I have been playing the Anal Fissure song and dance for over 8 months now. You know the routine, one step forward…..two steps back. I feel like my fissure is healing (self diagnosis) but now I experience pain about 4 hours after a BM. It does hurt just a bit when I go, then I am almost pain free for an hour or so then something swells up and I have pain. I can see something externally down there. So my Question is how can I tell if I have a hemmie or a sentinel pile? What should I look for?????
Although I do not post a lot of things on the forum I just want you all to know that I read most of your postings and I feel your pain. I pray everyday for all of us to be pain free and completely healed. I feel that my progress is due to all the great advice I have gotten from reading your entries. Thank you all so much!
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Hey there!
A sentinel pile and hemorrhoid look very much the same (I have had both). I think the pain you are experiencing 4 hours post-bm is probably spasms. I sometimes have very little pain during a bm but an hour later or more the pain will kick in.
I am glad to hear you are feeling like you are making progress with you healing. I would think if you were going to have a sentinel pile with your fissure you probably would have had one by now. I am wondering if it is a hemorrhoid.
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i went to 2 different doctors who both told me my sentinel pile was an external hemmorhoid, which shows you how similar they can look. i don't know much about hemmorhoids and the type of pain they cause, but i would suggest having a dr take a look.

Hmm have you had the chance to show any doctors? Does it actually hurt when you touch it? Do you experience any itchiness?
(just trying to decipher what it could be)

A sentinel pile is scar tissue. A hemmie is a blood vessel, but it can cause a sentinel pile of srots when the blood vessel deflates and you are left with excess skin. Hemmies can also cause scar tissue.

if you are getting swelling, I think it might be a hemmie. My hemmis tends to act up when my butt is in spasm, cuts down the flow of blood, and since the cause of hemmies is blood pooling in a vessel, the spasm causes flares. There is some lit that suggests tight sphincters are one cause of hemmies.