I have asked a bit about this before. I have been experiencing sharp glass like pain coming from way inside my anus when having a BM, and a sorness on the skin out side same side the internal pain is coming from, this is nowhere near my fissure which is on the oppossite side! i thought of internal hemorrhoids, but internal ones do not course pain? does anyone know what could be causing this sharp pain?. I also have a skin tag.
Thanks.

I am worried it could be a fistula, is this possible? i have no bleeding or pus though????

My understanding is that the sharp pain is the fissure pain. It may be the fissure you know about - I gather that the pain can feel like it is a different place then the actual fissure. However, it could also be another fissure. They could be further up .... some of my fissures couldn't be seen from the outside. My pain always feels like it is 'inside' though, even when there are clear fissures externally.
So, I don't think it's anything to worry about - other than the normal worry that goes along with this darn business. That said, do talk to your doctor about it if you are worried.

Idol, I don't know whether your fissure is chronic or acute, but I suspect if it's chronic, the pain could be coming from muscle spasms deep inside. I would often experience the same thing.
After the BM it would also hurt to sit down. Not just because it hurt the fissure, but because I had this awful sensation of pressure, like there was an orange inside there or something! It's hard to describe it but I know now for sure that it was the muscle spasms that caused this. Surgery put an end to that.
There are so many weird sensations caused by fissures and it can be very anxiety provoking. It helped me to remember that this is not a life threatening condition, just an embarrassing and painful one.

Thanks guys. Alpine did you have LIS? its strange because where the fissure is there is no pain now just really sore on the opposite side. Im 90% sure the internal glass like pain came on after i got constipated, im still worried its a fistula though? can you recommend any suppositries for it? and can you get fissures way up inside??? thanks.

It is very chronic... 5 years! The skin tag now feels sore which it never used to, does it ever calm down?

Idol, I had my fissure for five years too. I had a 'fistula freakout' at one point, after I had the LIS because I had a pimple-like thing develop on the outside. It turns out it was just a pimple... :) The main thing to look for with a fistula would be discharge of pus, usually coming from what looks like a pimple near the anus, but I guess not necessarily if the fistula hasn't formed a tract leading to the outside yet. It almost never goes away without surgery. I really think there would be a noticeable discharge though. Granted I'm no fistula expert because I never had one. You may get better info from some of the threads written by people with actual fistulas!
I'm also not sure how far up inside a fissure can extend, but it's definitely true that they can be internal. How are you treating it? Are you taking any Miralax? Do you have a lot of bleeding? For me, Miralax was better for pain relief and stopping the bleeding than any ointment. It even took away the spasm pain I would get after the BM, but after five years of on/off pain with fissures, my poor rear had gotten so tight there was no help for it but LIS. Have you considered the surgery yet? One thing about it that's been a bit of a downer for me, is that it's taken a long time to heal from it. Not the incision itself; that healed fairly quickly, I just mean that I had several episodes of retears and bleeding that would occur every 4-6 weeks or so after I had the surgery. But just in the last couple of months things have gotten better (I had the surgery March 23 of last year). Now I feel like either the sphincter is stretching more easily or the skin has gotten stronger there or both. The last time I retore happened because I had a bout of stomach flu with horrible diarrhea followed by constipation. After that I started taking fish oil and evening primrose supplements and haven't had another retear, KOW.
I guess my point is that after 5 years, surgery is definitely worth it! 5 years is a long time and you're probably dealing with weak skin and scar tissue, so it may not be a quick fix for you, BUT I don't think it's anywhere near as risky as some doctors and some websites paint it to be. I'm not at all incontinent and I've had three babies. I hope you can find a permanent fix!

Alpine - so even after surgery you still had tears sweetie

Thank you Alpine... I'm on stool softners etc, Havn't had any bleeding for a long while thankfully, but this soreness on the outside of my skin is really painful and getting me down. I dont know if its coming from the skin tag, or from the inside where the glass like pain is coming from. Any ideas why its sore on the opposite side to the fissure on the skin part where there is nothing there and no fissure that side???? sorry if im repeating myself its just soooo frustrating after all this time. I'am thinking about surgery now btw. Thank you.'

Granny, yes I did have some retears...there are a few of us on this board that have had that happen after the surgery. Jen was one, and I have clung to her story in the hopes that I'd have the same experience; she just gradually got better and better as the months went by until she stopped tearing completely. Now it looks like I'm going to have the same experience... The general advice around here is to give yourself 6 months to one year after the surgery, to decide if you need more treatment.
Idol, the pain can migrate for some people. There are just so many nerves down there, it's like wires getting crossed sometimes. Skin tags can be very painful! I am weird in that I never had much of one, but a lot of other people, including Dawn, have said they hurt a lot. I hope you get to feeling better; I wouldn't be afraid of the surgery. Even though I've had a less-than-perfect recovery, I know I would not be feeling this good now if I hadn't had the surgery!