My LIS story and some tips looking back; smoothies!

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My LIS story and some tips looking back; smoothies!

Postby snowfight » 27 Sep 2012, 11:25

Hello, I am 26 years old and I had LIS close to 2 years ago. I wanted to share my story. I used this forum to prepare for my surgery, and now I think I have some tips on post-op care.
I had a tear years and years ago. When I went to the doctor, he told me to eat more fiber and drink more water. I lived with fissures off and on for 10 years with no clue that anything could be done about it. Finally, I had a bad fissure for about 4 months, I would cry every time I had a BM- it was the most intense pain. I went to the doctor who did a scope. I cried so much during the procedure that he immediately made me a same day appointment with a GI surgeon. The surgeon said that the fissures were beyond botox or cream treatment and I had to get LIS.
My surgery was ok, although I feel like the surgeon and the staff didn't really prepare me for post-op care. They said that I could return to work the next day (YEAH RIGHT!!). They also told me to take some Metamucil. The surgery was pretty quick, and at first I received twilight sedation, but I was told that I woke up during the surgery so they had to do general anesthesia. The pain after surgery was pretty bad. I took the percocet they gave me - 1/2 a pill every 12 hours.
I had my first BM 2 days after surgery and I was terrified. It was SO painful! I finally went to work after 3 days, and every BM was so painful. I kept taking the percocet because of the pain. Finally I realized (after google) that the pain killers were making me constipated and that is why the BMs were so painful. I immediately stopped taking the pain killers and within 2 days there was no pain during BMs at all. I was very sore down there for 2 weeks though. My job is at a very high volume restaurant, so I was walking around all of the time - but I was so sore down there that I was pretty much limping all of the time. I did heal all they way though, I think it took about 3 weeks for the pain to totally go away.
Looking back, I definitely would have asked more questions (like... do these pain pills make you constipated?!!! I can't believe the doctor didn't tell me that!!).
Here is my advice:
-Don't take the pain pills, it will just make the pain worse. Take ibuprofen or something like that.
-Don't eat any bad food after the first 2 weeks of surgery- I'm talking about anything that MIGHT make your stool hard. Avoid all meat, dairy, and gluten products. Honestly, I would only make smoothies full of fruits and vegetables. Liquid food=really soft stool and that's what you want while your incision is healing. I didn't even think about my diet then, and my stool was the same as it always was, making me constipated. Today, even 2 years later, I try to only eat food that will make my stool soft (ie I don't eat as much "hard" meat as I used to - steaks and tough chicken breasts, pork chops, basically anything I have to use a steak knife on is probably gonna make my stool hard). If I want a steak, I make sure to eat a BIG salad with kale or spinach or green smoothie or oatmeal the same day so I can avoid any difficult BMs. And pretty much very, very little cheese.
-If you don't change your diet, you will still have some straining and trouble BMs. Don't expect the surgery to take away all straining and trouble BMs!!!! I had a scare about 6 months ago where I was having some pain and a little bleeding and I immediately knew I had to change my diet. I NEVER want to go through fissure pain again. So load up on those veggies! Very little tough meat and cheese, no glutenous pasta! Anything that you think is gonna make your stool hard it will. Today I drink a lot of smoothies - green smoothies are AMAZING for your BMs and your health. Pretty much I drink a green smoothie for breakfast and lunch, and then I can eat whatever I want for dinner. My BMs come out much, much better since I've started the smoothie thing. I know I'm on a bit of a soapbox, but the smoothies have truly helped me with my BM problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXr8-jru1KE
-I never have clean wipes :( . This has sucked big time. I'm not incontinent, but since the surgery my butt never feels clean. If I walk around for a couple of hours, I really don't feel clean. I guess that's the trade off of getting the surgery. It's not a total deal breaker but it is annoying.
snowfight
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