Figured I'd start one of these up.
I've had a fissure since July 2011. I really had no clue what it was and just dealt with it. I thought it was hemmerhoids. Went to see my family doctor and he gave me nitro in January 2012. It really did nothing. I did what I thought I could to get the fissure under control diet wise but nothing changed. I used nitro until September with little change. It'd get smaller, bad BM and get bigger. Mind you it's partially my fault as my body hates metamucil. Any time I use it I get massive sandpaper like BMs.
Since Sept I've been eating mostly oats, whole wheat rice and chicken and it's helped. I have 0 pain with the fissure most times. The thing is it's not gone away. Being a gay guy it does have sexual implications and I'd like to get back into a relationship at some point. Thus I'd say it's pretty much been ruining my self esteem for the last year and a bit.
My doctor is homophobic and thinks I just injured myself and he really doesn't care. Just keeps saying it's a cut and it takes time to heal. Just make stools soft and keep going. I demanded a referral to someone else so I've seen a general surgeon about my AF.
He was really really kind and asked lots of questions and listened when I explained it's been really bringing me down due to the sexual implications. He opted to try botox and he said if that doesn't work he's going to get me into a CRS for the next step.
Thus I've spent $250 on 50 units of botox and am having the injections done this Friday. He's said to keep doing what I have been as I've had 2-3 months of constant pain free, no blood or irritation BMs. The shitty part is it's really irritated right now. I have a wicked case of strep throat or possibly mono (don't tell the surgeon, our little secret haha). So I had 0 appetite and ended up with sandpaper BMs and blood. Thus lots of ice and diltazem to hopefully get it back under control before Friday. Crossing my fingers this works out as I'm really putting myself on the line. I don't have a lot of money and the $250 for the botox has maxed my creditcard so I can't shag around with this stuff for a long time. I'm excited to just get it done and get serious about healing up.