I have been lurking and reading a lot of stuff on this forum, and decided to join today. First of all, thanks to this forum and to you all for sharing your experiences and perspectives on the topic of AF. I have greatly benefited thus far, and hope to contribute to this forum.
I am male (almost 30), and had first AF back in Feb when I got a hard stool during a BM. Initially it felt like a regular pain in the butt that used to go away (when I ate spicy or strained too much), but this was to stay for a long time. I realized it to be AF, and visited by GI doc after 2 weeks. He prescribed me Nitro and told me to be on stool softeners. He did scare me off the Nitro by mentioning all the side effects. I ended up not using it at all. After using colace for a couple of days, the AF started to get better. BMs without pain made me really positive that it was healing. I dropped off the stool softener in a month, and went back to my normal schedule. Late April, I got those hard stool tip BMs continually for about 5 days until on the 6th when I think I re-tore the fissure (on another area though). I immediately started reading stuff on this forum, and saw that most folks were using Nitro with much success. I ended up applying it as the doc had suggested, and started the colace regimen again. The problem happened when colace stopped working, and I still got those painful initial hard tip BMs. 4 days ago I started using Miralax, and it was great. I did not have any more hard stools, and it seemed like it was working fine. Pain was going away, and I was able to drive. Had a great long weekend....
I however had scheduled a visit to CR doc 10 days ago when I was in severe pain to see if it was AF or something else. Today I had the appointment with him. I told him the same story, and he said - Let's check it out. He did the finger test first, and it did not hurt. Then he inserted the anoscope, and let me tell you - it was not fun. I was in sever pain right there, and I knew he had put in analgesics to numb the area. I asked him if this thing is going to create a problem tomorrow, and he said - Hopefully NOT. Well, while I was cleaning my butt, I saw blood in the napkins, and I got scared. I asked the doctor right then - what the hell is that? His response was that it was because of the telescope, and you should be fine.
Its been 5 hours now, and I am in severe pain. I am thinking why in the hell did I even go to the CR doctor when things were looking positive. I am just so disappointed today......I do not know if it caused another re-tear....
Anyways - I am hoping for the best, and hoping that things will be better by the weekend so that I can take a 6 hour flight for work. Did anyone else have an issue (pain/blood) while doing the anoscope exam? How did you deal with it?
I hope to keep posting here as you all look like a great bunch....

hi
these are the fears that i too have. that i need to be careful and also use my "gut" instincts now. its an important balance to learn. so sorry about your pain. I must say its encouraging that you have learned what works for you to heal and or feel relief and begin to heal. see you have figured out your individual needs to help yourself. as we need doctors i have learned its good to be proactive for ourselves as you have for yourself.
the doctors are so helpful with meds and advice. take what you can to forward your good pain free health.
i too am new here and have learned allot from people here. these are the people who have learned to be careful with themselves and what has worked for a person in pain, in many degrees. i listen to my doctor and evaluate.
a BIG point i learned a long time ago, to show this point is I had a hurt/injured horse i knew he was hurting and it was bad. a doctor wanted me to trailer him to a hospital to see where the pain was coming from. well i knew it was his hip and i knew he was in pain. I politely disagreed with the doctor and said, we know all of what is going on with him, a test won't tell me how to treat or heal him. There is no surgery for him, nothing that would benefit him would come from a test, I don't need him to possible NOT survive a test just to tell us he hurts, we already know that. I would like a treatment at this point if there is any. i did not want to risk further injury just to tell me what i already know.
Its that old, follow your gut/second opinion stuff. this is a learning experience that you just don't want to make the wrong decision, its why i find this board of value. the people are so nice. you can take a list of questions about something here you feel will work or ask about it.
i have found this board very helpful and we all know what we are dealing with. I like this forum as we get help and answers to treat and help us on our way to heal.

Oh no!! That sounds like a terrible experience. I just went to the specialist yesterday and told him not to even think about putting anything up my bum because I've been feeling good for the past 2 weeks and intend to keep it that way. He wants me to go to the hospital for a colonoscopy but I'm putting it off for some months because I'm scared of the consequences. You've definetly made me even more confident to put it off for a loooong time still.
I hope you feel better now, and don't feel too bad about the whole thing...although it's annoying I'd say if you've made yourself feel good before you can do it again! and at least you're smarter now and you can tell the doc what NOT to do next time you see him (although maybe you should see another one next time...)
Let us know how you go, okey.
Big hugs