Hi everyone! I have been suffering with AF since September 2010, about 4 weeks after I had my son. Everyone told me the first BM after you have a baby hurts like hell but mine was a breeze! It was a month or so later at home that I remember screaming in the bathroom! I knew I had a few hemmies from the delivery but had only occasional discomfort from them so at the time I thought that was what my pain was from. After suffering for hours every day for a week I scheduled an appointment with my OBGYN. She prescribed me hydro-cortisone, told me to take Metamucil, and sit in the tub. So I did...and a week later went back because my pain was even worse! She referred me to the gastroenterologist who didn't even examine me, just wrote me yet another hydrocortisone rx and said it was normal for hemorrhoids to hurt for hours everyday!! What???
So, fed up and completely miserable taking care of my infant son all by myself everyday, I searched around until I found the closest CRS in my area...an hour and a half away! I made a appointment, took my son to daycare, saw the doctor and got diagnosed with hemorrhoids AGAIN! I toughed it out until March 2011 following the hemmie care routine before going back. He examined me again and TA-DA! found a fissure! Started me on diltiazem ointment, told me to get in the tub lots more, and gave me some lidocaine cream to help on tough days. So finally in August 2011, I finally felt like my fissure was healed but was still having pain pooing but I thought a new little hemmie was to blame. I went back to see my CRS today and he told me I didn't have a new hemmie but a skin tag, from a new fissure! Seriously?!? He is giving me 2 weeks to try and get this one on the road to recovery before he wants to try anal dilation and possibly LIS. He said my sphincter was so tight that he could barely see what was going on. So now I'm upset, terrified, and so let down. I healed my first fissure only to get another, it's not fair in the slightest.
Ok if you have read all this, you're a saint! Thank you for letting me cry and share my story!

I would read up on dialation. From my research before my LIS it's an outdated method. Usually it's LIS or Botox. I might even consider looking for a new CRS. I am a strong believer in speaking up at the dr office if your not being treated right or listened too. Or find a new doc. You have to look out for yourself. I hope you find relief I know the pain is ridiculous. Know that there are many of us on here praying for you and we understand the pain.

Dilatation is not only outdated but is considered barbaric, but I do believe this method can also work, personally I'd opt for LIS though as it's the more preferred method, seek advice from another doc or CRS if you're not satisfied.

I totally agree with Tony and Steve. Dialation is a very old practice and can do more harm than good, from what I hapve read. Find a new Dr and see what they say. Ask lots of questions and if you don't get the answer you want search for another. Sorry to hear you are miserable!! We all know that pain. Yesterday was a bi*ch of a day for me, spasms all freakin day. I stayed home and took a Xanax to relieve them and slept. Feel better soon!!

Thanks everyone! I'm really, really, really hoping I can heal it on my own again. I'm terrified of surgery, plus I don't have any help during the day with my son so I don't know how I would even recover from it.
I'm really not sure how I feel about the whole dilation thing, he explained it to me, saying he used the regular dilators that he normally uses in surgery and I would be under anesthesia for it all. He also says he is very conservative when doing LIS, I feel pretty comfortable with him. I just don't want surgery period! Has anyone on here been able to get their muscles to relax in a less invasive way? Has muscle relaxers helped anyone?
Thanks for all the responses!

Hi Finnsmom! I'm so sorry you have to be here, but it is good that you are. There are lots of folks here who understand what you are going through and can offer great help.
Your story is so familiar it makes me furious! Doctors are always giving us freakin hemmie ointments and hydorcortisone and they make things worse! ARG!!
I really wish these docs would go back to med school and get more eductated about fissures!
The dilation procedure does sound kind of scary. I've read that new techniques have been developed that make it less risky, but the folks here are right - it is considered out-dated, according to much of the literature I read and an LIS is considered the gold standard (I did TONS of reserach before my LIS). I agree with the advice others have given - get a second or eve a third opinion and ask a lot of questions. We can help you put together a list too - quite a few of us posted the list of questions we brought to our docs.
Don't be afraid of the LIS - it gave many of us our lives back. It's not fun, but it has a very high success rate and a pretty low complication rate.
I did use muscle relaxants when I had my fissure (extra-strength Robaxacet), and they took the edge off the pain, but I still couldn't function. The pain got crazy bad and the muscle relaxant just helped me not to scream in agony for six hours everyday, but I still wasn't able to function properly. You can use them to cope with the pain, but if your fissure is chronic, then it's unlikely that they will make much of a difference to healing.
Don't despair! The surgery isn't as bad as it seems and it has really helped many of us here. You can beat this beast!

Hi hope! Thanks for replying! I guess my biggest hang up with the surgery is will it fix me? I hate to go through this long recovery to still have pain everyday! Since you've had it maybe you can tell me, after you have LIS do you ever feel "back to normal"?

Hi again FinnsMom - the LIS did fix my fissure in a few weeks - which was great!
Unfortunately, I suffered a wee complication(boo!). The incision site healed over a bit too quickly and formed a small abscess and then a small fistula. My doc fixed me up with a minor surgery, called a fistulotomy. All that kinda sucked, and abscesses and fistulas are possible complications of an LIS. (this but it isn't very common, so don't worry! Only us lucky people get to have two butt surgeries!). The fistulotomy was a breeze and after about two weeks I was getting back to my normal life.
So, the short answer is, if it hadn't been for my silly abscess, I would have been back to my normal self in about three weeks. I am very glad I got it, even though I did have a complication, because I have my life back now, I feel better than I have felt in a year, and I'm smiling and happy and enjoying life now after such a long time suffering!
The LIS has really helped a lot of folks here, and even those who have had complications, like me, don't regret having it done. There are a few cases here where the LIS didn't quite work, but I don't think there is any case where the LIS made things worse than the fissure. Others can chime in if I'm wrong about that. It is possible that the LIS won't fix the fissure. That usually happens when the surgeon doesn't cut enough. In those cases, often a second surgery will do the trick (a few boardies here had to get a second LIS and then healed). Mostly what you'll find on this forum are people saying they wished they hadn't waited so long.
I was having the same worries as you, but I decided I'd rather be in pain with the chance of healing instead of being in pain with no chance of healing. But surgery is a very personal decision. You will know when, and if, you need it. The surgeons you consult may even offer alternatives, like botox, to try first.
I hope this helps!

Just to help..
for success of LIS without complications and is better off with their life, u may read up posts from dawn and tonystone.
For LIS with some complications, you may read on hopetoheal and val's posts.
For conservative treatments and has healed/almost healed, you may read up the thread "My success story".

I would get another opinion Finns Mom. Ask around and see what they say. I must admit i do not know anything about dilation, but I have been given the option of botox. I have been told that it may be effective in helping to heal, as my fissure is superficial now apparantly. I was told its a way to try and make it heal without the risk of permanent incontinence. I know others on here think LIS is the way to go, I am trying to botox to see how it goes. I may be able to update you about botox after the 21st November!! Can't comment on LIS as not got that far yet! Good luck with everything :)