Hi guys, long story short about ten days ago I received anal sex from my boyfriend (I'm a gay male)... I don't usually receive anal sex but have done in the past and a few days afterwards I stared experiencing pain after BM.

Initially I thought it was just because of the sex, but I've now self-diagnosed an anal fissure, which I'm pretty certain is just inside my rectum on the left side. I've been attempting a high fibre diet, started using stool softeners about 3 days ago and attempted to use Anusol suppositories, but found they irritated it more.

The past 2 days or so have been less pain and more discomfort, like a constant throbbing unless I take ibruprofen - I've tried to bathe my bum but I don't have a bath!!! So have been using the shower head to clean after BM's, I've seen cases on here that last week's and months!! I had a really bad BM yesterday and had blood in my poo again, despite less pain - am I healing? Or is this something that is going to turn into a bigger problem? Any advice would be great, thank you !

Hi there

Your tear is still acute, and you have a good chance beating this thing before if turns chronic.
Do this:

1. Keep your BM's soft. Be carefull with too much fiber, as the wrong kind will bulk instead. Use miralax/movicol and/or magnesium.

2. If possible, go to your doctor and get some diltiazem or rectogesic creme. This will help your muscle relax, relieve pain, and promote healing by better bloodflow.

3. Buy a sitzbath, or sit on a hot waterbottle.

4. Read this forum and educate yourself.

Good luck!

JHH

BTW. To answer your question. The throbbing/burning pain is from spasms. Spasms is what keeps you from healing, so no pain is the primary indicator of healing going on.

Thank you!

My BM's are relatively painless today, but I can feel it when the poo passes where I think the tear is, and there are still tiny amounts of blood in my stool.

Is it possible for it to be healing whilst still bleeding?

Yes, you can be healing even with blood. Whats important is that you have no or minimal pain, then the blood will stop eventually.

Its normal to feel the poo passing the tear, but if you feel any sharp pinching pain, then we are talking about retears, and those are what we like to avoid by keeping the BM soft.

The pain is definitely not as bad as it was a few days ago, and the throbbing is no longer constant but usually after a BM.

Hope I get back to normal relatively quickly, I'll still take measures to keep my stools soft. Thank you for your advice/support!

Last night and today have been the first few days without serious pain whilst having a BM. There is still some throbbing afterwards but usually for less than an hour.

I often find the discomfort worse when I need to have a BM instead of afterwards, I'm hoping that this will heal on its own.

Sure sounds like you are headed in the right direction ;-)