Hi all,
I've had my AF for about 5 weeks now and I think I'm starting to make progress. I've changed my diet and have added MiraLax which has greatly helped in softening my stools and I no longer feel it tearing every time I have a BM. I am also no longer seeing blood, and before there was a lot.
Unfortunately, I've recently started feeling a dull ache in that region that doesn't feel like it's coming directly from the tear itself. It feels as if it's a bit up inside. It feels slightly better in the morning but after I have a BM when I wake up it sticks with me the rest of the day. It is more painful if I sit for a prolonged period of time, which I can't avoid as a college student. The pain also makes me feel like I have a stool that needs to come out but if I try and go I can tell that there's nothing actually there. Do I need to worry about this or is this pain I'm experiencing just spasm?
Any incite would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
P.S. My stools, although soft and easier to pass now, have also been a little more flat than round, is this normal?

Hi there,I was also getting this pain,deep and dull ache,and some time sharper pains.Im not sure if its spasms,although,that is what I thought they were.I think that its just the muscle is so sore that it spasms and we cant control that muscle.I took Robaxacet,an OTC muscle relaxer and found that really helped with it.It will get better as the fissure heals more.
Im not sure about the flat BM though

Yes, that sounds like a spasm alright. I'm sitting on a heating pad right now to relieve mine. Warm sitz baths are helpful too, but I don't like to spend so much time sitting in the tub twiddling my thumbs.
As for the flat stools, I've had those for years ever since my first fissure. There's nothing else wrong up there so I think it's because the sphincter is not behaving normally and the "tube" there is a bit deformed from the spasms and scar tissue.

Thanks to both of you for the information. I guess I will quit worrying about it and let it heal! Take care and best of luck to both of you as well.