Have been in pain for 14 months now. Had LIS last July, didn't work, just had botox injections today and it hurt like hell, but the pain only lasted about a minute. What can I expect from the botox? Is it gonna get better quick?

Hi and welcome to the forum, and sorry that you are in pain. There are quite a few here who have Botox and will be able to relate their experiences. You have come to the right place! Also, the search is pretty good and will pull up a lot of results. I have read that sometimes the surgeon can be a bit too conservative with cutting the internal spincter, which means having LIS again to cut a little more. Anyway, once again, welcome.

A general surgeon did the LIS, because he thought it was internal hemis and wanted to do exam and surgery at one time instead of knocking me out twice. He saw it was a fissure and then did the LIS. When symptoms came back, he sent me to a specialist. I guess if the botox doesn't work, I'll be looking forward to surgery again. It seems like this has been dragging on forever and I am ready for it to be over.

Hey there hball, I had BOTOX before. The injections did hurt but it was only momentary and I just had mild soreness for a few days afterward.
Do give the BOTOX some time. It won't give you immediate relief IMO. Give it at least 1-2 weeks to see any benefit at all.
I did mine the other way around (BOTOX and then LIS later) though. The LIS was much more effective for me.
BTW some people have had LIS twice. So even if you get there, you won't be alone. But fingers crossed that the BOTOX works. In my case, it fully healed my fissure for months, which was great. I eventually re-tore (hence LIS) but all in all I found it to be effective albeit temporary.

Thanks. It's good to know I have company. Sometimes it's hard to talk to people about stuff like this.

Hi hball,
I am nearly seven weeks post my second round of Botox.. Had my first round back in Feb and it did help with the pain but didn't heal my fissure or completely eliminate the pain. I decided to go a second round before going for surgery. The second time round has helped alot more- still not eliminated the pain but it is much more manageable. My CRS has told me the fissure is almost healed my problem is I had three skin tags removed so the wounds are what is still causing me pain.. The Botox did take 1-2 weeks to kick in as said previously as I think the swelling needs to come down a bit from the injection site.
I am very hopeful and positive that it will heal this time round so Botox has definately helped me can't say it has worked just yet but hopeful.
I hope you get releif from it and it heals this for you!!! :D

Daisy1026 wrote:Hi hball,
I am nearly seven weeks post my second round of Botox.. Had my first round back in Feb and it did help with the pain but didn't heal my fissure or completely eliminate the pain. I decided to go a second round before going for surgery. The second time round has helped alot more- still not eliminated the pain but it is much more manageable. My CRS has told me the fissure is almost healed my problem is I had three skin tags removed so the wounds are what is still causing me pain.. The Botox did take 1-2 weeks to kick in as said previously as I think the swelling needs to come down a bit from the injection site.
I am very hopeful and positive that it will heal this time round so Botox has definately helped me can't say it has worked just yet but hopeful.
I hope you get releif from it and it heals this for you!!! :D

Thanks. It actually is feeling a little better already. I didn't know botox could be done twice. The LIS layed me up about 5 days. It was unpleasant, but not unbearable. Hope everything works out for you and you don't need surgery.

Yup Botox can definitely be done twice. I know of at least one past member on this board who had it done 3x. I've heard that sometimes insurance companies can be iffy about picking up the tab for repeat rounds though (I only did it once so consider this mere hearsay).
In fact supposedly multiple rounds in somewhat close succession (so the muscle remains paralyzed) seems to be the way to go for highest success rates according to the studies I've read on Botox. But to be honest it's a somewhat newish approach and clinical data isn't quite as readily available or extensive as one might hope (I subscribe to UpToDate.com and even that has limited info on it).
Did you get any improvement after LIS? Just curious. It's true that sometimes the cuts are too conservative. It's happened to a few folks here. If you search for old posts from board member "Fissulyna" you may find some info on her experience with repeat LIS. I'm paraphrasing here, but I think in her case the first cut was too conservative, and the second time around her surgeon used a scalpel with serrated edges to make sure the cut was more extensive. She had a rough ride but came out the other end pooping pretty good as far as I know :)
Oh ya and I had a little tender bump near the Botox injection site for a few days afterward. Dunno if you have the same thing, but if you do, probably no biggie. Mine went down after a few days, felt sort of like a little external hemorrhoid almost.

You guys are lucky (well in a sense) my private health here in Oz would not cover it as it was considered experimental so I was lumped with paying for two rounds... I would say worth every cent though as it has given me some relief!
My CRS would probably keep goin with the Botox untill I make the decision for LIS (hopefully not needed!)
Glad your feeling a bit better here's to getting some relief!!

NG- that gives me hope with the studies 2 rounds of Botox done in close succession having better success rates as mine were done only 2.5 months apart