You know what takes my mind off the fissure I have? Reading other peoples stories, it kinda puts the mind at ease. Funny that. :o
I'm a 27 year old male, from the Uk. I've been silently suffering with hemorrhoids and fissures, on and off for the last 2 years. I feel It's now at its worst stage. Me as a person.. I'm usually full of life, keeping myself fit at the gym 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, and looking forward to the weekend. Only recently (last 8 weeks) my mind has been set on nothing but the agony I've been going through. All my plans have temporarily been cancelled, i'm no longer looking forward to tomorrow as It doesn't look promising. There's no point in me explaining the downs of it as I know you all feel the same way. I'm trying my best not to let it take hold of me.
I've been off work for 5 weeks, prior to that I was seeing blood every 2nd time i had a bm, but there was no pain, however a slight discomfort. I actually had a really bad episode 2 years ago, and I recall going to the doctor, going through all sorts of creams (i wish i logged them), as far as i can recall none of them worked, but somehow it went away back then over time and i don't remember exactly how!
I'm now reliving it, but it feels 10x worst. The pain is now with me 24 hours a day, only dormant when my mind is sleeping. Every couple of minutes i'm moving, agitated, the pain almost starts at 5 (in a rating of pain out of 10), then slowly increases to 10, until i move slightly and it starts over again.. and again. I'm taking paracetamol, ibuprofen to try and cope with the pain, is it working? Doesn't seem so! I'm still in agony.
There's this constant feeling of needing to go to the toilet. And it causes me to strain, with causes severe pain :( The only thing that helps is lying in a hot bath, as this makes the pain go away, but after say 90 minutes I feel agitated and need to get out.. As you can imagine, its not long until the soreness returns.
I've been through a few meds over the last 8 weeks, and now i'm about to take my 3rd application of Diltazem 2% 30mg. The first application seemed to work and the pain went away for about an hour until i started moving - then came back. I applied some earlier to the outside of the rectal area and it didn't do anything! I felt slightly dizzy though. I'm losing faith in this cream already! Am i supposed to only apply a tiny pea size amount on the outside? I've pain outside and inside the area. The inside is still aching badly after applying the cream.
My diet consists of 2 bowls of high fibre cereal. 11g in each bowl. Fruit and soups/mixed veg (brocolli, carrots, cauliflower, peas), and brown pasta. I've stopped eating any red meat, and tbh hardly eat any meat at all. My appetite has gone down hill. I'm drinking about 10 cups of water, taking 2 x 3g fibre supplements, 2 x 250mg magnesium tablets per day, and taking 5 spoons of lactulose per day. Still my stools are stretching my anus and causing intense pain and sometimes blood, stinging, each time. The worst is the first stool that breaks out.
I've been begging my gp to help me overcome this, they end up throwing all sorts of creams at you, and each time tell you the cream should do something that the other cream didn't. I feel like a lab rat, testing them all out, whilst the pain gets worst and worst. Only after vising the same doctor 5 times over the last 8 weeks he finally went on holiday, just as I had to seem him again, oh great! So they told me to see another doctor, who immedietly gave me the Diltiazem, called a specialist to try and get me an appointment and said they will probably stretch the anus to help relieve the pain.
I've started to use vaseline on the area before I bm to help take some of the pain away. Even if I touch the area, its highly sensitive, and so stings so bad! I can't get any inside the anus, its almost closed shut. So I apply some around the ring, which helps ever so slightly. The onyl issue I have apart from not being able to get much up there, is applying the Diltiazem afterwards. Even though i'm trying to wash off any vaseline with soap after a bm, i'm sure its affecting the way my body is absorbing the Diltiazem, stopping it somehow. Does anybody have any suggestions please?
It's been nearly 3 weeks since my doc made the call and I'm still awaiting a letter. I called them friday, and they said that sometimes the message doesn't get across to the hospital and so they will have to refax the request! Ahhhhh!
Thanks for reading. And I hope we all overcome this someday!
