Having fully healed from my fissure on 8 weeks of Nitro, I thought I'd write a list of positives and negatives about the experience. As you can see, it's actually not all bad. Fissures are definitely life changing in more ways than one!
Will be writing a success story after this weekend if my body survives what I'm putting it through! So far steak, curry and red wine - no problem :)
Positives;
I appreciate good health / life more than I used to.
I had full support of my girlfriend and its brought us even closer.
Both of us are at our dream / ideal / target weight (almost at visible abs, my girlfriends can be seen).
We both now eat an even healthier diet than before and feel great.
We now appreciate going out for meals more and do this less frequently with more enjoyment.
I'm drinking way less alcohol than before.
I've re-trained my bowels and can now go much easier, without pushing much, if at all. I no longer have anticipation before a BM.
I'm psychologically stronger and am dealing with stresses better, as I realise this was the catalyst.
My IBS is also much better thanks to all of the above.
I know more about my ass than most and will be able to detect issues more promptly in future, reducing risk.
I've me some great people on here.
Negatives;
Severe anxiety and pain, lasting weeks with yo-yo style recovery.
Disbelief in ability to recover without surgical intervention.
Ј400 on CRS appointments.

Well it looks like there are alot more positives than negatives. Im glad you are healed because if you can i can. I had a really bad week, but it is like a yoyo getting better.

@Crackinup ! So happy to read your success story and your list of neg/positives.......yes and like Guinness good to see that the positives out weigh the negatives. Guinness I have had some horrendous weeks recently and am still hoping/waiting to heal after a 2nd botox last week - this problem takes over your life, at times I feel totally alone in my pain.......thank goodness for this forum it helps to know we are not alone. Roll on healing............

Great going, crackinup! Always good to hear when it's going well for someone.

Glad to hear you're fully healed, CrackinUp. That's great news! : )
It's good to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. In my case, though, this fissure has brought way more negatives than positives to my life (way too much weight loss, pain, interfering with my normal life, boyfriend isn't very understanding, expensive doctors appointments and treatments, etc). : ( I was already eating a healthy diet before this due to acid reflux, so that wasn't an issue with me. I would never, ever wish this issue on anyone and just want this to be over.

I'm also glad to hear that you're fully healed, especially with nitro since I just started using it about a week ago. I've had improvements since then and my headaches have about gone away from it. Haven't seen a CRS, but I have also felt dubious that I can fully heal without surgery; this post is making me feel more optimistic about it. Maybe I'll wait until >8 weeks to decide if it's likely needed.
In the long run, yes, I agree there are more positives. But when the fissure is present and ongoing, I think it'd be better to never have one. Similar to Luka, I was already eating healthy and already ideal weight and this has brought more instability and interference with daily life than I could have imagined. Likewise financial (and time) cost of trying a lot of things, along with the frustration of lack of success of most of those things or in figuring out what exactly I need to be doing in what order, quantity, time, etc.
Though I'm sure once I get past this I will also feel similarly maybe. I know what foods to never eat in any kind of excess again now (and what foods I can eat safely), and how to regulate my body better. I'm also glad to be squatting and won't ever go back. I'm sure the positives do add up over time and lead to a better quality of life once healing is complete, but that may be said for any kind of frustrating 'learning experience' (if we have indeed learned from it and changed our ways permanently).

I totally agree that Fissure has WOKEN ME UP as well.
I ignored it for years. I didn't know what it was as I do anal sex and I lack of good diet. I work a lot so most of the time I just ate fast food.
Due to this Fissure and my desire to heal it completely (hopefully!!), I've completely changed my life.
It is quite shocking. Positives:
1. I quit 90% of caffeine (coffee mostly but still drink some tea). I find that I am MORE ENERGETIC now than when I used to drink coffee all the time.
2. I drink way more water. I did not know my body was that dehydrated. I used to hate drinking "tasteless" water. After one week of just water and no sugar drinks of any kind, I've grown to like it.
3. I start to work out!!! I start to work out because I thought I had internal hemmy and I read that working out can reduce hemmy. I read that those that workout and exercise have much less chance of getting hemmy. Now I can't wait to train my body to look more muscular!
4. I start to care more about what I eat because I can't afford having bad stomach. I eat a lot more greens than before. I also enjoy drinking metamucil on a daily basis because it soften my stool and it helps reduce my cholesterol.
5. Due to all the reasons above, I feel I finally have a good Routine in my life that I can stick to.
6. This is a negative to me but probably a positive to most, I've lost 12lbs. I do not want to lose that much weight as I am a bit slim.
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Negatives?
1. It just won't go away and it is driving me MENTAL. I constantly think about, pay attention to how my ass feels. I even touch it just to make sure. It is nuts.
2. Costs. I've spent quite a bit of money recently buying all kinds of stuff to try and anal dilator kit.

The diet was the big positive change for me. Congrats on being healed Crackinup and thx for sharing.

Congrats, CrakinUp! And thanks for sharing. Was Nitro the only thing that worked? Or did you try anything else (apart from the usual diet/water/sitz bath etc). Would you be kind enough to explain the healing process? Mean, did you start feeling better by wk 1, wk 6 or did you go thru full 8 wks of Nitro before you were pain-free? Much appreciate your response. Thanks.

I've made it sound like my diet was poor... it was actually really good prior to the fissure and I have always drunk 2-4 litres of water per day. We now eat fish and veg most days of the week though, so now eat less chicken and no carbs on an evening in case they bulk me up. This has made us both feel super healthy so we are going to stick with fish and veg 4-5 evenings per week.

Congrats, CrakinUp! And thanks for sharing. Was Nitro the only thing that worked? Or did you try anything else (apart from the usual diet/water/sitz bath etc). Would you be kind enough to explain the healing process? Mean, did you start feeling better by wk 1, wk 6 or did you go thru full 8 wks of Nitro before you were pain-free? Much appreciate your response. Thanks.

After about 5 weeks on Nitro my pain changed from very sharp, knife like pains to a pressurised / aching sensation (it actually got more painful). Concerned, I went back to the CRS for a visit and he saw that the fissure had healed over. To my surprise I was still in quite bad pain for the next 2-3 weeks so I continued to use the Nitro and stuck to my routine. Then I managed to re-train my toilet visit so I no longer need to push hard and I've gone to pain free very quickly. I now feel completely normal.
I'll post full details in the success stories section later this week. Basically I just kept it simple with diet, Nitro and hot baths, but I was very strict and regimented in my approach.