I'm a 23 year old male, and I believe I have an anal fissure. I remember exactly when and what caused it. It was about a week before Christmas and I was in the mood for Mexican. So I went to the local burrito place and did my usual thing, which means I got the hottest thing I could make. The next day my anus burned for about 20 minutes after the poop, which is a little bit long but not too strange for me after I eat hot food. I also noticed a little blood on the tissue that day. The next bowel movement hurt, too, and my pain reached it's climax while I was on vacation at Universal, probably because of the walking.
Towards the end of my vacation, I googled the problem, and I broke down and bought some Preparation H. The pain went away instantly. However, the pain came back two other times before I went to my doctor. He checked me for external hemorrhoids and gave me a suppository to treat hemorrhoids. It worked, but two days after treatment the pain came back. So I went back to him and told him, then he gave me some anal steroids and some antibiotics. They seem to work, but it's the same issue. Once I stop using them, the pain comes back. On the second exam, he did find a red spot inside the lining of the anus, but he didn't think it was a fissure. I should probably follow up with him, but I'm extremely busy.
The pain feels like there is a corn chip up there. It's usually not too high up in the rectum. In fact, I think it's only around the ring of the anus, where the sphincter is.
I have been paying a lot of attention lately, and I pulled out what looks like a sharp peanut from my anus. It was just hanging out up there. I took a picture of it actually because it was so shocking. Since then I have not eaten peanuts.
A possible cause for me could be the constant wetness. I have recently felt the pain again, this time while I was football coaching, and it's extremely limiting. My usual method is to put some Preparation H on it, but I think all I'm doing is applying lubricant. I've recently started putting Goldbone on it. We'll see where that leads.
Another possible cause is my job. I'm sitting all day long, and generally I come home and sit too. The chairs are not supper comfortable and hardly ergonomic.
I do have periods of flareups, which I think is more of a hemorrhoid thing, but those are usually caused by bowel movements. Occasionally it feels like I've gone too frequently in one day, and that maybe the wiping has something to do with it?
Another symptom is that I tend to see small red streaks in my feces. Occasionally there are some black things, which I believe could be blood from other areas of the digestive tract. I also have pains on the front-left side of my body, right around where the belt area and slightly above it. Specifically, if you can feel your hip bone, go in about 3 inches, and that's the spot I feel the pain. I imagine it's where the colon is. I especially notice it at night, and I always thought it was gas. The pain is usually pretty mild too.
Last time I went into my doctor, I told him all of this, and he mentioned the word colonoscopy, which made me about shit my pants... which would have hurt.
So I really don't know what I have.
Do you guys have any thoughts?
