Apart from saying hello on the intro page, this is my first real AF Q post. A short version of my history is that about 4 months ago I noticed a spot of fresh blood on the TP after fairly non-traumatic BM after which my butt got increasingly painful & sore in the following days. So off to my local doc. who couldn't see anything wrong but suggested an ointment in case she had missed a hard to see AF. No improvement, in fact got worse, so then saw local CRS. He said I had 2 small healing AFs and it was a fairly mild case of AF compared with others he sees. Suggested Retogaesic and await developments but no improvements and pain continued and was now preventing sleep and really taking my life away. CRS seemed surprised but said lets go to botox as phase 2. Botox didn't seem to help much but the CRS nurse suggested some small doses of Valium as well. Turned out a dose in the evening pretty much meant I was pain free at night and at least could sleep normally again. I know my muscles are relaxed because occasionally I can't prevent myself passing wind (oops) so the treatment has done the relaxing that its supposed to do. I have done all the right things as per advice on this forum to make sure my BMs are soft and pass easily and have a sitz bath afterwards. Apart from the blood spot on the first day the trouble started I have never had any more signs of blood which I assume suggests the AFs have healed or almost healed. Also I don't have any real noticeable pain when actually passing BMs, it cuts in pretty much straight afterwards. Also had lots of tests including colonoscopy, whats called a cisto' (kind of same as the colonoscopy but goes all the way up the front & into the bladder), an abdomen ultrasound and a pelvic scan--all clear. So whats my problem?
Well, about 2 and a half months post botox I still have the strong pain and soreness daily which I would have at least expected to have slackened off somewhat by now if the AFs have (presumably)healed. Am I looking for this to be over too quickly and/ or does any residual spasm or pain hang around after healing? Should I be expecting improvements monthly not daily or weekly? I know others on here have had 2 or 3 rounds of botox but was any of this after it looked like their AFs had healed but they still had pain.
Because I would normally be expected to be better than I am at this point I think I'm a bit of a mystery to my CRS and if there is no improvement this month I am booked into a specialist CR diagnostic clinic about 2 and half hours drive(ouch) away for a 100% going over, an experience I suspect will not be for the faint hearted
Sorry for the long post but I'm wondering if anyone has gone thru' a similar experience and I'm being too impatient in wanting my normal life back.