hi everyone :)
what a great place to get support and information! especially on a topic that probably isnt much talked about outside of the internet...
so my story - i am a 21yo female. back in oct 2010, my bathroom was undergoing renovations so i STUPIDLY decided to 'hold it in' for about 3-4 days. when i finally had a bowel movement, it felt like i was passing a baseball, and caused some fissures. i went to a doctor, who put me on things like nitro cream, anusol suppositories, docusate etc. my main medicine was miralax, which i was on for about 5 months, slowly tapering the dosage from a full dose to a half, to a quarter, then finally to none. i got checked after each 'taper' and everything looked fine. however, when i tapered from a qtr dosage to none.. that is what brings me to these boards.
currently, i am on two docusate stool softener tablets a day with no miralax, and fiber supplements. i found that whenever i taper my miralax to a smaller dosage, there is some pain and blood associated with it for about a week or so - i guess my bottom adjusting to 'harder' bowel movements. but when i went from a qtr to zero, its been about two months and i still am having sporadic blood with my BMs and slight pain when i go. my doctor that checked me (manually and with an anoscope, no colonscopy or sigmoidoscopy) said that i did also have a hemorrhoid but didnt think that was where the blood and pain were originating.
the blood and slight - and i mean slight compared to the excruciating fissure pain i experienced back in october - pain happen for about 3 days, then i have ~four days of blood-free BMs. then the cycle repeats. i always poo in the morning, and it totally ruins my mood for the day if i see pain/blood in my BM. my friend's uncle recently passed away from colon cancer, and now i am scared to death that is what i have. i dont understand why i keep developing pain/blood/fissures! one GI doctor (who was really an ass, to put it lightly) wanted me to get a colonscopy but 1. i feel that is extreme just for anal fissures? and 2. i am so so scared of getting one.
what do you all think? i hate how this "mess" started in october and it is still so present. i feel like i am never going to have a normal BM again. i dread eating bc i know it will just come out the other end. and i feel like i will never heal, and i have tried lots of things~!

Hi there, sorry you're suffering so much!
I wouldn't worry about it being colon cancer - fissures don't lead to cancer or cause cancer. They are basically a little cut - if you had a cut on your finger you wouldn't worry about it turning to cancer - please set your mind at rest.
Having said that, fissures are excruciatingly painful (unlike a tiny cut on your finger!!) and hard to heal up. They sometimes can be caused by crohns disease which maybe why you have been offered the colonoscopy.
The gold standard treatment is LIS, but you could also try botox, which can work sometimes.

Hey there,
I second everything Val said. Any time blood is present in the stool, they want to do a colonoscopy. If you feel the pain of a fissure, then your fissure is probably all that's causing the blood. I know your fear though. I had an Aunt who was the same age as I was when I got my fissure and died from colon cancer. That really freaked me out.
Fissures can(sometimes) be more excruciating in the beginning and once they get some time on them and you have adjusted your diet and made the stools soft, they may become no as bad, but still re-tear. LIS will help loosen the sphincter and prevent that tightening that is causing the re-tears.
My CRS gave me the option to have a colonoscopy after my surgery and healing. That may be an option for you.
Have you developed multiple fissures or is it the same fissure re-tearing?
Try not to worry so much:) I know it's hard but is probably nothing but a fissure- which is very common, especially after a hard bm. That's how I got mine too.

thanks for the replies :)
i know fissures do not cause cancer or become cancer, i am just worried they are a symptom of it as it has been so long and i still have one/some. every time i reduce my dosage of miralax, i go back to the doctor who checks me and says i am fissure-free. i am not sure if i then form new fissures or re-tear old ones, as the doctor never really specified where they are. that is what worries me... that i am constantly healing and then forming another :(
i am scheduled for a sigmoidoscopy in sept, the earliest the dr could get me in. he said at this stage, a colonoscopy wasnt necessary (yay, no cleanse!). he said he would use IV propofol (sp?) for the sedation.. do any older members here know of any threads about this procedure or using this sedatation?
sigh..eek. still worried about that c-word.