Hi everybody,
I'm a 20 year old college student who's recently been diagnosed with an anal fissure. I've had a little bleeding and some pain for months now but only a little while ago did it get so bad I decided to check out what it was. The doctor at the clinic said she couldn't see anything when she looked, but told me that my symptoms sounded like a classic anal fissure (excessive bright red blood and extreme pain). She prescribed Colace, Miralax, and Milk of Magnesia for about four weeks.
While there's very little bleeding anymore and only some pain (thank God), I'm finding that the laxatives/stool softeners are making me feel a bit ill (and I can feel everything moving around all the time), and I'm also having incontinence problems. I'm pretty sure I've not been drinking enough water, which could definitely be a problem. I'm just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to manage laxative use.
I've had a pilonidal cystectomy before, and I've noticed that that area is starting to hurt a bit too, but that might be from all the time I spend on the toilet these days. Or, I could be conflating the two butt-related problems (the scar from the surgery hurts sometimes) that are actually not related.
My biggest problem is that as a college student I don't really have access to the best food at times. Moreover, I have PCOS, so I can't eat foods that have a lot (or any) sugar in them (so tons of fruit is a bit of an issue for me). I've got a lot of non-roasted, unsalted nuts and some organic raisins, but I'm not sure if that's doing any good. Does anyone have any tips for easy fiber (I'll get some veggies next time I go to the dining hall)?
My main issue is that without the laxatives my stool becomes really hard very quickly, which leads to a lot of pain and bleeding. With the laxatives my stool is softer, though it causes some irritation and incontinence problems; moreover, I feel sick and gassy inside most of the time. I was wondering if there was any way I could have a healthy balance between the two situations?
I'm really glad to have found this forum because this has suddenly become a huge part of my life and I can't really talk to anybody about it or ask advice. Anyways, thank you!