Hello All
I been lurking on these boards for a while now and i must admit this site is very very helpful.
I am a healthy 30 year old male who has been fighting a CAF for about 4-5 months now, i spent the last 4-5 years of my life living in war zones and looked at death in the face sometimes, and it really didn't bother me as much as this F@#$$# AF. I use to weight 195-197 am down to 179 due to lack of eating. I use to bench press 225-250 am down to 120 if that due to lack of training. This problem has made my life a living hell. I use to think of my self as a guy who is tough as nails but this makes me wanna cry sometimes. My entire life has been an adventure and this problem is making me plan my whole life around it.
It all started back in Feb, I had a mild case of hemorrhoids I think the main reason was leg pressing too much weight at the gym, anyhow I went to my GP he gave me some cream and it was problem solved. about a month later the hemmies came back and this time i had what he called a thrombosed hemmi, make a long story short i went and saw a CRS he grabbed a scalpel cut it out and i felt great. The CRS also gave some something called COLACE I went home that night had plenty of water took colace for about 2-3 days then i finally had a BM, It was the hardest BM i have ever had and that's how i got my AF I also think that washing my self down there with soap and body wash made the problem worse. So the agony begins.
I went back to the CRS 2 weeks later telling him about the pain, he examined me and said "wow that pretty deep I can see muscle" He said my options are cream's, botox, or surgery. So I started using infidipine 0.2% after a couple of weeks I thought "this is great stuff" then i had a retear I went back to the CRS after being violated once again, he said "well its healing" I also had a skin tag removed which hurt like hell when i got home. 2 weeks ago i went back to the CRS and said " i want surgery" he replied by saying "slow down champ, if you knew what i knew you would not be asking for surgery" he explained to me that being young and having an active life style i don't need to risk having incontinence. He also mentioned that the AF that i have is very small about the size of 2 pencil tips. So I asked him for Nitro, he prescribed something called RECTIV which costs like $500 dollars (welcome to America, where "we the corporations" own this place). I went to my GP and asked him to prescribed me NITRO 0.4% am supposed to pick it up next week from the compounding pharmacy.
I am just sick of all the sits bath's, high fiber diets, 44 gallon's of water a day, I still try to work out when i can, I actually feel better when i do workout. I missed to weekend getaways Vegas, and Miami due to this problem. I really wanna move on to botox, or LIS surgery so i scheduled to see a different CRS who is also highly experienced in this field.
For now I have good days, ok days and days where am on my knees begging God for mercy.
Any input or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Lionheart. I think AF could make Hurcules fall to his knees and cry! I definately think you need a second opinion. He himself said it was deep but then he says it's not so bad? I hope you find someone you can trust and heal quickly.

Hey Pat, thanks for the reply.
I did make an appointment with a second CRS this second one came highly recommended by my GP hes been a CRS since 1974, I can't wait to see him on the 18th of July.
NOTE: this is how bad things get when you have an AF you look forward to seeing a CRS even though we know that we will be violated lol.

sorry to hear this - your story sounds similar to mine. I have gone from hellish pain - to sort of manageable. Tried everything known to man - my fissure and spasms are much better - but i never goes away completely.
I saw a highly regarded CRS - he said I had a fissure but didn't recommend surgery. His plan for fissures is:
- no alcohol, caffeine, pop or chocolate
- bland food only
- keep the area dry - he said no sitz baths
- no creams of any kind
- metamucil
-no wiping down there, use a bidet
He said it would go away in 6 to 12 months - its been a year following that plan - I am better but its you know...still there
good luck to you!

Thank you,
You know I think a CAF need's some kinda intervention
I doubt that creams are gonna do the trick especially those of us who are always active and seem to be very tight down there.
I hardly drink alcohol maybe a couple of beers for the whole week. Pretty much i been doing the same thing your doing and its been 5 hellish months now.
I can't wait to see a second CRS and for some reason i have a good feeling about BOTOX i don't know why but i wanna try it.
Thanks and good luck to you.