coconut wrote:I'm starting to interpret the pain I'm having in my pelvic muscles as spasm pain. That's very helpful. I can feel that the most intense stabbing in in the area of the fissure. I've also managed to figure out what I think you'all are describing when you say "anal massage." When I first read this, I thought people were massaging inside their anal cavity. But I've been massaging the outside and its amazingly affective for calming the spasms. Too bad it doesn't last more than a second, but its interesting to observe how easily the spasm can release. I've also been using some clench and release and that is also helpful in a temporary fashion.
I was really high this afternoon thinking that I might be healing. Then I had a second BM and now I'm all in pain and thinking about surgery. This is a cruel injury.

It's horrible. People who never have AFs have NO idea what h*ll and misery they cause.
If your fissure is chronic (lasting more than a month or so, without healing), it's probably not going to heal on its own. That's what happened to me, too. I had a fissure about 5 years' ago, and it healed . . . only to come back in Oct. 2011 and NOT heal. Nothing I did helped. Nothing. --- Surgery was the only way to fix the problem - and even with that, I've still had to deal with slow recovery I've had. Still, I'm glad I had the surgery. Otherwise, my life would still be extremely miserable.

coconut I experienced the same as you, after teh 4 month, before the pain and discomfort of the fissure started to improve, I would wake up with not pain, have a BM and still feel good, until my chronic diarrhea will hit me and watery stools with a second BM will trigger the pain and irritation, but guess what is all gone now.
For the last two months I can have a regular BM, have watery stools after and still no pain and spams, even the irritation is minimal or no at all.
My fissure is chronic and I know is there but I can pretty much say that is healing, slowly but finally healing.
As I read post here like yours is like a walkthrought of what I have experienced myself in my healing stages.

Sweet Bugaboo wrote:

coconut wrote:I'm starting to interpret the pain I'm having in my pelvic muscles as spasm pain. That's very helpful. I can feel that the most intense stabbing in in the area of the fissure. I've also managed to figure out what I think you'all are describing when you say "anal massage." When I first read this, I thought people were massaging inside their anal cavity. But I've been massaging the outside and its amazingly affective for calming the spasms. Too bad it doesn't last more than a second, but its interesting to observe how easily the spasm can release. I've also been using some clench and release and that is also helpful in a temporary fashion.
I was really high this afternoon thinking that I might be healing. Then I had a second BM and now I'm all in pain and thinking about surgery. This is a cruel injury.

It's horrible. People who never have AFs have NO idea what h*ll and misery they cause.
If your fissure is chronic (lasting more than a month or so, without healing), it's probably not going to heal on its own. That's what happened to me, too. I had a fissure about 5 years' ago, and it healed . . . only to come back in Oct. 2011 and NOT heal. Nothing I did helped. Nothing. --- Surgery was the only way to fix the problem - and even with that, I've still had to deal with slow recovery I've had. Still, I'm glad I had the surgery. Otherwise, my life would still be extremely miserable.

50% of chronic fissures do heal with the cream. I gotta give it at least 2 or 3 three weeks. Its a shame that it took me so long to get the right medicine, and it would have had a better chance of working if I had been correctly diagnosed in the first place. But 50/50 aren't horrible odds.
What you've been through is extraordinary. I think you are very brave to have faced it without going entirely batty. I'm still holding out hope that this will resolve itself with more ease now that I've got a proper diagnosis and some medicine I can tolerate. Only time will tell if I'm deluding myself... but not too much time. I'm calling the doc if this doesn't improve significantly soon. I'm debating between thursday and next monday. We had an agreement that we'll go forward if the cream doesn't work after two or three weeks.

coconut wrote:

Sweet Bugaboo wrote:

coconut wrote:I'm starting to interpret the pain I'm having in my pelvic muscles as spasm pain. That's very helpful. I can feel that the most intense stabbing in in the area of the fissure. I've also managed to figure out what I think you'all are describing when you say "anal massage." When I first read this, I thought people were massaging inside their anal cavity. But I've been massaging the outside and its amazingly affective for calming the spasms. Too bad it doesn't last more than a second, but its interesting to observe how easily the spasm can release. I've also been using some clench and release and that is also helpful in a temporary fashion.
I was really high this afternoon thinking that I might be healing. Then I had a second BM and now I'm all in pain and thinking about surgery. This is a cruel injury.

