Hello! I'm SO glad I found everyone here. Like everyone else I feel like its hard to talk to people about this, so it's nice to be amongst new friends.
Basically I got mine after a vacation. I drank a lot, ate tons of meat, bread and chocolate. I don't ever do this, as I'm normally on a low carb, high protein diet. I'm very active, running, weightlifting, etc. So my general health was never the issue. Straying from worked for me caused it I'm sure.
Long story short, had the most horrific bms, for about 3 days in a row. I seriously thought I might pass out. I have a very high tolerance for pain, but this just took pain to a whole other level. I cried, I swore, you name it. Then for 8 or so hours after I would be in horrible pain (I know now this was spasms). Anyway, thought it was a hem, treated it that way, and no results. Finally sucked it up and went to the Dr, was told I had a tear (after the most painful "inspection") and was prescribed hydrocortisone suppositories and more fiber. It was humiliating, but the pain of it was so bad I didn't care anymore. I would have given my last penny to just make the pain stop. I came home and googled everything I could about this horrible condition and that when I found this site!
I realized pretty quickly from reading here that most Family Doctors don't know much about this, clearly I was prescribed the wrong thing. But after scouring these boards for hours I came up with my own plan of attack. Its 3 weeks later and I'm essentially pain free. BUT I do live in fear of a retear. I've read too many stories here of people at my point that have setbacks. So, I'm following my regiment for several months if I can. Here's what I did:
-I went ahead and did the hydrocortisone suppositories at night. 10 days worth. I had such horrible inflammation, I figured it couldnt hurt
-I use vaseline around and in (i use a q-tip) before EVERY bm. I still do this.
-When it was real bad I bought a small syringe in the baby section of the drugstore and after lubing up with vaseline, would "inject" extra virgin olive oil in there BEFORE AND AFTER a bm as well. I no longer do this because the next 2 things changed it all for me:
-Kondremul. A mineral oil taken before bed. Took me a few days to get the dosage right. I'm 123 lbs and 1 tbs works for me. Makes my movements nice and soft and they just ease out now. That plus...
-Squatting on the toilet. This changed my miserable little life, haha. I absolutely HATE doing it. HATE it. But ever since the first time I tried it I had no pain with bm. None. I'm able to squat on the actual seat at my home, but I dread the day I have to "go" somewhere out. Believe me when I tell you guys this, it totally sucks doing it but the change in position seriously makes it pain free. I still squat and will for months just to make sure.
-Hot water bottle. The only thing I found to help with spasms. Sat on it all day, for about a week. I don't need it anymore.
-Rinsing off after bms. I have a detachable showerhead that makes this easy. I cleanse with cetaphil then apply:
-witch hazel. Applied after rinsing and showering. I still do this.
-I bought off of Amazon a bottle called Fissure Control. It works. Enough said. I put it on after the witch hazel and it felt better in like 2 days after I started using it. I still use it and will for a long time to be sure.
So, this is my life now. Fear of a retear every morning. Getting up early to do all these steps. Hiding all my supplies if guests come over. It sucks. It really does. I took 2 weeks off exercise, but am now back full speed with no issues. I honestly think its helped with the healing. Trying to be positive helped too. There were several days when I couldnt leave the house. But when I finally did I became less depressed and felt human again. My boyfriend has been great and understanding. He sorta chuckled when I told him. He has NO idea the pain involved.
I really hope at least one person gets relief from something I mentioned here. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (except for on former boss- he can have one . Thank you all for sharing your stories and tips. I'll update with anything else and hopefully not because of a retear. This horrid condition is seriously the most debilitating thing I've ever been through and I was only bad for a week. My heart goes out to those years long sufferers.
Good luck to all of you and thank you!
OH! And I almost forgot- food for thought... On my vacation I had gone hiking. I developed some sort of itchy "rash" on the back of my thighs. I had the dr check that out too. She said it was probably fungal (good grief I was a hot mess with a fissure and a fungus) and prescribed Tinactin. It cleared up within days. BUT my point is I was reading here about those that used Tinactin on their fissures and healed quickly. I haven't tried it but I did have me wondering... is it some how possible that my fungus and fissure were related? Too coincidental that they happened at the same time and Tinactin has been known to cure both. So if I have a retear I'm gonna try it! I'll spot test first as I've read some people are sensitive to it there. It got me thinking that maybe those with the "itchy" fissures may have a fungal infection there as well? Anythings possible I guess in our crazy little fissure world!