First off, eat! Whole grain bread is good, I eat it for breakfast and lunch and sometimes whole grain dinner rolls and butter at night with dinner. Don't skip meals or eat too little cause that can a rurally makes things worse. Eat 5-6 small healthy meals throughout the day. Peanut butter is ok, almond butter is really good too! And so are nuts! Just chew them up really well. I eat about a cup of mixed nuts everyday but I chew about 50 times. Lol joking! Miralax takes a few days up to a week to really start working. Hope you get some relief soon!

Oh and stay away from raw veggies, always cooked!

Had yet another very soft stool, more bleeding. I don't understand why I'm bleeding so much.
Called the colorectal surgeon I saw when they put me out to check if my fissure had healed after my LIS, since I was having a lot of pain. She prescribed me nitro ointment like the surgeon who did my LIS had. I made an appointment to see her on June 4th, but I was hoping she'd maybe call in some of the nitro for me so I could start it ASAP. I was her patient before, so I was hopeful, but they just called back and all she's willing to prescribe is Anusol suppositories. I'm not even going to bother picking them up. I used suppositories last time. Painful and no improvement. Utterly useless. I suppose it was stupid to think a doctor would be willing to help before they had their money, even if the promise of it was on the horizon.

So sorry for your stress about this problem. It is terrible and we probably all live in a degree of dread about relapses and retears. Just remember that what you are doing to work with your diet is #1. Don't panic, just work the program. The regimen. I've had terrible, terrible pain for weeks and then just had a pretty good week while out of town! Hard to explain that!!! I ate more liberally than normal (at home), just relied on 1 stool softener plus fiber supplement. Perhaps standing and walking/strolling more than usual. Hot baths, heat (I use a heating pad at night while I read before sleeping) and the ointments help keep blood flow to the area in need of healing. Here's hoping you can sense a turn-around soon! I, too, have waited weeks getting in for care. It's so stressful but just do what you can to help your body!!!

Well, doing the sitz baths, one cap of Miralax per day, drinking 3 liters of water daily (I can't believe anyone can manage more than that - I'm already peeing constantly), and so far my diet has consisted mainly of:
- The soft tortillas mentioned earlier dipped in hummus
- Plain baby spinach
- One greek yogurt per day
- Raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries. Ate a banana one day until I read they might not be good for fissures.
- Fiber 1 brownies
I'm also eating two (the recommended dose) sugar-free fiber gummy candies every day, and using a heating pad from time to time. Vaseline and Calmoseptine are the only topicals I currently have on hand. I ordered the following items from Amazon:
Organic Unrefined Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Aloe Vera Capsules
Omega 3 6 9 Capsules
Gotu Kola Herb Capsules
Mayinglong Ointment
I'd like to maybe branch out and have half a piece of whole wheat, whole grain toast with butter or something. It's just depressing, eating a bowl of baby spinach with absolutely zip on it. Really have to force myself to eat anything whatsoever. Might try some Campbells lentil soup tomorrow, but I generally don't like soup.
Because I'm anticipating discomfort, my body is kind of tensing/clenching up when I need to go to the bathroom. I can't seem to get that under control, but usually within 10-15 seconds I'm going. It's not like I'm sitting there for 5 minutes straining to go. Stool was quite soft today. I went three times, and I was kind of hoping I'd only go once or twice, but that's Miralax for you.
No sharp pain while going, just some burning afterward.
God, I just want this to heal so badly. Why did this have to happen now? Right at the beginning of summer. And just a little over a week from my period, to boot. I'm sure that'll be lovely.

I think my stool is a tad too soft. It's not liquid (bleck), but it's not really formed either. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Anyone? :( Still having fairly loose stool. I have my period right now, and I usually get diarrhea the first 1-3 days. I cut my Miralax dose in half last night, but should I stop it entirely for a day?
I'm eating one yogurt per day, plus taking a probiotic. Also ate a banana this morning and might have just a few saltine crackers.

