I have had my fissure a year now, had the agony of spasms, had Botox 6 weeks ago that stopped the dreaded spasms. I can tell the fissure is still there though after a BM I get stinging and burning but if I have a BM that is 4 or 5 on the Bristol scale the burning and stinging turn into pain and if my IBS is playing up and I have a liquid BM the pain is bad and lasts quite a while. But if I manage a Bristol 3 BM that I just have to push a bit, I only get a little bit of stinging that goes after 20 mins.
I am wondering why this is as everyone else seems to find the harder BMs much more painful. I have never had BMs harder than a Bristol 4 due to my IBD and am having to work hard to get it at the 3 that seems to be comfortable.
I guess I was wondering if there could be a reason why this causes me less pain compared to the softer stools.
Thanx guys

I imagine that everyone is different because their fissures are in different places, but I always believed that my diahhrea caused more pain than a harder stool because the liquid could seep into the cut and then just stay there until the body could very, very slowly get rid of it. If you have a cut on the outside of your body, you can clean it and get rid of the dirt, but if it's inside, the body has to just absorb it very slowly so it hurts for a much longer period of time.

Thanx chacha,
That does makes sense especially with the stinging and burning and I guess that could then lead on to the spasms. I do notice that when I put my cream up there after a hard BM there is never any residue...but I often have to go back and shower if I try to put cream up after a soft BM.
Here's hoping for much fewer sift BMs

I had suffered with hemmies for many years before the fissure and it was always the soft ones that killed me. Harder stools were always my friend, which isn't very common on this forum though.

Yes I have hemmies to unfortunately lol,
I have been reading a lot of post and it seems that most people are aiming for a soft BM but I'm like noooo they really hurt am I really strange.
The hard BMs are the easiest for me just not sure how to achieve them consistently working with food, supplements and IBD meds at the moment.
It's good to know I'm not the only one though lol

We might be the only two though, lol.

I was lucky enough to accidentally discover that it had been coffee making me have diarrhea, so once that was eliminated from my diet, I've been fine ever since (and for years before that, coffee had given me no trouble at all, so I was totally shocked to find out that it was the culprit). I had tried many pro-biotics and changed my diet many, many times, but nothing worked until I stopped the coffee.

Good luck figuring out what your trigger is and I hope that you don't suffer too much more before you do.

Yes I def feel like the lone voice moaning about soft BMs and wishing that mine were harder lol
I have always had loose BMs since I was a teenager but I do know stress has an impact...I have also cut out dairy which helps and am using psyllium to absorb liquid...I have been much better than I was but think it will always be something I struggle with.
Maybe if I lived on a desert island with no stress or dairy I would be great lol

Hi Mypoorbutt and chachacha- I know this is an old post but after searching the forum for this very topic I felt the need to reply.
I am 6 months into my fissure fight and am at the point now that it is no longer an open wound but still gives me pain - and I also find that harder stools are much more comfortable! It is very common for me to get loose BMSs and it is stress related just like you Mypoorbutt. Glad I found this post. Thanks for sharing. Any tips on how to keep things consistently firm? When my wound was open I was very strict about drinking a lot of water, so I'm trying to be less obsessive about that now in the hope that it'll reduce the number of loose BMs I have. I relate so much to your desert island comment Mypoorbutt!! If only things were that simple...

Hi ouch,
I wish I had found a way to keep my BMs a consistently Bristol 3 which is my ideal but unfortunately I haven't.
The psyllium really helps as does loperamide but nothing is totally reliable.
I know the loser the BM the more acidic it is and the more it hurt my fissure. I have had LIS and even with a crohns flare and my IBS my fissure is 95% healed so there is no real reason a soft BM should stop healing it just slows it down and is very painful.
Yes if you find that desert island please let me know lol

I never found a solution to the soft BM's either, until I stopped drinking coffee. Pysillium fibre was helpful at first, but I had to keep upping the dose until it stopped working at all. Good luck finding a way to firm yours up. You will probably have to use a trial and error method until you do.