Hi all,
I've been a lurker on here for over 6 months. I developed a fissure after childbirth almost 7 months ago. I wasn't sure what it was, and was embarrassed about it, so didn't see a doctor for the first 6 weeks. I imagine I inadvertently did some damage by waiting so long, as I am unable to heal it. I'm on sodium docusate and Miralax and have drastically changed my diet - some days I can have no pain but even my best painless bouts have only lasted a few weeks before things tear again. I'm nursing and want to have more children, and thus haven't pursued seeing a specialist. Has anyone else been in this same postpartum fissure boat? What were you told about surgery or other treatments?
Thanks for your help. Happy to know we're not alone here.

Hi Mama876
Me too! I'm 4 and a half months in from giving birth. What a mess...So, I seemed to have been given everything from my doctors, but I am currently using Ditliazem (possibly spelt wrong) and a shed load of lactalose (I am UK, does that make sense to you?). I tried rectogesic. The label says don't when breastfeeding, but the doctor said it was fine. However it damn near floored me with migraines and I have a small person relying on me to look after them. A migraine isn't going help!!!
I also broke the front bit when I gave birth and am seeing a surgeon about that too. He did say something interesting though - that breastfeeding really dries out your fufu...so I am wondering whether it has a 'drying' affect on the back passage too and that is why I am tearing so badly. I have since upped my drinking to crazy levels (don't forget breastfeeding will naturally dry out your BMs) and I am shoving loads of vaseline up before I have a BM, which is helping get them out quicker I think. I don't think I'll heal prior to surgery, but I'm just trying to keep sane and keep pain down to a minimum.
Oh the joys of giving birth!

I've heard that too about nursing - that a lot of women experience pain with sex due to tearing until after they stop breastfeeding just because the tears won't heal. I'm just not willing to stop nursing over all of this, but it doesn't stop me from feeling dismal about everything.
Has anyone ever told you anything about the ability to have more children vaginally after surgery?

I believe it's all fine once the surgery is done and good to have other children. Frankly I'm going with a flip-top lid next time. Nearly five months of pain in both my front and back bottom is enough to drive anyone around the twist.

Hi

I was wondering whether you guys finally healed the AF? And if so, what worked for you? I have had an AF for almost 5 months since I gave birth and I am at my wits end! My latest effort was to eat only fruit and vegtables which i had been doing all this week and finally had 2 perfect BMs until I had a setback today... Now Ive lost all hope once again Im breadtfeeding so my Dr didnt want to prescribe much - did stopping bfeeding help at all? Would love a success story or 2 - feeling very low today

Thanks

Hi mummy88, saw your post and thought i would share my experience with you.. I am also a new mum, my son is 4 1/2 months old and i am also suffering from a fissure caused by childbirth. I too am breastfeeding and have no plans to stop at least until bub is well established on solids. I feel your pain, I really do. its so hard to suffer with this and try to keep positive and stay happy for your partner and baby but here is what I have done/am doing to try and get my life back to normal:

1. BOTOX
I had botox injections about a month ago and it has done wonders to eliminate the pain. if you can, i highly reccommend doing it. I live in Australia and have private health insurance. I ended up being $1500 out of pocket but it was worth every cent and would do it again if I had to. Surgery was painless and it took about 4 days for the spasms pain to be entirely gone after a BM. you can still feel a little pain if your stool passes the fissure but its a walk in the park and laughable compared to the horrifying nightmare it used to be.

2. STRICT DIET
Here is what I have been typically eating. it may not seem like a lot but its important to graze rather than have any large meals. i was starving for the first couple of days but my stomach must have shrunk because its enough now. I have asked the Australian Breastfeeding Association and they don't see any issues with this diet. On the plus side, you will lose your baby weight faster than you ever imagined!

breakfast - 4 prunes with half a cup of low fat custard

mid-morning snack - 2 cruskitts with peanut butter and honey and/or an 'up n go' (liquid cereal drink)

lunch - 3 cruskitts with avocado and fetta or ricotta & sun dried tomatoes

afternoon snack - mango and a sneaky piece of milk chocolate

dinner - sweet potato and pumpkin mash with baby spinach and 2 baby beetroots. 2-3 times per week I also have a little (handful) chicken or fish.

dessert - ice cream

No matter how hungry you are just stick to this diet for at least 2 months, then slowly start introducing other foods but have them together with other soft foods like sweet potato mash or avocado.

