Hello. Just wanted to ask if anyone has successfully healed their fissure without having surgery? I have had mine now for almost 5 months and have just started using the diltiazem. I have had so many highs and lows. I am exhausted. I just went four weeks without any problems and now I feel like I am back to square one. It's really starting to depress me. I have lost 30lbs since this started. I am so hoping the diltiazem works. I've only been using it for 6 days now. Thanks.

I healed by using Ditiazem--no surgery. It was an up and down adventure for almost 2 years. My son has Crohn's Disease. He's 34 and is stable. He was diagnosed 5 years ago via colonoscopy. If you have CD, I would think you would have ab pain and diarhea and be losing weight.

thanks for replying Cherylk. It's so good to hear that I could possibly do this without surgery. I haven't had any of the spasms in a month but I have had blood this week a few times. I'm afraid that eating chocolate or either nuts caused me some problems after I had come so far. Have you continued the high fiber diet since healing? I think I will be afraid to ever eat anything but fruits and veg, beans and cereal for the rest of my life if I heal.

Dawn,
I now eat pretty much anything I want (including cheese, potato chips, ice cream, nuts, chocolate, and white bread), but I do take Benefiber and Metamucil daily in addition to Miralax. Where do you live in Florida????

cherylk wrote:Dawn,
I now eat pretty much anything I want (including cheese, potato chips, ice cream, nuts, chocolate, and white bread), but I do take Benefiber and Metamucil daily in addition to Miralax. Where do you live in Florida????

That's awesome that maybe one day I can eat some junk again! How long did you use the diltiazem during your healing? I was told not to stop using it even if I feel better.
I am from the Fort Myers area.

Dawn,
I started using the Diltiazem in April 2008 and used it for about 3 months, then slowly tapered off and used it as needed after that. Good luck!!

Cherlyk,
Thank you! I was wondering if you had any re-tears after the three months and how did you know if you needed to use it after that? Was it because you got a raw feeling or did it bleed again? I appreciate you answering my questions. I'm not having such a good week.

Hey Dawn, just wanted to pop in to add that I and some others have also healed (in my case temporarily) using Botox injections. I tried all of the ointments -- nitroglycerin, diltiazem, and nifedipine -- and was never able to heal completely. I then went for Botox and got several months of totally symptom-free existence from one round of shots. Eventually I got careless and tore my fissure again, and ultimately had surgery. But I'm glad I tried Botox first and there have been some others who have healed completely from it (sometimes after more than one round of shots).
By the way what kind of stool softeners are you taking? I personally swear by Miralax and a lot of others here do too. Whether you get surgery or not, a good stool softener that works for you is key.

Hi NeuropathicGuy,
Thanks so much for giving me some hope. How long did you use the ointments before you decided to do the botox?
Tomorrow will be a week for me. I didn't even fill the prescription for a month because I was doing so well. I didn't realize how easily things could change just by eating some chocolate and nuts, Oh I wish I could take that back!
I have been taking colace for about 5 months now and up until I cheated, I had done fine just taking 2 a day for about 4 weeks ,but I only eat fiber foods excluding breads. I ate no meat except tuna ocassionally.
I have thought about the miralax but was told my CRS that he would like to see me take nothing but metamucil.
I can not take metamucil because it makes my stools too bulky so I try to just eat fiber.

Hey there, Metamucil is a bulk fiber adder. It makes stools bigger (as you've already discovered) but not necessarily softer. That's where the Colace, Miralax, etc. comes in. I tried Colace for a while too but it was never nearly as effective as Miralax for me personally. If you find the Colace sufficient then stick with that; if you want to try something else, Miralax would be a good candidate IMO.
I had my fissure for about half a year before I went for Botox. Before Botox, I tried nifedipine and nitroglycerin. Nifedipine never did much for me, but nitroglycerin at least brought the pain down to manageable levels. After Botox, I was blissfully pain free for several months. Maybe a bit too pain free because then I stopped taking Miralax and started eating "bad fissure foods" again, which led to a re-tear.
After I re-tore the fissure, I tried diltiazem, but it wasn't too effective for me. I know some others have gotten good results from it though.
I also made radical changes to my diet. Before my fissure, I ate fast food, junk food, plus coffee and beer all the time. After the fissure, I eat mostly veggie soup and no red meats at all. Even now, after surgery, I still eat mostly veggie soup and any meats consist of only fish and chicken (preferably boiled). I can eat chocolate and other junk foods, no problem there, so long as I take Miralax and drink lots of water.
There's definitely hope, but most people who have had a fissure do have to be careful diet-wise forever.
Also, not to play doctor or override your CRS' advice, but most of us played around with different diets and stool softeners until we found what worked for us individually. A lot of times doctors will just give general advice that doesn't account for individual variances. Soft stool really is key no matter what ointment or other treatment method you decide on, so I can't stress how important it is to find something that keeps your bowel movements soft and effortless.