Diet and supplements take a lot of tinkering for most of us and changes that the menstrual cycle can bring make it even more complicated. Keeping a food journal can help, along with noting the consistency of stool each day as you make changes, and also noting how things change when you are in different parts of your cycle. If you feel your stool is too soft, the first thing to try is to keep slowly easing up on Miralax and noting the changes you see with each small reduction in dose.
You need to also make sure you're eating enough. If you have cut back a lot on how much you're eating and you're taking Miralax too, you are likely to have more moisture in your stool. But you can also run the risk of becoming constipated if you don't eat enough, and it will also hinder your healing if you aren't getting enough nutrients.
What does a typical day look like for you in terms of what you eat in a whole day?

Well, I'm not eating THAT much, tbh. All of the fissure-friendly foods are high in fiber, and with my stomach upset it just seems to make things worse. I'm worried I may be getting too much fiber (or too much insoluble fiber). I made a post here about some of my food/Miralax-related questions: http://anal-fissure.org/t6789-if-you-take-miralax-is-what-you-eat-as-important
A typical day? Hmmm. Maybe oatmeal in the morning or a banana and some Greek yogurt. Lunch, a whole grain wheat tortilla (with flax seeds) and some hummus, some plain baby spinach leaves, and a fruit - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, a peach, or watermelon. Maybe I'll eat a Fiber-1 brownie somewhere in there. Dinner, half a piece of whole grain wheat toast with a tiny bit of peanut butter, one night I had a little bit of plain chicken breast with brown rice. Sometimes I'll eat oatmeal for dinner if I didn't have it in the morning. Like I said, not a whole lot. I'm a picky eater and a some fissure-friendly foods are gag worthy to me. I tried eating some black beans tonight and they almost came right back up. Could barely get 'em down.

Went to see a colorectal surgeon today, EXTREMELY disappointed. She took a very brief look, apparently wasn't sure what she saw since she said "you MIGHT have a small fissure." So no "yes" or "no," just a "maybe." She didn't seem certain.
She asked me what I was doing, I said Miralax, baths, etc, and she said to just keep it up and it should heal.
...
Keep in mind, this is the surgeon I saw after my LIS went pretty badly. She had to put me out for a minor day surgery procedure to look for a fistula/see what was going on there, since I still had so much pain months upon months after my surgery. So she knows my previous fissure wasn't an easy experience, and since she had previously told me my muscle tone had BARELY improved at all from LIS, I thought this would be a productive visit. Better to stick with her than see a brand new person, or so I believed.
I mentioned that I was having (painless) muscle twitches, and she pretty much just shrugged. Said it probably wasn't anything to worry about. I brought up the nitro, but she just said to just use steroid suppositories.
She said most people didn't even bother to come in and see her when they have a fissure since they heal so quickly, and I just looked at her and thought....seriously? I was your patient before, and you know I'm not LIKE those other people. My ordeal with the first fissure lasted about 2 years. Naturally, especially knowing that the LIS didn't improve my muscle tone like it should have, I wasn't going to just sit at home twiddling my thumbs and hoping this time it'd be different.
I was just about in tears in the car. YES, my fissure IS FEELING BETTER right now. I haven't noticed any blood in the past few days (although I have my period so it can be hard to tell), and I haven't had any sharp, cutting pain when going to the bathroom recently. But I'm a bit sore down there - something just doesn't feel quite right.
I really don't know what to do. Wait some more, see how it goes? Or go in to see a brand new CRS as soon as possible. What do you think, guys?
Its been two weeks since I tore, by the way.
Apparently one of my mother's coworkers had a fissure, and her doctor gave her nitro ointment to use right away. But is it typical to be given nitro early on? I suppose, worst case scenario I see where I am a week or week and a half from now and if I'm no better, I'll call her up and ask for the ointment. I'm just floored she couldn't even confirm the presence of a fissure, and barely seemed to try. "Maybe" is not good enough for an appointment that probably cost a good $300+. Her attitude wasn't what I remembered it being.