Hello all, new to this site and glad I found it. My question is WHY...from everything I have found regarding AF I cant find the one thing I want to know and that is ...WHY. Well for me anyway I want to know why. I got my little present of AF when I was about 35 and I am now 52 so I have been dealing with this little suckers for a while now. Nothing happened...I did not start eating strange foods, etc. I was just minding my own business going about my life like many of you were and one day BOOM...there they were. The itching is the worse at least for me along with the soreness/discomfort. It will wake me up at night! I must admit after reading many of your post, I have it much better than a lot of you do. I do not have hard BM's (okay may be once in a great while) I actually have the opposite problem. So after a few months of dealing with this in the beginning, I went to my family doctor and was told I had AF..I was like "huh". I guess I should be relived to a degree because I was diagnosed with psoriasis about a yr before the AF showed up and I know you can get psoriasis in your anal area and I was dreading that this is what I had. Nope just plain ole AF the doc told me...gee thanks doc, now how do we cure this junk? She gave me a script for suppositories and sent me on my way. The suppositories worked even though they were messy and the AF cleared up...great that is over with now back to my life I thought...but nope about a week after I was done with the script those little suckers were back and have been ever since. Weird thing is sometimes they go away...I can go for like a month with no itching, no soreness when I wipe, no pain...nada then boom it is back...I tell ya WTF is UP with that crap? :roll: I do not do anything different, eat anything different so why does it go away and then come back? All in all it is just very frustrating as you all know. So what happens to make it start in the first place? I just want to know WHY??? Those little fissures...I call them the cracks that will not heal because let's face it...you cant exactly smear some neosporan (spelling) and slap a band aid on the area and have it healed and gone in a few days like you can with the fissure cracks on your hands in the winter. Awww if only it were that easy right? Be well...Cheryl

Hey Cheryl, In the beginning I asked myself the same question... WHY?... I now know the answer to that, I spent most of my life eating lots of stodgy junk food and liked drinking beer, I never ate veggies or wholemeal foods, certainly never had any fibre nor drank any water, the end result was a fissure, too many hard BM's, not enough water and my a$$ has truly payed the price, what i'm saying is, did you eat a healthy diet all your life or did you just eat whatever you liked? If so, then maybe that's why you have a fissure?

Hi Steve...well good question. First off I am a water drinker from way back in the day. Even as a kid I never cared for soda, etc. always water. As to diet well that could be part of it. It was a mix of good and bad still is. But I am getting better making stuff instead of just eating any ole thing laying around. I eat a lot of salads, yogurt, oatmeal and such but I do like my coffee, I guess I have to start cutting that out cause that seems to be a culprit or switch more to decaf cause that seems to not effect me as much. I not sure if diet is one of the root causes cause I know a lot of people who eat nothing but junk and have no problems. I guess it might be a different trigger for each person. But again for me anyway the suckers go away for like a month and then come back...Why to that cause I dont do anything differently. I guess it will always be a mystery. Thanks for your thoughts I truly appreciate what you have to say. Be well...Cheryl

Hey Cheryl, in my case I'm pretty sure I got my fissure after an extended course of antibiotics (3 different antibiotics over the course of a month) for sinusitis. It's weird because in the past, I always had loose stools and never got constipation. After the antibiotics, something in my intestinal flora must've changed because now I get chronic constipation.
Anyway when my fissure first started, I got intolerable blinding pain from it. But after a few months, the pain and discomfort became more moderate. Some days I barely notice it's there, and other days it makes its presence known all day. I take laxatives every day and eat the exact same thing every day, so like you, it's a mystery to me as to why it doesn't heal and why the symptoms aren't more consistent either. Some times the nature of the pain also changes -- in the beginning it was intense pain right in the middle of the butt, but lately it's been a dull aching pain in the left side of the butt. It's definitely an enigma.

Hello Neo thanks for your comments. Interesting thing you said about medications. I get sinus infections..have one now btw. Like I have mentioned before, it seems to be a different "trigger" for each person. Seems to be no rhyme or reason to AF. I also read that moisture trapped in the area can cause AF, also acidic acids like from fruit, tomatoes, etc. can be the culprit too. Plus I read loose BM's could also contribute to the development of AF. All I know for sure is that it seems once they have settled in they are here for good. All we can do is manage them the best we can. So the mystery continues...what starts it for one person is totally different for another. That surely does not help...if there was ONE universal trigger may be something could be done to rid ourselves of these little demons once and for all. The human body is still one big ole mystery. Be well...Cheryl

I think anything outside of normal can cause an AF--too constipated, too much diarhea, and the trauma of childbirth. Also our emotions play a part in the way our bowels behave!! (especially if one has IBS like I do)

The irony of it all in my case, Cheryl From PA, is that the antibiotics didn't even rid me of sinusitis :) I had a repeat CT scan a while ago and it showed the exact same mucosal thickening that led to me taking them in the first place -- so all I really gained from the whole ordeal was a persistent little fissure buddy, sheesh!

for me my first year after graduating from college (13 years ago) i started having digestive problems...mostly diarrhea after eating ( no matter what i was eating--i started skipping breakfast and lunch so i wouldn't get sick at work...)
then one week i ended up constipated and when i was finally able to have a bm it was extremely hard and large--i kid you not it was spherical and larger than a softball...i would guess it felt similar to what natural childbirth must feel like...
that night i went to the er because the pain was so immense...i was diagnosed with a fissure and prescribed a suppository--i'm almost positive it was rowasa--it helped so much...i've had what i call flare ups a couple times a year--usually lasting a few days at most...unfortunately the severity and longevity and frequency have all increased exponentially recently and i wish i knew what has caused the increase...
i've started eating mostly a liquid diet with some soft food thrown in (like oatmeal with soy milk or mushy veggies--tonight was broth and edamame) with extra fiber (i tolerate benefiber better than miralax since miralax reminds me of that nasty stuff i had to drink before the colonoscopy)...
i did try an enema a couple days ago and the bm i had immediately after it was pain free but i don't think i want to get in the habit of using an enema for every bm...

Denise,
Have you lost weight on this diet?

i've lost about 20 pounds since january but i think it's mostly because i'm back on my thyroid medication...but that's a good thing because i am overweight (weight loss is good, not bad, for me...)
i've been very afraid of eating anything solid for the past two days because i'm having surgery tomorrow and will probably have to take more painkillers than normal--however i did find out that a darvocet with 5 mg of valium is about the most helpful thing after a very heinous bm
i am eating veggies tho and i did take a bite of my husband's pizza because it looked good (especially in comparison to my broth...)
i've rediscovered soy milk so i can have outmeal, cream of wheat, and even some less wholesome cereals...