Hi everyone,
Just want to say thank you for having this forum available, I have been reading all your posts for a while now, and they have been really helpful. It's just nice to know that there are other people out there who deal with this every day.
My story begins with a horrible case of food poisoning (my father's girlfriend undercooked turkey- we are pretty sure she was trying to kill us all!). Everyone who was at dinner got really sick, my brother got a hernia from vomiting so much! After the food poisoning, I began to notice pain when I would go to the bathroom, just during BM, but it got to the point where it was pretty severe, so I made an appointment with at GI doc.
He told me I had a fissure (did a quick exam) and gave me hydrocortisone suppositories and suggested I do a colonoscopy. The suppositories seemed to help and then I did the colonoscopy, and the doc diagnosed me with Crohn's. Shocking! He wanted me to go on immunesuppressants that cost $800 a month, to which I said, no thank you. I hadn't been feeling any sort of GI distress- I just thought I had a hemmorhoid! So, I went to get a second opinion and was told that the food poisioning could've caused the Crohn's, but if I was feeling fine, then I didn't need the drugs.
So, for about 6 months I was fine, fissure free, eating normally (avoiding certain foods- popcorn, raw veggies) but generally living a normal life. Then I decided I was going to try and get my body back on track by eating lots of veggies. I used to take a salad to work every day for lunch, but had stopped because of the Crohns diagnosis, my body just can't digest the plant fiber. So, I started that again, and man, did I mess myself up...
Now I have been dealing with a fissure, hemmie, and probably a skin tag for almost 6 months. I have a constant aching feeling down there, even when I wake up in the morning. It feels like a bruised tailbone, sometimes makes it uncomfortable to walk. I am staying away from veggies, avoiding alcohol, trying to drink more water. I have the 0.2% nitroglycerin, which seemed to help at first, but now I don't feel any relief. I am going to start the colace, but I really don't feel like my stools are hard, majority of time, I have two regular size stools, then a bunch of little guys (although, it feels like they are huge coming out). I am worried about laxatives, and have had a really bad reaction to taking fiber (severe gas pains- may be due to Crohns?) so I really dont know what else to do.
I have a GI doctor's appointment in a month, don't know if I should ask for the botox, or surgery- I don't know if I can take the time off for the recovery time...
I am 29 years old, trying to have a baby and this just sucks.. What did I do to deserve this???

Hi! sorry you are going through so much..it sucks big time. I had surgery for my fissure 3 months ago and i was left with a skin tag that i may have removed... not sure...anyway, as for your situation, I think if you are in pain you need to really search yourself to figure out what you should do. The fissurectomy I had was a God send...but it is not for everyone. research and speak with a trusted dr. who can explain all your options. You deserve to know everything before you have it done. I wish I had more advice ...but, seriously, dont wait too long as the fissure could get worse and trust me, it isnt fun. Good luck and keep us posted!
Maureen