Hello everyone! I'm new to the board, but have had fissure problems for years, that have turned in to quite a mess in the last couple months! I'm finding it really helpful for my emotional well being if I actually talk about my fissures, so this support forum seems like a great place!
So anyhow here is my fissure story:
I believe I've been getting fissures since I was about 20 years old (I'm 34 now). In the past however, there wasn't much pain and it always went away after a few baths and a little bit of hydro cortisone cream.
Fast forward to February and I was having acid-reflux problems. Self medicating, I took a bunch of tums and other acid reflux meds and got nice and constipated. I had a terrible, terrible constipated bowel movement where I was pushing way too hard, and that's when my current nightmare began.
For the first month, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I started taking the baths when the pain got so bad (excruciating bad), but didn't change my diet or habits at all. Then when things didn't seem to heal, I started freaking out!
I started scouring the web, but still wasn't sure if I had a fissure or a hemorrhoid. I wasn't ready to go to the doctor yet, as the last time I had gone they had just sent me off with some hydro cortisone cream without much direction.
So I made a radical lifestyle change... I started eating a ton of fiber, and basically went to an all natural diets (lots of fruits and veggies, salads, cereals, and smaller portions of chicken and fish). I got really regular so that I would have a BM every morning and got in the bath right afterwards!
I started drinking massive amounts of water, and took some colace for a few days. I also stopped some of the really intense workouts I had been doing (thinking it might be a hemorrhoids).
Anyhow, I lost 20 pounds over about 2 month, big plus! My fissure started feeling better, but then I had a bad day.... and things got worse again. I seemed to keep getting better, but then take a couple steps back. This damn fissure is frustrating!!!
Finally today I went to a colo-rectal surgeon to get checked out. I wanted a definitive explanation from an expert... I was really freaking out that I could have some really major problems.
So the surgeon looked for about 30 seconds (which was just a little painful, not nearly as bad as I though it would be) and said I had two fissure ... one on the top and one on the bottom.
So this time I walk away with some nifedipine as a first course of action. I'm going to keep up the good habits for the time being and use this cream, and pray that I won't need the dreaded LIS surgery! Wish I hadn't waited so long to get to the doc... I'll keep posted on how the nifedipine works!