I went through the LIS at then end of April but hadnt really worked for me and I was back to applying nitro and sitz bath and the endless myriad of fibre intake, drinking enough water and all of that........ I was also taking one dose of miralax, 200mg of magnesium and 2 colace softners every day. Also, take probiotics and Dicetel (prescription med) for IBS. With all of this my pain was the typical AF pain - started after a BM and stuck around for hours, responding to continuos use of nitro through the day.

However, during the month of September I noticed improvement. Surprisingly, for most of the month I was either not pooping, or was constipated and pushing hard - both as a side effect of an unrelated surgery. Even though I was constipated and having big, formed, hard to pass stools, I had no pain what so ever. Also, during September I had increased the laxatives and continued taking softners to resolve the constipation issue.

However, when my constipation resolved and my bowels were back to how they used to be - my stools were mushy, not formed and soft but with rough edges. 99% of my BM's have this consistent pattern - the beginning 1/3 is relatively well formed and soft (type 5) and the later 2/3 is the mushy rough edge (type 6).

Within a week of that my pain has returned Because the constipation is gone, I have slowly weaned off laxatives and now taking just one colace every day to ensure against hard stools.

Hence I have come to a conclusion - being constipated for me is better than having mushy rough stools, as unique as that may sound. So maybe I shouldnt have been taking miralax and softners to begin with

So though my diet is pretty simple, I dont get a lot of natural soluble fibre, to compensate for which I take 2 table spoons of inulin fiber (benefibre) every day. I do drink enough water. Also, I have IBS which doesnt help but dont think that is what causes the stools to be rough and mushy.

So here is the question I need you guys' help on - how the heck do I achieve that "TOOTHPASTE" like form and consistency (type 4)??

I will be leaving softners and not going back to miralax unless I get constipated again. I will be keeping up with the probiotics and Dicetel and also restart taking magnesium.

Before September I was the same as I am now and because I was doing so good during September, I dont think I should go back to Miralax and Colace?

I never thought this would take sooooo long, its getting super hard to stay positive and upbeat about life.....please help!

Hi HTBP nice to hear from you again.

It may be helpful to give us a lowdown on what your diet consist of. It also may be one of those things where your body has to adjust to you not taking those lax's, and it may just take time before your stools will rectify itself.

Lets hope the combination or use of the Dicetel or Colace and Benefiber is not playng a role. It is so tough sometimes to try to figure how or why our stools are the way they are. along with what your eating, upping or lessening your doses of the aforementioned products and trying to get in more natural soluble fiber may produce better stools.

Do you think the pain that you say has returned is from the spasm? Are you saying now that you do not have fissures?
Are you scheduled to see the Dr. again in the near future, hopefully a CRS.

Perhaps that unrelated surgery you had may be complicating things "down there". Thanks for coming back to discuss this with us, as this will help you to stay positive and to know that you can beat this. so, just clue us in on what your eating and maybe we will be more able to help you along with any Dr's advice.

GL

I eat healthy drink water (lots) and take natural calm magnesium 2x a day 1 teaspoon each time.
Also I take flaxseed capsules.

buttastic wrote:Hi HTBP nice to hear from you again.

It may be helpful to give us a lowdown on what your diet consist of. It also may be one of those things where your body has to adjust to you not taking those lax's, and it may just take time before your stools will rectify itself.

Lets hope the combination or use of the Dicetel or Colace and Benefiber is not playng a role. It is so tough sometimes to try to figure how or why our stools are the way they are. along with what your eating, upping or lessening your doses of the aforementioned products and trying to get in more natural soluble fiber may produce better stools.

Do you think the pain that you say has returned is from the spasm? Are you saying now that you do not have fissures?
Are you scheduled to see the Dr. again in the near future, hopefully a CRS.

Perhaps that unrelated surgery you had may be complicating things "down there". Thanks for coming back to discuss this with us, as this will help you to stay positive and to know that you can beat this. so, just clue us in on what your eating and maybe we will be more able to help you along with any Dr's advice.

GL

Hey thanks for the quick reply.
My diet is mainly vegetarian. Because Im still relatively new after my surgery I havent gone back to a full blown regular diet yet. Right now it mainly consists of soups, semolina, oatmeal, Indian letils and veggies, eggs; some bread - either gluten free or whole wheat.

But I can assure you that being on this diet isnt the main reason behind my stools not being firm. Because I have slowly built up towards this diet and during the time my stools were firm in September, I was eating even less than what I said above, mainly soups and semolina and eggs. Also, because my stools have been like this forever. My regular diet that I used to eat before my surgery and will go back to is mainly the following - quinoa salad containing veggies and beans, eggs, bread, chicken sandwiches, veggie soup, Indian homemade food containing lentils, bread and veggies(not spicy). I eat out sometimes - the usual junk burgers, subway and local restaurants. Eating out doesnt seem to worsen the stools.

