Hello fellow fissure sufferers. I'm new to the board but not new to having a fissure, unfortunately. I'll go through my story briefly just to give you all a rundown.
I had a fissure about two years ago. I had no idea what they even were, and was treating it as a hemorrhoid for weeks before going to see a CRS. I didn't really have any pain, just some blood on the paper after BM's. Anyway, it turns out that I had a very bad CRS who decided the best treatment was hydrocortizone cream 3x/day. Before seeing him, I was treating it with all the typical hemorrhoid meds, which I later learned were the worst thing since they constricted everything and reduced blood flow - and I needed to be relaxing the area and increasing blood flow! The fissure was small and not deep, though...thank God. His method of healing it was unfortunately not what I suppose is considered the best. I ended up using the cream for almost a year! I grew a sentinel tag and the whole bit. After about a year, it was finally healed, though. I left it alone and the tiny tag is not even a concern or bother. Actually it is barely noticeable. So that's my old fissure story. Now to the new stuff.
Last week out of seemingly nowhere, after what seemed to be a normal BM, blood. No pain, but enough blood to make me wonder what was going on. I rigged up a way to get a good look at things and sure enough there was a small (about 1/4" at the most) little red fissure...partly outside the opening and partly inside. I immediately got an appointment with one of the top CRS's in the city. I told him the story about my first fissure and he knew of the doc I saw and confirmed the guy does not know what he is doing. He also confirmed that I have a "very small fissure". I asked what he would do if it was his rear end and he said "Oh, nothing. Maybe soak it once a day." This fissure causes me NO pain whatsoever, by the way. He then asked if I wanted some diltiazem/lidocaine gel for it. I knew by now that this was one of the real pathways to try and get it healed - at least better than hydrocortizone cream for many many months! I said yes right away.
So here I am. Probably not the worst case on the board (and I feel for all of you who have the "broken glass" fissures, etc.!!) but I wanted to do a proper introduction and tell my story thus far. I have severe anxiety which actually has me on disability and I have been told that people with high stress/anxiety levels are much more prone to fissures, by the way - and this one did hit in a very high anxiety time. Maybe coincidence, maybe something to it - I'm not sure.
Right now I'm simply using the ointment/gel twice a day as directed - after bm and showering in the mornings and after a warm soak in the evenings. I'm a fiberaholic so my BM's are really good even though I have no pain anyway. (I still stress over them each morning, though - almost anticipating pain and blood...probably not good.) I wipe gently with high quality paper wetted down with some warm water, and once clean, dab with dry TP. I have not seen blood since beginning the diltiazem! It does have a bit of sting to it for a few seconds when first applying it, though. I am sure that the fissure is not healed by any means and the sting is the medicine hitting the fissure. Hopefully I'm right about that.
So, it is the beginning of a new fissure journey for me. Hopefully, it will not be a long one, but I have looked at the group before when going through my first one and this seems like a great community so I figured I'd join in and be a "real" member as well as be able to interact with all of you good people.
Thanks for reading! Sorry if it got lengthy!