How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 20 Aug 2009, 23:35

Hey Sidra,
I was just wondering what'd happened to you -- sounds like things are going a-okay for you, which is great news! I'd usually be one to complain about hard work, but now that I've have this fissure, I certainly wouldn't mind being able to do some real work!
My pain has been slightly reduced these last two days or so, but I don't know yet if it's actual progress in the right direction or just the fissure setting me up for a nasty crash back to reality. I guess only time will tell. I'm trying not to get my hopes up because I know how suddenly that hope can vanish.
For the last few days I've been on a strict diet: Fiber One cereal for breakfast, veggie soup or sushi for lunch, and more veggie soup (with pieces of boiled chicken and/or fish) along with soy beans and more cereal for dinner. I take Valium before and after BMs, alternate between nifedipine and nitroglycerin every other day, and also take a full dose of Miralax every day.
So far this diet has produced soft stools (consistency is usually like pudding or frozen yogurt although there are sometimes hard lumps in there), and pain during BMs is noticeably reduced. Usually the worst pain is felt when the bowels first open, and after that the pain is relatively mild. It's mostly when I go several times in a row that things get more irritated down there. I don't get the terrible spasms too much anymore, and when I do I take a Valium and it usually gets it under control.
As it stands now, I'm going to see if I can make this hold up for a few more days. It's taken a bit of the urgency off rushing in for either botox or LIS, but both options are still on the table for when I want to exercise them. I still get some pain (stinging raw kind of pain) around the anal region after a BM, but it's not as bad as last week. And the bleeding seems to have reduced a good bit (knock on wood!!!). Right now my wife is on maternity leave, so she drives me to and from work everyday, which helps to keep the pressure off my bum too.
Last Wednesday, when I was wheeled crying into the ER, the ER doc told me something interesting. He said they usually never prescribe opiate painkillers (oxycodone in my case) for fissures, but in some severe spasm cases like mine, they can help to break the cycle of spasming with short term use. So he told me to take oxycodone for a day or two, continue the Valium, and up the dose of Miralax during that time to fight off the constipatory effects of the opiate. The day after I left the ER, I had a supremely painful BM with bad spasms, and I did exactly as he said, and I haven't had as severe of a reoccurence just yet (knock on wood big time again!). I don't know if that's just the Valium keeping things at bay, or if there's some wisdom to the ER doc's advice, but I've got my fingers crossed that he was legitimately onto something.
I've got a follow up with one of the colorectal surgeons I'm seeing in a few weeks here, so I guess I'll see how things are going at that time. This surgeon has already pre-authorized botox with my insurance company, so if I can last until then without begging for LIS, I'm thinking about giving botox a go. But who knows, right, all it takes is one hard stool to send me right into crying like a small child mode :) Thanks for asking, hopefully you continue to improve, it sounds like you're making some darn good strides!
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby sidra1968 » 21 Aug 2009, 06:27

Yeah, the fissure has definitely given me my perspective back! Even a 70 hour work week or my surgery bill isn't bothering me in the least...not much will ever be as bad as those weeks with the fissure..The way I look at it, just about ANYTHING else is very small potatoes from now on - and even when something terrible happens in the future, without a fissure to literally consume me, I can deal with it, do something about it, etc.
I was maybe going to go to Ireland this week with my best friend and traveling buddy, but because of the fissure she went without me. I sure as hell couldn't book anything while dealing with the fissure and didn't think it'd be wise to go on a week trip 2 weeks after surgery. I actually feel good enough to have maybe gone with, but as long as I'm not in that horrific pain, I've been a smiling fool and dancing a jig all this week!! And that's at WORK. Wow.
So glad you're feeling better and you're smart that you know it could be all back by tonight. At least know that if it does come back, you'll probably have the great experience with it that I had. I think getting the surgery while the fissure is still relatively new and being younger helps (I'm a young 41 -everyone thinks I'm 28, though it's probably not young to you -lol). The skin has more elasticity, muscles are strong, healing is quick, etc. Just thoughts on my part, not based on scientific fact, but I sure don't think it hurts!
Please keep me abreast of your situation. Sounds like your wife is very understanding. I think my SO and best friend were getting sick of all the "butt talk" and complaining...no freaking way could anyone ever understand the pain if they haven't experienced it. You're lucky she is a trooper.
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 21 Aug 2009, 09:39

