Hi Davo and Sue,
Firstly Davo the tip about Lidocaine pre BM worked a treat and I have now started using Movicol which has also worked very well. I know it's all trial and error to see what works for everyone and I found the first day with one Movicol split in 2 wasn't quite enough, so i used 2 yesterday and this mornings BM was painless and only afterwards I realised I had forgotten the Lidocaine. I have also added Mango to my list of fruits.
Sue when I came home after my op and didn't go for 2 days, I phoned the hospital asking if I should be taking anything. They said I should be using the laxatives I was given on discharge, what laxatives??? Told to go get Lactulose straight away and within 24 hours I had a BM (won't go into how much pain that caused). So it does work, as do Dulcoease, very quickly. At the moment though whilst using Rectogesic (after 8 days the headaches have almost vanished), I am trying to make the BM as soft as possible to avoid any new tears of the fissure and hopefully it will go (for now). I have just done a search for more Movicol online and found a Dulcoease stool softener capsule. I don't know if this a new product or not but might be something I try in the future as it will be more convenient than the powder sachets and almost a third of the price.
Once again thanks to both of you for your advice.
Tom