by mashmetoo » 16 May 2011, 21:36
Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this forum for some time.
I wanted some feedback from the veteran LISers here. I had an anal fissure since the middle of 2007 (almost 4 years now). It is chronic, but it isn't that bad. I don't have pain sitting down, there's no spasms. The only issue for me is the periodic bleeding.
My chronic anal fissure has been a mixed blessing and curse for me. It forced me to eat a vegetarian diet for 3 years, but I also lost 30 pounds and could fit into all my high school clothes again - this and a lot of other health benefits of eating a healthy vegetarian meal. The curse of course, is the psychological trauma of seeing blood in your stool, and feeling the occasional sting as the fissure rips again... Basically, the fissure would heal for 2-5 months, but invariably, I would pass a very hard stool, and the fissure rips and bleeds - the cycle repeats over and over as it has for the past 4 years...
6 Months ago, around December 2010, the bleeding was REALLY bad. It was like a nosebleed, the paper swipes would be SOAKED in blood as would the toilet bowl. Bowel movements would sting, but the pain/discomfort was bearable, at most a 4-5/10 if I had to rank it. Anyways, I've seen THREE colorectal doctors and my family doc. All of them say that I do not need surgery (LIS), and that it's "not that bad". The last colorectal doc/surgeon I saw (in Dec 2010) told me to use Anurex - the cold therapy thing. But he did say that if this didn't work, he would perform the LIS surgery. But, I'm very concerned because his clinic is in Toronto, and they only use local anesthesia.. (Dr. Rudd if anyone's familiar with him...) So I wonder how much worse would the pain be if they only use local anesthesia?
This year, I was able go for 3 months without bleeding.. then it relapsed again in early May.. so, I'm thinking about surgery once again..
I'd really appreciate some feedback. I mean, I'd love to have this fissure business behind me forever and never see blood again... But at the same time, I've had FOUR doctors tell me that I don't need LIS surgery.. So I'm really confused as to what I should do...