Hey all!

I know when I was reading up about LIS surgery there was a real dearth of people reporting back more than a few weeks after surgery. I guess this is to be expected, who's going to go back to AF support forums when they're completely healed? Anyway, I'm here, reporting back just under a year after my LIS so others may benefit.

I posted straight after my LIS (as soon as I got home from hospital), you can read that if you wish here: just-got-home-from-lis-surgery-t5392.html

In the above thread I noted how little pain I had after then op when passing a BM. This was basically how my entire recovery played out. Within about 2 weeks I had zero stinging, zero discomfort and all that was left was small amounts of discharge. I kept on using lactolose for around a month in total just to be sure that I was completely recovered before going it "alone"

I think it was about 6 weeks post-op that I had a hospital check up. The consultant asked me how it had gone. My reply? "It's like a miracle cure!". "I like miracle cures", he responded. It was an amazing feeling to say it. A few weeks prior I had been living in horrible pain for many consecutive years and now it was like it had never even happened. I literally talked to him for just 5 or 10 minutes before I went on my way

Since then all I can say is that everything has been much the same. I have no pain anymore. No discomfort. No worry or fret about the next BM, or whether it'll leave me in so much pain I can't complete basic activities. It feels fantastic, a weight lifted!

And, it's got to the point where I can eat what I want! Which is another cognitive load gone I no longer have to be ridiculously strict about my fiber intake in the hope that I may have a slightly less indescribably painful BM. I still eat well, I always have really, but it's great to not have to think through every meal.

It's also worth pointing out (and putting it in bold) I have had no problems with incontinence, solid or otherwise. A few weeks after the op there was no leakage at all, and it's been dry since

I have had one tiny bout of pain, perhaps around 6 months ago. At first I was hit with absolute horror! "Have I been too complacent with my diet? Did I strain?! What's going on, has it returned?!". All these thoughts raced through my mind. But by the next day it had become obvious, a little lump had appeared down there which was quite clearly a haemorrhoid. I'd had a few of those before I ever had an AF, so it wasn't entirely unusual. I just applied some standard cream and it went away. I've had no issues since!

So that's basically my story. It's a little scant on the details, but that's simply because I've all but forgotten about how I used to have to live. The thought of it rarely enters my mind anymore so I don't keep track.

The intended audience of this post are those thinking about having LIS. For those who have been suffering with a chronic AF. For those whose doctor have belittled them or dismissed their ailment. For those who have tried every cream, diet and remedy under the sun to no avail. Basically this is a letter to myself a year ago

Please do not fear LIS. I swear I suffered with it my AF for so long purely out of fear. GOD DAMN FEACAL INCONTINENCE!! Isn't that the most terrifying thing ever! As I said above it's not been an issue whatsoever, do not worry about it! I had also never had an op prior to this, so even the thought of general anaesthesia terrified me. But it wasn't a big deal either - fell asleep, woke up cured. Simple as that.

Also I thing I let myself suffer for so long out of some misguided sense of hope. I tried to wish it away, keep an incredibly strict diet, apply every available cream repeatedly etc. all in the hope it would just go. But what I know now is that a fissure that has existed that long is not going to heal itself. It needs intervention and LIS, for me, was exactly what I needed. Perhaps it might be for you too? If it isn't, perhaps something else is. What I'm trying to say is don't let life pass you by as you suffer in pain, take some action! It might be scary but the biggest rewards rarely come easy

If this allays just one person's fear or trepidation, or results in them having a better life in the long term, I will be an incredibly happy person. Thanks

thanks for your story means alot for us people on the sidelines...been suffering for 3 1/2 years now...but afraid of surgery...very afraid.

Hi,
I'm 3mths post op & doing great but still worry a little so really great to read your story after a yr. I'm delighted for you. Best of luck & thanks for sharing

I'm glad to hear! I'm actually so sick of ointments, creams, and the crazy strictness of food, activity, and everything for the past year that I want surgery. The fortunate (but unfortunate) thing is that I finally saw a CRS a couple days ago for the first time due to a re-tear from a few weeks ago, and she thought my fissures were healing and that I should just go on diltiazem cream first (because it's the only thing I haven't tried basically). I'm taking a semester leave from grad school just to try to recover, because this past year I have been going insane, and this is the only time I can do surgery really.

I don't know if I can beg her to do it, even if she thinks that I don't need it. I know for sure once I'm back to having to sit for long hours and be under a lot of stress and a crazy schedule (which will certainly screw up my bowel movements and eating routines) it will likely retear again and I'll be in the same position. I don't even really want to try the diltiazem because it supposedly only works for about half of people who use it... And then what happens when you're done with it? It seems like a tight sphincter muscle will just cause a retear down the road even if you heal again. Blah blah, rant rant.

I feel like surgery is the only option at this point and the sooner I can have it, the better. I'm glad to hear that it worked so well for you!

Thanks so much for this, SoreBum. I will soon have to decide whether to have LIS. I know it's the single most successful treatment, but yes, it is very very scary. I'm only (!) 4 months into my fissure journey. It feels like a lifetime. I feel as though my life is split into before AF and after AF. My husband has noticed what a toll it's taken. So thanks for the encouraging story.

Thank you for sharing your story, SoreBum. Like many others on this forum, I am also considering surgery after almost a year of having this, but I'm very afraid for multiple reasons. I don't have horrible pain with BMs, just burning and stinging afterward. I'm afraid surgery will cause agonizing BMs for me. I think that scares me more than anything, along with the pain of recovery. I don't want to go from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak.

This has been an up and down battle and I'm so tired of it. If I can't heal by the end of the year with ointments, I'm going to consider LIS. I know I'm really tight down there, so hopefully that will get rid of the problem.

Thanks again for the encouragement and take care.

Great to read the success stories! I have been logging back on this week after receiving an email saying they are moving sites and it's fantastic to see some success stories a year on from when I last spent some time on this forum.