Also very important, drink 2-3 litres of water a day. carry a 1 litre drink bottle with you wherever you go and keep it filled. fill before you go to bed and have it handy for the night feeds.

Foods to stay away from for at least 6 months to a year:
Bread
Hard cheese
Pizza
Anything processed
Foods high in saturated fat

3. MEDICATION
I've been using Rectogesic twice a day for about 8 weeks now. I think it does work but only if you have a good diet. One of the ingredients is lanolin so you can use Lasinoh nipple cream instead if you are worried about the side affects. Mothersafe said they did their own study on Rectogesic and found it to not cause any harm to a breastfed baby.

Magnesium tablets also helped a bit with the pain before I had the botox. So did Nurofen Zavance. All safe for Breastfeeding.

I also used Coloxyl Green for stool softeners before bed but found after following the above diet I didn't need them anymore.

If you are travelling or it looks like you might miss the days BM, dont hesitate, take a laxative like Normacol or Movicol. You really don't want to have a hard stool and undo all the good work you've done.

SWEDISH BITTERS - MIRACLE CURE?
I hope Im not jinxing myself for saying this but I have also discovered that Swedish Bitters is a bit of a miracle cure. About a week ago I had a bad re-tear from caving and eating pizza (NEVER AGAIN!!). So bad I was soaking up 4 tissues of blood. So I put a little bit of Swedish bitters onto a cotton ball and then right after a BM, stuck the cotton ball on my butt, pressing hard enough for it to sting. I then left it in between my cheeks for about half an hour. The sting went away after a couple mins. Next day - No bleeding! It has been a week now and I only once bled a pindrop of blood after a BM but repeated the process above and it was gone again the very next day!! Now I don't know what the pain involved would be if I didn't have the botox so please use with caution!

4. WHEN GOING TO THE TOILET
When you go, try only go once a day but if you feel the urge, go right away. Holding it in will only make it worse.

Try let it 'fall' out REALLY SLOWLY rather than straining.

Use baby wipes or flushable wipes soaked in witch hazel. Aldi sells flushable wipes for $3.

5. ENJOY EACH MOMENT WHEN NOT IN PAIN
try not to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for yourself after having a bad BM. it only wastes precious moments of happiness that you could be having with your baby. Tell yourself that negativity and depression will prolong your condition so make an effort to surround yourself in things that make you happy. Know that fissures heal overnight so live by the motto, "tomorrow is another day and it could very well be a day with no pain."

Another positive thing to come from this is that its forcing you to eat healthy which means your baby is too. Your body also will start looking like it did before you were pregnant leading you to feel more confident about yourself too.

I hope this has been helpful for you. I want to do what I can to help so let me know if you want to chat more about it and Ill be happy to. Im not saying Im completely cured but im finding that im having more good days than bad which is better than having more bad days than good :)

Hi fellow mommas! I am 1 year post partum and only within the last 3 months have I been pain free. I had hours upon hours of spasm pain after bm's. A 8/10 in my opinion! The only thing that has made me pain free is taking clearlax every day. Ya, I don't want to live on a laxative forever but I am not ready to stop it quite yet!

Many thanks for the replies ladies! I am seeing my Dr again on Thurs and will try and get her to prescribe something better than the proctosedyl and lactulose I got last time which hasnt helped hopefully ill also see an improvement when my little one stops breastfeeding - in the process of weaning but he refuses to take a bottle!

I have been following a fruit/veggie diet for the past 10 days and although BMs and my level of pain have improved quite a bit I have had a couple of setbacks with bleeding which have left me feeling hopeless again

Thanks for the great suggestions FDP - will try the magnesium supplements and to get my dr to prescribe Rectogesic too. And ur right, tomorrow is another day and tbh my LO makes it worth it for me lol

Sorry for the ramble, good luck to everyone in beating this thing!

Are you in Australia? you can get Rectogesic behind the counter at the chemist.

forgot to add, no script required...