Hi, so glad I've found this forum because trying to explain the pain to anyone who has not suffered a fissure just results in them looking at you sideways, thinking that you've obviously gone slightly mad...... actually, I feel like I'm nearly at that stage! I've had my chronic fissure for about 7 months. It scares me when I read of people who have had them for years! I'm 5 days on from having Botox and am still not finding relief from the ongoing pain - when does it start to kick in? I was told up to 2 weeks by the doctor but would like to hear from other people's experience?
My pain lasts all day, depending on when I had the BM, ie, if I go in the morning, I'm in pain till I go to bed at night. Sleep seems to be the only thing that relieves the pain, but sometimes I can't get to sleep BECAUSE of the pain! Pain killers seem to have no effect on me, even the strong ones...... which is why I'm writing this at 3am in the morning! At the risk of sounding like a whinger, I just feel like this is getting me down. Normally I'm a happy person, and I really try to put on a happy face but it's really getting hard to do that each day at work and also trying to stay upbeat and happy for my family - not nice for my kids to have a mum constantly in pain! My surgeon says I'm a good candidate for surgery, so have gone on the public waiting list which is about 6 months (can't afford to go privately but just forked out the money for the botox to try and get some relief - that's why I'll be really depressed if it doesn't work.....). Anyway, thanks for listening/reading - I'd love to hear from anyone else who is experiencing similar to me.....

Hey Nitsnz - welcome! I'm sorry you have to be here, of course. :) I completely understand what you're saying about nobody really getting the pain. You just have to experience it to really appreciate it! You are definitely not a whiner! Anybody dealing with a fissure should get every major awards for bravery and just plain grit there is!
I know the pain you are talking about. Are you taking sitz baths or soaking in a nice warm tub of water a few times a day? I found soaking in warm baths helped with the pain. Baths also help with healing because they stimulate blood flow in the but. I also used extra-strength Robaxacet - it's a muscle relaxant and painkiller. It helped bring the pain down to a managable level.
I'm sorry I can't offer very good advice because I didn't get botox (had an LIS in May), but I have read here that the botox can take more than a week to really kick in. I'm sure others who have had botox will chime in soon.
I hope you find relief very soon!

Hi hopetoheal! Thanks for the support! Yes, our water bill has increased significantly in the last few months, because soaking in the bath is some small relief (until I get out). I put Epsom Salts in too. How did you find the LIS surgery? I think that is the next option for me. Have you had good results from that?

LOL! I know about the water bill! I think I've grown gills. :D
My LIS surgery was successful, I'm happy to say. My fissure healed quite quickly. I did, however, develop an abscess at the incision site, which formed a small fistula, which required another surgery to fix
Unfortunately, that is a possible complication of an LIS, although I don't think it's all that common. To be honest, though, even the complication was better than the fissure. After the LIS, I never experienced the same level of pain again.
I had the LIS in May and the fistulotomy in late June. If I hadn't had the complication, I very likely would have been completely recovered in about three weeks to a month.
As for the surgery itself ... well, I'm not the best person to describe it because in Canada we have ridiculously long wait times and I was desparate. So I went to a semi-private clinic where they don't believe in pain-management, and they only use a local anasthetic for all butt surgeries. Now, it is possible to have an LIS done with just a local anasthetic - people here have had that done with not too much trouble. My real problem was that my surgeon happened to be the Marquis de Sade's evil twin brother - So my surgery hurt way more than it had to. Other boardies here have been put under general anesthetic for the LIS and they were pleasantly surprised that the whole ordeal wasn't nearly as bad as they expected it to be. I was put under a general for the fistula surgery and it was no big deal at all - piece of cake!
For both my butt surgeries, the first few days were rough; but after the first week, things improved pretty quickly. By two weeks I was really starting to feel like a human being again, and by one month I felt like I got my life back.
Doctors tell us that we can go back to work in two or three days - that's bunk! (They do tend to significantly underestimate recovery time.) Most of us agree that two weeks is best. The normal time-frame for a fissure to heal is 6 to 8 weeks, and sometimes longer; but many of us start to feel much better even before our fissures are fully healed. Not having the evil spasm pain really helps!
There are lots of great posts here describing surgery experiences, post surgery experiences and so on. If you stumble across my scary surgery story, don't be alarmed. I don't think there are many surgeons out there as batty as mine was, and I did survive and recover after all that too :D
Well! That was the short answer! I hope that was somewhat helpful. :D

That's really helpful! Thanks for sharing!!! I know about these ridiculously long wait times - even when I wanted to go private I had to wait 2 months! My first "inspection" down there was by another surgeon who, after introducing himself, told me he used to be a dairy farmer and was "quite used to sticking his arms up cow's rear ends" (his words). Well, he pretty much treated me like a "cow", and I came away with a re-opened fissure and was black and blue from the bruising!!!! Wasn't a happy girl, especially as he said at that stage the fissure had pretty much healed before the dairy farm operation came into effect!!!!! I have made sure that surgeon isn't an option for me when I do eventually have the operation (if the botox doesn't do it's trick). How's Canada at present? I hope you are going to have a wonderful Christmas and new year with family and friends. New Zealand is very hot at present, muggy!

I'm happy to share! :D Oh my goodness! A dairy farmer?!?! Yikes! I'm so glad you're going to another surgeon. Wow - some doctors are so rough. You're very brave! I met quite a few who really didn't understand the pain I was in and they were rough and indifferent. Geez! :roll:
It's cold up here now - I'll take some of that nice hot weather you've got if you can send it up here. I hate cold! But I admit, it can be pretty when the snow is fresh. I'd love to go to New Zealand one day. It looks breathtakingly beautiful. I'm definitely planning on having a nice Christmas - I hope you have a great holiday too. :D