I've been reading all these posts like crazy and figured it was time to chime in with my story and my questions!
I was diagnosed in October after about 6 months of discomfort. Before that it had been off-and-on but would always go away after a while. My GP thought it was hemorrhoids but sent me to the CRS, who gave me the AF diagnosis. But the CRS wasn't even 100% sure it was an AF at first, because my symptoms are not typical. Rather than the horrible pain with BM, I simply can't sit comfortably. Over 3 office visits with the CRS, the first time it looked like an AF that was starting to heal but had a small area just at the edge that was still open; the second time she said it was the size of a seed and did not extend into the anal canal; and the third time she said it actually looked exactly like a typical AF and did extend further and she could see the muscle fibers peeking through. I also do have a sentinel pile.
After a while I realized I DID in fact have burning pain after BM a lot of the time - I always thought it was some kind of skin irritation and ignored it. So that made a bit more sense. It never lasted that long.
However what I don't understand is this pain with sitting. It is not at all like the nerve pain syndromes I have read about, fortunately. It really does feel like a cut or sore spot that I am just putting pressure on when I sit down.
Anyway, after trying conservative measures and Nifedipene without success, we decided on LIS surgery at the beginning of Feb. There was no fissurectomy or anything else. She is clearly very conservative; I asked about fissurectomy and she said she has never done them and still had 100% of her patients heal their fissures. So I figured the odds were good!
The surgery went well and after less than a week I was feeling much better as far as healing from the surgery. I still had soreness when sitting but it felt like mostly at the incision site - I did not test it though, and mostly lay down or stood up. Oh and BMs did indeed seem better - no pain at all after a few days. Slowly I started testing the sitting, and driving, and I found that the discomfort at the fissure site seemed to still be there...but I hoped maybe it was less. On day 11 we test drove some cars and I could tell I was feeling it. Nevertheless the next day we had things to do and I ended up sitting for probably 4 hours in total, on and off. By then I knew I still had a problem. The fissure site didn't feel any better than before surgery - maybe even worse. And of course the incision still felt sore as well. The next day I had to go to work for 4 hours (I stay home with my kids and only work 1 day a week) and could hardly sit at all, so I stood at my desk. I have been staying off my bum since then as much as possible, but any time I have to drive somewhere it is clear that I am still struggling.
I'm now freaked out that the surgery has done nothing to heal me (yet). Is it truly too soon to know? I am 16 days post surgery now. My doctor said to come back in 4-6 weeks because it will look "pretty ugly" until then, so I'm hoping that means it is not unexpected for me to still be trying to heal.
So my two questions for you guys are:
1) Do you have pain when sitting as well? Not the sharp knives or anything, but just an annoying irritating feeling? The doc said that was not typical but maybe it's more common than she thinks.
2) Do you think it is too soon to freak out and think the LIS did not work? It seems like even if it is just starting to heal, I might have felt some improvement?! But at the same time I want to stay positive!
Thanks in advance - it's so nice to have people I can ask these questions to!

becsbum I never had LIS I am trying to heal naturally and I been with a diagnosed fissure for 8 month and 2 of relatively with no pain, no spams and minimal irritation.
But by experience I can tell you that yes, after the offset of the horrendous pain and debilitating spams I still have on and off lingering irritation that used to be burning.
I ease the irritation keeping the area as clean as possible before and after a BM even going in the anal area gently with a Q-tip Vaselineling wipingping out everything that can be left overs after a BM, then a sitz bath in warm water and finally vitamin E Carlson suppository, I do this after the first BM in the morning and before bed.
So far it takes most of the irritation away to the point that is no longer a problem.
Because you just had LIS surgery I suggest you wait for your doctor appointment to do anything different because you are still healing.

Thanks for your reply marg! Yes, I do keep the area quite clean and have been taking a bath several times a day as well. I don't think cleanliness is the issue. The trouble is the pressure from sitting down, especially on a hard surface. Do you have that as well?

I did have some issues with pressure and the feeling that I had to go all the time when the fissure was fresh.
It was a very odd feeling that was very uncomfortable, but that went away once the nitro cream started to work, it took a few months to completely get rid of that feeling.
But sometimes the irritation is still there not as bad after 8 months but still lingering on and off.
If I was you I will give time for the surgery to work as you are quite irritated, probably swollen and raw in the area.
If you read the forums you will find that while some people get over the surgery with not problems others take a littler bit more time to get better.
Don't worry too much and just give it time. :)

marg6043 wrote:I did have some issues with pressure and the feeling that I had to go all the time when the fissure was fresh.
It was a very odd feeling that was very uncomfortable, but that went away once the nitro cream started to work, it took a few months to completely get rid of that feeling.
But sometimes the irritation is still there not as bad after 8 months but still lingering on and off.
If I was you I will give time for the surgery to work as you are quite irritated, probably swollen and raw in the area.
If you read the forums you will find that while some people get over the surgery with not problems others take a littler bit more time to get better.
Don't worry too much and just give it time. :)

Hi how r you now?