Hi everyone! I'm new here and need some advice. I have an AF that has been bothering me for about 3 months now. I scheduled an LIS about 2 weeks ago and then it seemed to get better after I made my appointment. I cancelled and now I seem to be back to square one. I had a good bit of blood at first, then it stopped, and now has started again. I'm about to loose my mind with this thing. Should I go ahead and have the surgery? Not having much pain at all now but in the beginning it was the worst pain I had every felt. Could it be getting better since I just see blood but have very little pain?

Hi Jules, and welcome!
We all here know a little about the "losing our mind" part, don't feel alone! Maybe you are already beginning to see the real nature of AF...it can calm down for a few days and seem to be getting better and suddenly, when you think the ride is over, you're back on the roller.
coaster. It can be a cruel letdown, too. I certainly faced the same situation in not knowing if I should have the LIS, I thought I was healing and wanted to not have it, but that was after seven months. Some here waited much longer to decide on surgery. And the truth is, it's really up to you, only you can decide when you have had enough. The possibility of healing is there, but it seems to diminish as time goes by.
What other more conservative steps have you taken to try and resolve the fissure? There are many ways to manage and sometimes even heal the fissure, and this forum has information to varying degrees on most everything, so do look around...

Jules,
I want to say welcome.

Hi, I'm new here too. I had my second fissure for about a year when I was finally scheduled for surgery. I almost canceled the surgery twice because I thought things were getting better. I finally had the surgery and it was a good thing I did, my fissure was very deep and large. The high fiber diet, benefiber and miralax were helping me alot that's why it felt better sometimes but it wasn't healing at all, not even a little bit. The surgery relaxed the sphincter muscle so the fissure can heal. It doesn't immediately heal the fissure. I personally think the longer you have a fissure the more scar tissue you get and the more problems you could be setting yourself up for in the long run. The surgery isn't that bad. Talk with your surgeon again and explain what's going on. Ask more questions and don't be afraid of it. Good luck and I hope you heal quickly, Suzy

Hi Jules and welcome!
Yeah, it seems to be a cruel trick that the fissure plays - it goes into hiding when surgery is mentioned! I dont think anyone here regrets surgery, but as Kim says, its your decision. In my humble opinion, my only regret is not having the surgery sooner as I suffered months of pain needlessly!
Hope you heal soon!

Thanks for all the replies and thanks for welcoming me to the AF Support Forum. Also, I believe Kim you asked me what things I have been doing to resolve this issue. I've been using proctofoam three times a day and using the nitro cream. That really does seem to help. I'm having a very good today but never know what each day might bring. I'm a very "regular" morning person so at least I get things over with during the earlier morning hours. I thought that may too have helped since I have the rest of the day to "re-coup"! Who knows! I've also tried a product I found on the internet instead of using a laxative with a stool softener. It's Fruit-eze and works wonderful!!! It's all natural and only contains prunes, dates, raisins and prune juice. Comes in a large container that doesn't even need refrigeration. Good for children and adults. Keeps you very regular and things soft. It's sorta a jelly like consistency that you can put on toast or just eat two tablespoons every morning... which is what I do. Doesn't taste bad at all.

Wow, that fruit-eze might be a good thing for lots of our boardies, could you possibly provide a link for it under the nutritional/supplement board? Sounds great!
Are you taking regular hot soaking baths? If not I ighly encourage you to do so, not just for relief but to hlp bring blood flow to the fissure site for healing!
Who prescribed the procotofoam? I have a feeling it might have been a GP? I also have a feeling it's not going to help with your fissure, but the nitro cream is a very good first line conservative measure for AF, as I'm sure you know...
Hoping you heal FAST!

Yes, that does sound quite interesting.

The all natural stuff I'm talking about can be found at ww.fruit-eze.com

Thanks for the website, Jules!