It's horrible. People who never have AFs have NO idea what h*ll and misery they cause.
If your fissure is chronic (lasting more than a month or so, without healing), it's probably not going to heal on its own. That's what happened to me, too. I had a fissure about 5 years' ago, and it healed . . . only to come back in Oct. 2011 and NOT heal. Nothing I did helped. Nothing. --- Surgery was the only way to fix the problem - and even with that, I've still had to deal with slow recovery I've had. Still, I'm glad I had the surgery. Otherwise, my life would still be extremely miserable.

50% of chronic fissures do heal with the cream. I gotta give it at least 2 or 3 three weeks. Its a shame that it took me so long to get the right medicine, and it would have had a better chance of working if I had been correctly diagnosed in the first place. But 50/50 aren't horrible odds.
What you've been through is extraordinary. I think you are very brave to have faced it without going entirely batty. I'm still holding out hope that this will resolve itself with more ease now that I've got a proper diagnosis and some medicine I can tolerate. Only time will tell if I'm deluding myself... but not too much time. I'm calling the doc if this doesn't improve significantly soon. I'm debating between thursday and next monday. We had an agreement that we'll go forward if the cream doesn't work after two or three weeks.

TY, Coconut -
I very nearly have gone batty from all this nonsense and misery! I'm very glad I had the surgery, but I still deal with episodes of soreness, sometimes, around the surgical area (but I had two procedures done at once, which I think has affected my healing time).
I tried tons of products with my second fissure episode - I used every cream/ointment out there. If yours can heal on its own, that's great. If not, surgery is an option. Part of my problem is that though I'm fairly tall, I have no bottom, to speak of, though it looks normal enough to me. So, my pelvic area is small, and my anal sphincter is/was tight.
I wonder, that if I had a bigger, wider bottom - like some of these gals we see on t.v., or in the magazines - I would have had these problems . . . ? Well, that's not the case with me, so I don't know - but I've had two CRS's tell me that I'm small, with no fat down there, even though my bottom doesn't seem all that small to me.
I continue to sit on a pillow, especially on a hard chair - and I'm very mindful of getting enough fiber. I'm hoping the soreness from my surgical area will eventually toughen up and disappear for good. All in all, the surgery has helped me. At least I don't have the AF, anymore.

Bugaboo - alas, my tush is plenty ample, both in width and in roundness. I'm afraid that a$$ size alone cannot be the cannot be the cause.

coconut wrote:Bugaboo - alas, my tush is plenty ample, both in width and in roundness. I'm afraid that a$$ size alone cannot be the cannot be the cause.

No, I'm sure it's not the only cause -- but with the four CRS's I've seen, three of them have commented on how small my rear end is. Crs #3 (who did my surgery) said that I have no fat within the anal area, either. Crs #4 said he could feel bones on my backside, that he couldn't feel on his other female patients. It's not that they don't have the same bones, but their backsides are padded enough, so that he can't feel their bones upon examination.
Like I said, my bottom looks alright to me, but I guess that in the opinion of these doctors, who see bottom ends all day long, mine seems narrow and small. Funny . . . though I know I have a small pelvic area (I've also had 4 c-sections, as a result), I never thought of my bottom as being especially smaller than anyone else's.

God I'm in sooo much pain today......I got this Rectiv but I don't want to take it until next week when I see this new CRS doctor, meanwhile, the 500mg of Naproxen will have to do. I'm trying to go cold turkey but the pain is just unbearable today. Had a beautiful soft creamy bm, but this pain is just tooo much, but no more drugs.....until.....

Even try just 1cm length of ointment - it will help. The worst thing that can happen to you is a headache or reaction but your CRS wouldn't be able to predict this anyway.
All it will do is relax the muscle which is in spasm.

CrackinUp wrote:Even try just 1cm length of ointment - it will help. The worst thing that can happen to you is a headache or reaction but your CRS wouldn't be able to predict this anyway.
All it will do is relax the muscle which is in spasm.

Can you tell me how to apply it. That was the question I was gonna ask the doctor yesterday and come this thursday. I have read too many ways to go about it on this thread and its confusing....one post will say don't put it inside, the other says, put it around and another says this or that, its too confusing. Thanks in advance

Surely the medication you have comes with instructions? I would follow these if possible.
But as for what I do, I put mine inside and its done me no harm. If you are in spasm you will feel a contracted "ring" around an inch inside - just apply around 1cm of ointment to the tip of a cling film wrapped finger and rub it gently against this.
Make sure you have wrapped your finger in cling film as ointment on your finger is how most people get headaches.
In the UK we are instructed to use 2.5cm of ointment every 12 hours. I can't get that much on my finger tip in one go so I make two applications. If you don't have instructions then I would just try a small amount first and wait 10 minutes - when I first used it I could tell quite quickly.