The past few months I was thinking I would write an update at my one-year LIS anniversary, but, because of some recent pain, I've decided to post earlier.
To re-cap, I suffered a fissure (two actually) six years ago. I'm told the fissures healed, but spasm was the problem, and that I'd eventually need surgery (maybe my CRS expected me to re-tear; he never had seen a sphincter as tight as mine, and he has been practicing more than 40 years). At the five-year mark, after suffering another bout of spasm, I had LIS performed.
I was in pain following LIS for about six weeks. After that point, things got significantly better. In fact, I've kept a daily brief summary of my pain since the tearing six years ago. There had only been fleeting, light pain over the past many months (except for a short stretch in February and May of significant pain) until last week . I've been dealing with pain on and off for no apparent reason for the past ten days. Now, I have to say, the intensity of the pain is not as great as prior to LIS, but at times, approximates it; there are breaks from it, too. It seems as if I'm in spasm (spasm is hard to detect; we're told spasm causes the pain, so I'm going with what the literature and CRSs say), and that the pain is related to the surgical site, but I'm not sure. Sitting on certain surfaces this past week seems to aggravate the area. The area actually felt somewhat tender last week, like it did post-op.
My last CRS appointment was in February. He said I don't need to see him (unless something happens), that the LIS site is healed (he said that it only takes six weeks to heal), and to be patient and give it time (18 months). I was on 2 TBS MOM for a couple of years, but began to wean myself in summer (I'm on 1 TBS now), and am transitioning to Miralax. My stools are soft, and don't cause pain, but I may have irritated the area nontheless. With that background, here are my questions (I'll number for easy reply):
1) Has anyone taken up to two years or more to get rid of spasm or pain? From what I've read on this board, scar tissue can cause pain. My CRS said he cut enough. I went for many months now with hardly any significant pain, and, ironically, was thinking a few weeks ago that he was right about being patient: eventually the muscle reconciles to surgery, and total healing appears likely. I'm just wondering if I might be doomed now to one degree or another with this for life.
2) I noticed I had track marks (like post-LIS patients speak of) a few days ago, which disappeared a few months after surgery, I believe. Do track marks have to do with the stitches or cut, and suggest something is still healing?
3) Why does a bath bring on spasm/pain during the times when I'm prone to pain like with this recent bout? My CRS thinks it's coincidental, but I told him there's a direct link.
Question #1 is the most important to me. I don't really need answers to the others. Thanks!