Hello,
I am from South America, but i have been living and working in Canada for the past years. Just recently i spent 3 weeks in my home country for holidays. On February 15th i returned to Canada and two days later was diagnosed with AF. I am in a very emotionally unstable situation to deal with AF= I am 24 years old and i am here in Canada alone, I have friends, but no family here. Since I arrived from my trip a little over a week ago I have felt so disabled by AF that I still haven't unpacked my bags and can barely get around to feed myself or attend to my basic needs.
it is a very frustrating situation, I am considering going back home to get treated there, but now i am starting to adapt to a routine here- i feel that a 15 hour trip would not do me any good, although i could use my family's emotional support:(
My treatment includes: clearlax and docusate sodium 100mg for 14 days
lidocaine/nifedipine cream X 3 daily for six weeks
3 baths daily + heating pad
diet
I was constipated for the last three days as I didn't use docusate sodium until last night- it was seriously a miracle. I took one pill and three hours later I had an almost effortless BM.
Has anyone else tried using high zinc (40%) cream with a good result? I heard about it and wanted to give it a try.
thanks for being part of this group!

Hi minky, my experience with af so far is that we would have to break the constipation-hard stool cycle. Go for a diet that is high in vegetables and fruits and cut down on red meat...I am presently on a non meat diet for at least a week. Use some stool softeners such as lactulose and if necessary the occasional laxative ( I am using senokot). Drink lots of fluid too. Hope this helps! Ben

I take 17g of miralax with breakfast and again at dinner.i also eat soft foods.the only meat I eat is fish once a week and egg whites every other day. I also found going gluten free has helped.your lucky you started the nifedipine. I hope you heal fast since you haven't had your fissure long.
I have had mine for months and see crs in a week for some cream or whatever.

minky999 hi there, sorry to hear you are suffering with fissure, the key to get things better down there is to keep the stools soft and easy to pass, keep using the cream as it takes time for the cream to heal or work for some.
keep the anal area lubricated before a BM to help with the friction and as far as I can see you are doing fine beside getting the constipation under control.
Here is many people with different ways of coping with this devastating problem and they offer all the advise they can give.
Hang in there.