I do not know if the return of the pain is spasms or a fissure, either prior one not healing or a new one, the pain is the similar stabbing pain all over that area and the general feeling of heat. I have stopped taking colace as of yesterday and will be halfing my benefibre intake and monitor this over the next few days. Cant stop Dicetel and probiotics because of the IBS. Sometimes I think all of my issues are due to the IBS because I do have the IBS-D as opposed to IBS-C. Sadly so far there is not cure for this and I am almost a headless chicken when it comes to finding ways to deal with it, my doctors have failed to help in this matter. My next appointment is in 3 weeks approx. The doc isnt a CRS but his speciality is fissures and haemorrhoids. FYI I have seen a CRS to no avail as well, they all say the same thing, keep using the cream and dilation and give it time, how much time I dont know, already been almost an year.

thanks for taking an interest! I appreciate it.

Oh ok HTBP I did not know you had IBS-D

In that case, if I were you I would see if my CRS can refer me to a dietitian or nutritionist.
Sound like your describing bristol 6 stools that you want to get rid of.

http://www.fibermenace.com/gutsense/transition.html
"These kind of stools may suggest a slightly hyperactive colon (fast motility), excess dietary potassium, or sudden dehydration or spike in blood pressure related to stress (both cause the rapid release of water and potassium from blood plasma into the intestinal cavity). It can also indicate a hypersensitive personality prone to stress, too many spices, drinking water with a high mineral content, or the use of osmotic (mineral salts) laxatives."

So, reading this excerpt there's some things you may want to try. Those soups can be loaded with sodium/potassium buying the reduced sodium/potassium type may help. A few more ??'s would be....

1. Have you tried cutting back or forgoing eating eggs?
2. Have you tried changing the type of probiotic your using?
3. have you had a Heidelberg test done?
4. Were you on any antibiotics for that other surgery?
5. Do you have Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

Not that I know anything about these, but if you go here you may get many answers to help you......
http://scdlifestyle.com/2012/08/13-caus ... ut-should/

Other than these suggestions I have little to offer you and hopefully someone else here can
better relate to you. This is why I think adding that Ibs ibd crohn's section will really help.

Did you vote yet, if not click here...
http://anal-fissure.org/what-about-a-chrohn-s-ibs-ibd-section-t7439.html
If you did, thanks.

HTHelps GL

buttastic wrote:Oh ok HTBP I did not know you had IBS-D

In that case, if I were you I would see if my CRS can refer me to a dietitian or nutritionist.
Sound like your describing bristol 6 stools that you want to get rid of.

http://www.fibermenace.com/gutsense/transition.html
"These kind of stools may suggest a slightly hyperactive colon (fast motility), excess dietary potassium, or sudden dehydration or spike in blood pressure related to stress (both cause the rapid release of water and potassium from blood plasma into the intestinal cavity). It can also indicate a hypersensitive personality prone to stress, too many spices, drinking water with a high mineral content, or the use of osmotic (mineral salts) laxatives."

So, reading this excerpt there's some things you may want to try. Those soups can be loaded with sodium/potassium buying the reduced sodium/potassium type may help. A few more ??'s would be....

1. Have you tried cutting back or forgoing eating eggs?
2. Have you tried changing the type of probiotic your using?
3. have you had a Heidelberg test done?
4. Were you on any antibiotics for that other surgery?
5. Do you have Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

Not that I know anything about these, but if you go here you may get many answers to help you......
http://scdlifestyle.com/2012/08/13-caus ... ut-should/

Other than these suggestions I have little to offer you and hopefully someone else here can
better relate to you. This is why I think adding that Ibs ibd crohn's section will really help.

Did you vote yet, if not click here...
http://anal-fissure.org/what-about-a-chrohn-s-ibs-ibd-section-t7439.html
If you did, thanks.

HTHelps GL

Hi Buttastic! Once again a huge thanks to you for a quick reply and the research you did for me!!

What you have said above a lot of that resonates with me, especially this - "These kind of stools may suggest a slightly hyperactive colon...." and "It can also indicate a hypersensitive personality prone to stress...."

I will do some reading on the SCD diet even though I am sick and tired of tweaking my diet!

To answer your questions:
1. Have you tried cutting back or forgoing eating eggs? NO, they dont really bug me so havent thought of that.
2. Have you tried changing the type of probiotic your using? I have tried two different ones and they both seem to be ok, may be I will try a different kind, but I have asked my doctor and he doesnt really have any recommendations...
3. have you had a Heidelberg test done? No! Wasnt recommended by my doc...
4. Were you on any antibiotics for that other surgery? No
5. Do you have Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) No clue, again my doc says IBS and thats it......

And I did vote Yes already :)

I will keep you guys posted on how this works out.