Hi! I, too, figured I'd introduce myself.
I was doing some googling about Diltiazem and found this forum. My insurance kicked in the first of the month so I was able to go to a specialist this past Monday and have been officially diagnosed with two anal fissures and started a twice a day Diltiazem routine. I've been bleeding and having pain since November (after taking some taking some antibiotics for some diarrhea, which appears to have completely overhauled my gut), but was hoping it would go away and was worried about how much it was going to cost me to see a doctor. Not necessarily one of my finest decisions, but considering I have three appointments with the specialist in an 8 week span, and those appointments are over $250 a piece without insurance, I'm not kicking myself while I'm down.
Between November and now I have implemented a lot of fiber into my diet, tried to cut my dairy intake (I already eat a primarily vegan diet, but that is of course only primarily), drink lots of water, use hemorrhoid creams (that didn't work to well, because they itched horribly upon contact), stool softeners, use Vaseline, use suppositories, et c. But nothing has cleared things up totally.
One problem I have been having is that I know that sitz baths in the tub help me feel a lot better. The problem is, all efforts to participate in sitz baths have resulted in fungal infections of varying places- i.e. yeast infections and/or jock itch between my butt cheeks. I tried scrubbing the tub and I used anti-fungal cream and that cleared things up, but not enough for when I tried it again, it wasn't a reoccuring problem.
Anyone have any advice? I have a potential guess (because I can't think of anything else) that I have some extremely minor athlete's foot (that I don't notice) and maybe I was giving it to myself and if I bought a toilet top one, it might make things better. Anyone have any other idea what it might be a cause of?
Thanks and see you around :)

The same for me - two fissures and a basic vegan diet!
Good luck to you!!!

I'm so sorry you are suffering! But you've come to the right place. The folks here can give you good advice and support.
One thing I'd say is to avoid hemorroid creams. They often make fissure worse! That's happened to many of us here. Also, yeast infections are quite common, because we have to soak so much. I doubt it has much to do with the tub (although a clean tub is a good thing!). Mostly, the problem is that the area is moist so much. The trick is to make sure that you dry the area off very well. Some folks here even use a blow-dryer set on cool to dry off their butts.
I'm glad you can now get proper treatment. I really hope the ointments work. :)

me too, i started with actually lots of burning during a few bout of constipation, went to the GP, she didn't even bother to see my ass, and just gave me lactulose and the steriod cream. Then after somedays of applying, the pain got worse and i went 2nd doc, and she saw my internal pile and just assume that it's the pile that is making me so painful, despite me telling her i felt sharp tearing pain!! I'm really disappointed that i didn't get better from the very beginning simply bcos they gave me the diagnosis and treatment. SO, from now on... any rectal pains, i make sure i'll go specialist! GPs are only for flu, fever, aches, coughs, etc..