Found few topics on Anal dilatation on another site (this site also has some other useful information), one user saw success after dilatation by the doctor and another by himself following a German sources on anal fissures! There was also a bad experience which I think is due to the doctor they choose and how the procedure was done.
Please add www to the beginning, it would not let me add the link since I am a new member.
boardsailor.com/jack/af/patient_70.htm - Good
boardsailor.com/jack/af/patient_53.htm - Good
boardsailor.com/jack/af/patient_13.htm - Bad AD, good LIS exp
I am thinking due to the Doctor they choose for AD.
To me Anal dilatation is making more and more sense, since the first fissure incident and several aggravations later, I have been keeping my stool really soft, so the sphincter muscle re-adjusted and cannot handle anything that is even slightly bigger !
Also in Germany AD seems to the standard.. More I look at it AD may be a viable alternative to LIS!!! Not sure if this is wishful thinking but wanted to get some input from everyone ! I am really surprised why this procedure is not being done by more CRS in US!
TP

How long have you been suffring? I can tell you that unless you;ve had surgery your anus can stretch enough for it, but it may just not be doing it. Physically stretching it before hand I have read can be uite susscessfull to get reused to larger stools while healing happens.

Hey, tiredofpain - I've been working at self dilation at home for a couple of weeks. It is very,very slow going, but I feel I'm making progress and the pain is less.

You said: I have been keeping my stool really soft, so the sphincter muscle re-adjusted and cannot handle anything that is even slightly bigger !
Exactly my case - the bm can be soft and I still feel like I'm going to pass a big ball. This is especially so when a person has had repeat fissures accompanied with all those horrible spasms. I had my doc do a dilation back in '01 and that was a bad experience, but it did work. Only problem was the good effects only last 2 weeks. If I had known then what I know now, I could have kept the sphincter loose with self dilation.

Thanks for the update Baba,
When the doctor did the dialation, did they use SAD or a manual strech ?
TP

I plan to do it, but so long as i am slowly healing, i don't want to rock the boat.
But iam reaching the end of my patience. And it doesn't look like i will get a second opinion any time soon.
i guess i am not totally convinced it will help me, as i don't get spasms.
i did email around to various clinics in canada and the us, but doc are almost as ignorant of AD and SAD as AF sufferers.
there is a thread in webites i think, about where to go. Really it sounds like only the old kind (finger of god) gets done in canada by old school docs. In the states you can go to long island.
My doc said ther is nobody in the vancouver area who does it.
If you join the yahoo AF forum, there is a doc under 'files' that has all the old posts of 4 people there who found healing through dilation, and self dilation.
tanya

Tanya,
Thanks for always replying to us newbies!
I have not been seen by CRS yet, since all this time I have been told I have hemorrhoids by my doctors, then finally I had a emergency appendectomy few weeks ago and my surgeon during a postop visit identified my problem as Fissure. He did a manul exam (NOT FUN and caused a flare up!!!) and said I have fissure and to take fibre and stool softner! I know fibre just makes my poo too big to pass so did not even try that! I am pretty much managing my AF so far with magnesium and occassional MOM with natural fibre diet !
I have a CRS appointmentin two weeks. I know he is going to check again and the AF will flare up, but noway around that. Will ask him questions on AD. The guy I am seeing is supposed to be the best CRS in town as per reviews! TP

I know what you mean by the checkups. You want to know how you are doing, but wish they could tell you without looking! lol :)
I really should try the dilation. I keep telling myself after the next crs visit. But they keep getting postponed.
It's all just so discouraging some days.
I did pick up some virgin coconut oil today, and plan to try it out in lieu of the nifedipine.
Have you asked your doc about botox?
look forward to hearing what your crs says. Always encouraging that he has good reviews!
-Tanya

You really do wonder about these doctors, whether they actually know anything about anal fissures! The numbers of them that say it is hemmies is beyond me. It seems like they don't study beyond that!!
Baba, so glad that it is going well. You have exactly what I have - the big ball experience. Terrible. Today I have been going through that, in fact every day seems to be like that. I live on very soupy food, and even that is difficult to get through. I spend a lot of time sitzbathing...
I laugh about it, but cannot wait to get it sorted, and not by surgery, but hopefully by SAD. First though is the hurdle of having some sort of examination which does not involve a colonoscopy. Just joined a site call uptodate.com to get the latest info about medical research. Also saw that there is an anal/rectal ultrasound that can be done and am going to research that further this evening. Have had so much pain from examinations, and am in so much pain, that just have to find out what it all is.
All for now, folks.

tiredofpain wrote:Thanks for the update Baba,
When the doctor did the dialation, did they use SAD or a manual strech ?
TP

It was my GP that did it, the old fashioned manual stretch. Quite barbaric! When I woke up from the anesthesia, I found I had two fissures instead of one, as the scar tissue from the very first fissure I ever had didn't want to stretch along. Still after the pain from the procedure subsided I had no more spasms. If only I could have maintained the stretch at home, everything would have been fine I figure.

baba, what are you using for self dilation?