Fistula victim here.
So I'm thinking... not always, but the BMs are what take me down for the count. What if, I could sync my BM "schedule" to go at night when I have to be in bed anyway!? This way, I can go to work & live a "normal" life during the day.
Any ideas on how I can make this happen. Any other general thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Wow porfirio2, that would be quite hard. I too wanted to change my BM schedule to in the night, but I have been going to poop in the morning since a very very very long time, so I couldn't do it. Otherwise I would have to hold it in for a long time until night comes, then you know... Things get 'harder' and it hurts more coming out. So don't try it, that would be my advice. Just go normally, then take a sitz bath followed by lidocaine or other analgesics. You should be fine! Trust me, this wll heal soon:) all the best and cheers:)

palash wrote:Wow porfirio2, that would be quite hard. I too wanted to change my BM schedule to in the night, but I have been going to poop in the morning since a very very very long time, so I couldn't do it. Otherwise I would have to hold it in for a long time until night comes, then you know... Things get 'harder' and it hurts more coming out. So don't try it, that would be my advice. Just go normally, then take a sitz bath followed by lidocaine or other analgesics. You should be fine! Trust me, this wll heal soon:) all the best and cheers:)

Yeah, these last couple days... taking my stool softners in the afternoon rather than at night, haven't yielded the results I wanted. You're right, nature is nature. Thanks for your reply/thoughts. REALLY appreciate it.

Hi,
Just wanted to join in here because this seems to be one of my constant thoughts! My issue is not so much the timing but the amount of times I have to go!. I have to go up to 3 times a day, generally regular as clockwork including first thing in the morning, lunch time and early evening!...I think I've pretty much perfected the soft stool issue and I'm a fistula recoverer rather than an active fissure sufferer ( although trust me, been there too!) so, "going" isn't a major issue like when a fissure is active.....but I still suffer some discomfort with BM's and a short while after - nothing major but enough to make me think, that if I didn't have to go so often, my poor bum might get a bit more of a rest and recover a little quicker!!......So then I started thinking about eating more at certain times, less at others, moved my dose of stool softener to another time of day, experimented with allsorts but it seems like nature is nature and when you have to go, you just have to go......
On saying that, the weekends are great because I get up so much later, routine changes and then the timing of everything in my day shifts, meals, and then BM's, so I generally end up with just one or two BM's on those two days rather than the 3 regular sessions a day, which fall in line with my work routine on a Mon - Fri.....!!
When my fissure was at its worst, I even went to my GP to ask if and how I could alter my BM's!!!! I SO wanted the night time BM so I could sleep off the afterwrath and not have to worry about it all until the following eve after work. Sadly, he laughed at me and said basically there's not a lot you can do to change nature!! He did suggest sitting on the toilet at set times and see if that could stimulate a movement, but it didn't work for me.
Porfirio - you will get better. There's discomfort, stress, distress, yucky stuff going on right now but you will find a way of dealing with things, develop your coping mechanisms, pain relief etc. If you've currently got the fistula, please get it surgically sorted with a reputable CRS asap. They don't just go away by themselves. If you're in post op recovery, you will start to feel SO much better in a few weeks! Honest. All the very best to you. Keep updating :) Keep having the hot baths. They help LOADS.