by Bambi » 27 Jul 2011, 10:16
Oh wow Sandi- I was so where you are several months ago. Just couldn't stand the thought of surgery and fought against it so hard, thinking I just hadn't found the right thing that would rid me of this without surgery. Now I just wish I had done the surgery sooner . Like others have said, not to make light of surgery, but the aftermath is different than the actual fissure pain- pain, but more of a sore, deep pain where the incision was and not so much the being stuck with a knife repeatedly pain. And it is the beginning of healing. I was like you and almost canceled my surgery. I originally had an appointment with the general surgeon my family Dr recommended and met with his assistant. This was early during a month period when I had relief and so it didn't make sense to do surgery then. Then while in Texas visiting my sister, the day we were leaving for a beach stay, the thing returned. She knew of my problem and was sad for me . She works in a peridontist's office and she encouraged me to seek out a specialist- a CRS. Her analogy made sense to me in that I've had many a root canal. She said you wouldn't have gum surgery at your regular dentist and they usually send you to a root canal specialist because your roots are so small. Why wouldn't you find a good specialist for this? So when I got home, I did just that. It took a while to see him and he wanted to try a couple of rounds of Botox first, but eventually surgery is what did the trick. And it takes a while to feel "normal" for some of us- I am now eating much more like I used to, only healthier. I have a slightly different bathroom morning routine, but nothing that involves crying and wanting to end it all. And in the past two weeks, I have noticed big change in the area- I had a skin tag removed and that has been very sensitive where the scar tissue is externally. Several of us have this issue and I have to say, mine is getting better. If you have not developed a skin tag yet, all the better! Because you are where I was- 3 or 4 good days and then 3 or 4 bad days and it made it very confusing to decide if I should really have the surgery. A friend said, you might as well get the real healing to begin and be on that road instead of this up and down thing you are on now. Very good advice. These things trick you into thinking they are gone and then resurface and I'm convinced for some of us, surgery is really the best answer.
By the way, I have flexeril in my cabinet because I used to take it every night for fibromyalgia. I never once thought to try it for this purpose, but it makes some sense to me. I agree with Dawn that is it helps you in the interim to have less pain and spasms, go for it. But I wouldn't count on it being a "cure".
Bambi
And Dawn, what would I have done without you, NG, and HappyAss??