Hi! I'm new here today and I'm not really sure where to put my introduction so I just decided to start a thread and tell my story. In June of 2015 I had an abscess in my colon and had a foot of my colon removed. I had a colostomy bag for 3 months and then in September of 2015 things were reversed and put back together. After a few days I had pain with every bowel movement and this went on for just over 3 months. My surgeon had said that when she hooked me back up I had bad proctitis in my rectum that had not been used in 3 months. So anyway, about 2 weeks ago, I had a colonoscopy to find out what was going on. It turned out I have good sized internal hemorrhoids around the rectum and also some external ones but those are not too bad. But I also have multiple anal fissures.
After months of extreme agony on the toilet I am now finally doing better. Number one, it helps to know what my problem is and I mentally try to make myself relax. Number two.....after the colonoscopy prep....I was pretty cleaned out ...that was a Sunday night and I didn't actually go again until a Wednesday night so it gave things a chance to heal a little bit. The other thing is I now use the NIFO/LIDO ointment and I think that has helped a great deal. I take Benefiber in the morning and I usually drink prune juice in the evening. I'm not really sure how much of the prune juice to do.
I still have a lot of pain but at least now it is not as excruciating. But another thing that I have come up against is that a lot of people really don't understand because I look fine on the outside. But this really has changed how my life is. I'm not back to work yet as I have to have the time to be in the bathroom and make sure I do relax. It's not something you can rush. If you rush ....that is when the problems become even worse.
Anyway, I would welcome input or just talking to others with this problem so I don't feel so alone in it. Thanks for listening to my story.
Liz

Welcome Liz!
I am sorry to hear how rough it has been for you. If everything was reversed in September 2015 I imagine your body is still doing a good amount of healing. Having anal fissures along with hemorrhoids while trying to recover is very tough.

Did the doctor find the cause of the original abscess in your colon from the colonoscopy or was it a random occurrence?
How are your bowel movements now?

You have a safe and welcoming place here to vent and discuss what you are going through. You are right in how challenging it is when people think you seem fine from the outside. It's very good though to hear you are developing a routine of fiber, ointment, relaxing and more. Hopefully some others may be able to share their experiences and ideas with you. Many on this forum have had different types of surgeries.

We have a search feature as well that I always find helpful because sometimes another person's experience is a few months or few years back, but still very useful. The search feature is in the upper right.

Just a quick broad search of proctitis: search.php?keywords=proctitis

Welcome again. We are glad you are here!

Hi! Thanks for the welcome. The cause of my original abscess in my colon was diverticulitis which caused a perforation in my colon but thankfully my body self healed around it so it didn't cause septic shock. I had no idea that I had diverticulitis so it was all unexpected.
My bowel movements are okay but at times could be softer. I get into trouble when I forget to drink the prune juice or if I have something I should not have.
Having had a colostomy bag for 3 months gave me a different perspective on how food does or does not digest and what takes longer to get through your system. Eating red meat, for example. That tends to take longer and I think it tended cause mini blockages.
I do have trouble with how much fiber to eat. It seems as though the more of it I eat, while it does make things softer, it also causes a lot of gas. I don't know about anyone else, but having gas....or wind....can be a bit painful also. Not to mention that it can be on the embarrassing side if you are with other people.
I did purchase something else that does help somewhat but not all the time. It's something called a Squatty Potty. It slides under your toilet and when you sit down you pull it out and put your feel on it and it brings you into more of a squatting position making it easier to go.
I'm glad to be here and again, thanks for the welcome.