will break the curse of these dates- I certainly hope we get good news and that is the case. My husband was just telling me that I have become such a "glass is half empty" person lately. He is right. It comes from my difficulty in actually rejoicing and enjoying the fact that things are better without fearing how I will deal with things if it all gets worse again. Gradually I am realizing (at least my rational self) that this surgery has a high success rate for a reason and even if something happens it will get better more quickly. Are you also a very sensitive person emotionally and physically? I am and so the very minor irritation I feel this morning from the tiniest bit of leakage that people talk about has me so annoyed. I really don't like it when my clothes even touch me- tags, etc... bother the heck out of me. And I often really feel that I can detect what others are thinking and feeling and pick up on negative energy around me and get drained by it (like in meetings, etc...). Just curious if you fit that mold too? I could use a standing prescription for some anti-anxiety meds, that's for sure. And I have also been like this as long as I can remember. A very anxious little kid...
Bambi

Oh yes, I'm very oversensitive emotionally.
I can easily get my feelings hurt, and I think that's why I choose to withdraw from interacting too much with other people. I do have a great circle of friends that I love, but I'll never be one of those with 400 facebook friends. I prefer a smaller circle of close friends to hundreds of acquaintances. That, and I just love to be alone...take walks in the woods by myself, garden, read books, and be with my family and my pets. I grew up in a very rural area as an only child so I'm accustomed to, and crave, solitude. I'm an anxious little introvert.
I'm praying your husband's scope goes really well and you can enjoy your trips! A trip sounds so nice, and you deserve a good time after everything you've been through.
I'm doing fairly well. I have some pain but it's just more an annoyance than anything at this point. It's hard to look normal when I'm walking and I'm very slow, so I've been having my husband take the little one to preschool still. I'm feeling pessimistic about the surgery too for some reason, I don't know why but I just assume I'm going to need another one. I feel like I was just so tight before that one cut isn't going to do it...I guess time will tell though and the odds are in my favor. I don't think the surgeon removed any skin tags or did anything but the LIS. My tags aren't bugging me anyway and they're very small. One I've had for as long as I can remember and the other came after the fissure, but neither one cause me pain so I'm glad he didn't bother cutting there.
I had a little of the leakage the first few days but it's stopped. I've had no gas incontinence or any other incontinence, which is great, but I hope he wasn't too conservative with his cut! The bruising has faded but things still look swollen a bit, and I'm sure they are.
Well, I'm trying the Citrucel. I'm nervous about it but my system has just been sluggish since the surgery and I need something more than Benefiber to get it going again. I hope it doesn't hurt me...

I also enjoy being alone, Alpine, and really need that time to regenerate- always have. I don't want to be alone alone, I'll make that clear, but a few hours when I'm all by myself and know I have loved ones who will return at some point is actually pretty heavenly to me. My sister, on the other hand, can't stand to be by herself. I prefer the way I am of the two! I also have a very close circle of friends- I just came back from lunch with them. We all worked together and are now retired together. They are all amazing and a big support. Even that leaves me drained though- the social interaction.
I forgot to answer your Citrucel query. I really probably wasn't fair to it as I was taking it at the same time as something else and never simply by itself. It seemed to really increase my gassiness- even after the first week or so- and I was going to the bathroom a lot. May not have had anything to do with the Citrucel actually. If the Benefiber doesn't work for me then I will try it again, but this time maybe introduce it by itself so I can tell.
I forget how far out from your surgery you are- several weeks? At around 2-4 weeks, I felt pretty down at times and convinced it wasn't going to make a long term difference. Right around 4-5 weeks, I saw a much bigger change. I think it's great you didn't feel the need to have the tags removed. Mine was really becoming swollen and irritated to the point that it was really what was bothering me the most pre-surgery. But it has also bothered me the most post-surgery, but at least now I know it is healing and going away.
My point is- from one worrier to another- keep the faith, because I think this actually did work for me. And after my surgery, the Dr. told my husband that I was "very very tight" and my sphincter was "very spastic". So I had that lingering doubt like maybe I'll need to have another one. But I think all is going to eventually settle in and be good. Right now at 5 1/2 weeks, it is the very very minor leakage thing combined with the more easily irritated healing skin tag area that bothers me just a little bit. Keeping it in perspective, it is not that big of a deal and from what others have said, that minor "I don't feel quite clean" feeling with the tiny bit of leakage goes away. I feel like things are "settling in" and my muscles are learning a new way of being. I have really noticed a change in how I pee now as well- I have a much slower stream and partly I try to avoid pushing in that area as much as possible. But I think everything was slightly impacted in a very minor way and I can feel it all resolving each day.
Hang in there and hope the Citrucel helps.
Bambi