Hi I'm new to the forum but have suffered for 6 yrs on and off. Having had a second go at Botox (I developed a new fissure after taking antibiotics) I thinking I'm heading towards surgery as it doesn't seemed to have worked this time.
So many posts resemble experiences I've had. Hoping that one day I will be be able to concentrate on the wonderful things in my life rather than AFs.

Hi Kate,
Sorry to hear you have a fissure. This is a great place to get support and much knowledge.
I had LIS/ skin tag removal last year. It was the best thing I could have done. Wish I would have done it sooner. There is a light at the end of the tunnel:)

Did you have just the Botox alone? Or also with fissurectomy? As far as my doc told me, for a chronic AF botox alone is a 50-50 shot, but if it's done together with fissurectomy the chances go up to more than 80%. From what I read on the net they actually go up to more than 90%.
Of course, LIS has even better chances :)

Just Botox. I had it a few years ago and was pain free for about 2 years. Unfortunately I'm not sure it's worked this time. It did seem to improve things but 3 mths down the line it's starting to wear off and pain is getting worse again.

Sorry you're suffering,
I thik a lot of people who have botox eventually end up having LIS. I wish I hadn't waited the 7 veeeeery long months to have it done either! It's such a waste of life!

That's the opinion I'm rapidly heading towards. How was the recovery? Not so bad that you wish you hadn't done it?

If you can cope with a fissure - you can cope with LIS - easily! I wont say its a walk in the park, its surgery, and no surgery is actually pleasant, but honestly, my only regret is not having done it sooner. I had really bad spasms that left me rolling around the bed in agony for hours on end every day. All because I was afraid of the surgery. But its not that scary at all.

val wrote:If you can cope with a fissure - you can cope with LIS - easily! I wont say its a walk in the park, its surgery, and no surgery is actually pleasant, but honestly, my only regret is not having done it sooner. I had really bad spasms that left me rolling around the bed in agony for hours on end every day. All because I was afraid of the surgery. But its not that scary at all.

Val, I did the same thing for over two years -- it was Hell going to the toilet, and then the ensuing agony would last for hours. If I went to the bathroom right before bedtime, I would get maybe an hour of sleep that night, if I were lucky. I'd usually spend the night pacing up and down the hall, moaning and whimpering, for hours. My kids probably thought our house was haunted.
I was scared to get the surgery because I had read some horror stories about how you could be rendered incontinent if just the slightest mistake was made, but then I found out that the chances of that happening are very, VERY slim, and that it was well worth the risk to be rid of the pain. Three months ago I had the surgery, and I have not had fissure pain at all since I woke up from the anesthesia, and I have yet to poop my pants.
Best decision I have ever made in my life.

" My kids probably thought our house was haunted."
Yes, I think most people scare themselves senseless reading about the complications. But then once it's done, there's no undoing it, so I suppose it makes sense to be afraid.
If I could turn back the clock though, I would most certainly have leapt onto that operating table at the first available oppotunity.

Very Funny Matt, Lol.
Just wanted to add- LIS was nothing compared to the fissure for me. With surgery, the majority get to look forward to healing and that makes the discomfort of surgery so worth it (which just didn't even compare to living with the fissure). It's not like good days, bad days with a chronic fissure that aint never gonna heal... Lol
The day after surgery was better than the day before with me and it just kept getting better. I'm agreeing with the others who said they wish they would have done it sooner and I think that is a common statement made by fissure sufferers. My CRS said she hears it all the time:)