Come'on. You know you'all look.
My stools are soft like soft-serve ice-cream and have a small amount of undigested food. I've thought that this was ideal for helping my fissure, but I'm curious to hear what other's think.
When you have a good day (or have healed from a fissure) what does your poop look like? How do you interpret your doctor's order to keep your stools soft? What does that actually look like?

Pardon my French but I think that's a load of cr*p
May I ask, is there an intermediate stool type within your extremes? I could be wrong, but a pooper will either float or sink, both of which you consider to be bad.

It is a load of cr*p. Ha!
If you're going to respond, don't hijack the tread. Answer the question! What does your poop look like on a good day as opposed to a day when you have a bad AF day. Inquiring minds want to know.

Yeah, I'm starting to look at it.....its becoming an obsession almost. I mean how can you not (smile).....this thing floating in the toilet is the reason your life is a living hell. You give it a look of respect and disdain....its sickening almost the respect I give my poop these days....but honestly, I don't have time or the energy to analyze it....I mean I'm already insane over this, analyzing it would drive me crazier.

So... what does it look like on a good day?
I promise I won't analyze it from afar. (I couldn't if I wanted to, but I promise not to even try.)
Suddenly, people on this board are shy? Maybe I should erase this thread and start again without the TCM stuff. I really just wanna know what how you interpret "soft." That can mean a lot of different things to different people, yes?

OK. Edited to omit all the weird stuff getting in the way. Sorry to bring up a butt load of unfamiliar stuff.

everyone is probably different, but on the Bristol stool scale 5 or 6 works for me, but others might think that is too runny and might aim for 4. But for me, a 4 can be ok, but it can also be too formed and too much for my fissures to pass without screaming.
Here's the link to the Bristol stool scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale

jr2 wrote:everyone is probably different, but on the Bristol stool scale 5 or 6 works for me, but others might think that is too runny and might aim for 4. But for me, a 4 can be ok, but it can also be too formed and too much for my fissures to pass without screaming.
Here's the link to the Bristol stool scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale

Check it out!!! That's awesome. There's an actual scale. Leave it to western medicine to make a scale.
I think I'm a 4, which is, as you pointed out, perfect, but maybe too hard for some people with AF. Its a little different because mine is not smooth but full of roughage from the insoluble fiber I eat, but its soft and definitely not a 3. I wonder what conventional medicine makes of having bits of unprocessed food left in your stool.

Well I have to admit that I have to look after every BM to make sure is not blood in the toilet meaning a painless reopening to take the necessary measures after that.
Yes I have no problem with hard stools mine are always soft or watery if I do not take care, this means that fissures have not preferences they hit no matter if you have hard stools or bouts of diarrhea. :D like in my case, so the scale doesn't work for me. :roll:

I'm usually a 5 or 6 on the stool chart. Sometimes a 3 or 4, but not usually. I eat a lot of veggies and fruits, as well as whole grains, and rarely have issues with constipation, unless I'm traveling somewhere and staying in a hotel (any break from my normal routine screws my digestive system up). In my case, constipation wasn't the cause of my fissure (although it may have been indirectly, since I have "shy bowel" and can't poop in public restrooms or when other people are nearby). It may have been loose stools and/or stress. I honestly have no idea how it happened. I've had constipation (on rare occasions) in the past few years, but never had a problem or developed a fissure because of it. So I guess my case is strange compared to most other people on here.