Hey there, yeah my wife is definitely very understanding. You should see her, 8 months pregnant with twins and doing the "penguin waddle" and she still chaffeurs me to and from work, helps me reach down to pick things up when my butt won't allow me to, etc. I just hope I'm okay when the babies arrive because I'll need to help her during her c-section recovery.
I know what you mean about travelling, in fact one of my buddies just made it big when his startup was bought by a big corporation, he invited myself and a few other guys on an all expenses paid vacation to Europe (kind of a last harrah before I become a father :)), but I had to decline because I needed to be near the safety of my bathroom, medical facilities, a proper fissure diet, etc. And I had thoughts of being in the middle of some foreign place with spasms and being unable to walk, which would be no fun. It sounds like you could have gone to Ireland without too much trouble, but playing is safe is definitely how I'd go too after the living hell of a fissure.
And yeah, I agree, I don't feel like too much can bother me after this fissure. Earlier this year, I had bouts of dizziness, costochondritis, back and calf muscle spasms, and some peripheral neuropathy, and now I barely notice those. Every one of them pales next to the horror of a fissure.
I'm been overdosing on cereal, so that's probably why my poos are a litle less painful now, but I'm still losing weight (apparently cereal and vegetables don't build much fat or muscle), so at some point I have to eat a real diet. I guess I'm just hoping I can keep this up long enough for the fissure to make some kind of progress. If it comes to LIS, I do thinnk being on the young-ish side will help, we're not that far apart age-wise (I'll gain a year on you in just a couple weeks here!), and if my LIS experience is half as good as yours, I'd be a happy camper (or more like happy pooper).
I'll post back in a few days with any updates, in the meantime keep working hard, dancing that jig, and keeping those friendly poos coming :)
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby cherylk » 21 Aug 2009, 09:58

Sidra,
Where in the Midwest do you live??
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby sidra1968 » 21 Aug 2009, 15:45

Cherylk, I live in the Land of Lincoln...Illinois!
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby cherylk » 21 Aug 2009, 19:26

Me too! Do you live in Chicago??
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby sidra1968 » 22 Aug 2009, 07:44

I was borm in Chicago, raised in Franklin Park and and Schaumburg...moved to Champaign-Urbana for college and stayed downstate ever since!!
I'm a MAJOR Illini fan..in fact, one of the driving forces behind demanding surgery was I kept thinking "Wow, football season starts soon and NO WAY am I gonna be suffering with this and trying to tailgate and TRYING to look like I'm having a grand old time eating, drinking, walking around socializing, etc...I can't do it..I WON'T". Those season tickets would have been wasted. Then comes b-ball season. I just imagined myself even attempting to do these things and literally would almost start crying - and I'm NOT a crier. I knew it would be almost impossible. So, what was I gonna do, miss out on one of my favorite things in life? Might as well kill me. I figured that even if the WORST happened, I could at least do those things, so what if I had to do them with a little diaper on?
In fact, 2 weeks from this very moment I will be at the big tailgate day in downtown St. Louis (they block the streets off and everything, you can walk around with drinks!) It'll be opening day against Mizzou (ESPN at 2:30 pm for anyone who's interested)- and I will be able to sit on those bleachers for 3+ hours without much problem..I go for my follow-up Monday - I think I may kiss the doctor. I am so grateful my surgery seems to have been quite successful thus far.
I am off all painkillers and have just a little discomfort after bm's...for any lurkers out there, this is just my experience and from what I've read, I've been lucky to have had such any easy time of it...I also know it could rip open again so I plan on taking Miralax till they bury me if I have to!!
Off to work for a few hours everyone..hope you all have a good day...be back on later.
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby cherylk » 22 Aug 2009, 09:46

I take Miralax also. Glad your surgery was so successful. I live in central Illinois--near Peoria!!
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby NeuropathicGuy » 22 Aug 2009, 11:44

sidra1968 wrote:In fact, 2 weeks from this very moment I will be at the big tailgate day in downtown St. Louis (they block the streets off and everything, you can walk around with drinks!) It'll be opening day against Mizzou (ESPN at 2:30 pm for anyone who's interested)- and I will be able to sit on those bleachers for 3+ hours without much problem..I go for my follow-up Monday - I think I may kiss the doctor. I am so grateful my surgery seems to have been quite successful thus far.

Uh oh, Sidra, I don't know if we can be friends anymore... I'm a HUGE Mizzou fan (spent my childhood years in Columbia) :) My fissure will still be attacking me at that time, I'm sure, but while you're out there tailgating better keep in mind that there will be some dude out in California with tiger paint on cheering against your Illini Image
Speaking of sports alligiances, you're not a Bulls fan too, are you ... lifelong Laker fan here so I don't know, we've got this common fissure enemy and all, and I enjoy and value your posts, but sheesh this might be a bit of an uneasy truce Image JK, of course :)
I'm a big football and basketball fan too and don't root for any of the local home teams, so I usually take a few short trips a year to see my teams play, and am hoping to be in good shape to be able to do so by the time the upcoming seasons kick off!
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Re: How to use nitroglycerin ointment?

Postby sidra1968 » 22 Aug 2009, 16:18

Wow, Cheryl, I'm only 35 minutes away! I'm in northwest Normal..go to Peoria often..love it. In was in Champaign for 13 years, been in B-N for 8...rather live in Peoria or C-U, but it's ok, and both are close, so I go do things in both towns often enough.
Wow, NG, I'd never of guessed you were a Mizzou fan (what with you living in Cali and all). It's ok, anyone who supports their team and enjoys it is fine with me. When we went to the Rose Bowl 2 years ago, we tailgated with some USC fans who were actually nice to us!! Other than the final score, we had a blast! It's all in good fun. I love traveling to other college towns to watch my team...this year for football we're going to Purdue (went to Michigan last fall) and may go to Vegas over Thanksgiving to see the b-ball team in a tournament... but I don't think I'm gonna want to pay holiday airfare, so I'll probably just go somewhere more affordable..damn fissure cost me MAJOR traveling bucks.
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