What do "re-tears" feel like?

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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Scientist2516 » 06 Nov 2013, 17:36

Thank you so much for weighing in, Superfissure. I'm really sorry for your pain, and hope you get better SOON.
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Superfissure » 06 Nov 2013, 18:08

Thanks.
Yes, if I can't get back into recovery stage for a period of time then definitely will see the doctor again. In fact am thinking about taking some time off to speak to my doctor tomorrow or Friday as it's getting on me nerves. I even have the bupa personal advice line at the ready just in case it's operation time :). I have plans for next year and a reoccurring fissure will spoil things, as will just thinking about it all the time - will it be okay or wont it. At the office today I had to keep nipping to the loo to try to release gas (IBS doesn't help) and my stomach has been churning all day. Went to the loo twice before leaving home but later still get that feeling and of course the associated fissure pain that gas/needing the loo causes. Moments like that you just wish you were at home in peace and quiet with own loo close by.
I've always been a 2-3-4 times a day person although not so often these days but occasionally need the loo that often !
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Deleted User 2950 » 07 Nov 2013, 11:42

Hi Scientist

Retears, recurring fissures, and new fissures is a guessing game
when trying to figure which one we may have now. I just sort of
started lumping them altogether and just concentrating on stopping
them from coming back whether they were new fissures or old ones.

There were some thing that really help tell me that indeed another
fissure is there. One was the sharp twinge while passing stool over the
new cut. With a healing fissure I would feel it passing over scar tissue
a dullish type stinging. But with a fresh fissure this stinging would be
more pronounced.

Also while just sitting I could feel the new cut as I shifted in my seat as
a kind of shooting pain that is not spasm related and knowing that I
did not have this pain before the last bm, it was an easy guess.

I would also just simply grab my butt-cheeks in both hands and give
them a gentle message type movements to see if I felt the same new pain
that I did not feel prior to that bm or strenuous movement that may
have caused it.

Yes, for me I did not feel like I was out of the woods until about at least one year of
bloodless painless feelings down there. Luckily for me I could always confirm
my healing with my finger probe and after about a years time I felt no scar tissue or
anything but smooth skin. Even my pea sized tags all disappeared back to smooth
skin again.

I think it as remarkable how I felt so messed up and scarred and sore down there all
the time before that today there's zero discomfort whatsoever, like I never had a
fissure before.

I do hope and believe that you too Scientist will someday soon find total relief
down there. It's all about soft stools and no straining.

GL
Deleted User 2950
 

Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Please go-away! » 07 Nov 2013, 18:59

that is an interesting question...at the time when , for me I was at my worst, my Gastro Doc, inspected, what I thought was a re tear (the burning ,etc) and was relieved to discover that it was not and just the tissue still being raw, healing...a reminder to my body to take it easy, because I was at the time still not completely healed, as I am now..but I still eat healthy for life and water, water water..always.
The fissure sure can be a pain in the a**...lol.

Remember patients, take it easy and our body's can heal with time and all that we are doing,
Fissure fighter
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby jr2 » 08 Nov 2013, 15:21

After 25 years of multiple fissures, healings, more fissures, etc., I think I've kind of seen and felt it all. I don't think there's really a single or simple answer as to what a re-tear feels like for any one person. Fissures don't always tear or re-tear at the same depth or severity. So, you can have a very minor, surface re-tear that doesn't cause spasms and can't even be seen on visual inspection by a doctor, but you know something's going on there. Then, add in the fact that during the various stages of healing all kinds of different irritations and pains can occur, and maybe even minor re-tears do happen that don't necessarily take you back to the beginning but are aggravating nonetheless. On top of that, there is probably also some "muscle memory" of the injury. So, even after the actual wound has healed, the muscle is still receiving messages from the brain as if the wound is still there. And if all that isn't enough, because fissures can take such a long time to heal, and the pain can be severe for a very long time, there is, as in any chronic pain condition, a re-wiring that takes place in the central nervous system that makes what would normally not even register to you as the perception of pain, seem very painful.

I never understood how wide and complex the range of fissure pain can be for different people until reading countless stories by countless people. Fissures can cause pain on BMs, sometimes severe, for some people, and not others. Fissures can cause burning for some people and not others. Fissures can cause itching in some people and not others. Then there is coccyx pain, pain in the vagina or testicles, pain with urination. Some people have pain when they walk, others feel better with activity. Some people feel razor blades when they poop, others only feel stinging set in afterward.

Any way you slice them, fissures are a medically under-rated affliction for the range of suffering they cause. (ouch, pardon the pun)
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Scientist2516 » 08 Nov 2013, 15:24

jr2, thanks so much for your thoughtful helpful words.
Yes - remembered pain, referred pain, sensitized neurons - all these play a role.
thanks again.
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Ever the Optimist » 09 Nov 2013, 03:51

Jr2,
That's a fantastic summary..........What a complex issue these little blighters cause!! :) THANK YOU x
Chronic Fissure diagnosed December 2011
Healed by Diltiazem around Feb 2013
Anal Fistula followed burst abscess in June 2012
2 internal troublesome piles remain & suspected, but undiagnosed, ongoing Levator Ani type symptoms & flare-ups
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Superfissure » 09 Nov 2013, 05:18

Jr2, have you ever been offered or considered trying to get a more permanent fix done given that you've had problems for 25 years?
Good summary. As well as tears and re-tears being different for different people, the feelings also vary between re-tears, and of course the feeling varies during the healing process.
In the past I've had bleeding, sometimes the glass feeling, the severe pain on BM's but other times have had reasonably ok BM's but then pain later to the point where I aching in lower back/bowel area due to unable to relax (relaxing caused pain) and even standing could feel like you insides are about to fall out of yer butt :).I've also had sudden sharp pain, sometimes a cold feeling inside. A few weeks ago I had quite a bit of pain on BM but then this was completely gone in less than a week which surprised me. In the past I've had severe pain on BM for more than 8 weeks. I've also had the every other day pain where I would have severe pain on BM's one day but would be fine the next (albeit with a constant background pain) and then severe pain again and so forth
They are indeed complex little beasts.

Mine started off around 2008. Intially it wasn't easy to have a flare up (caused by running) but now requires constant managing, but as I have found out recently, can re-tear, even when you don't expect it - you think your safe then bam it's back.
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby jr2 » 10 Nov 2013, 19:51

Superfissure. I would love to have a long-term solution, if I could find one. Been to doctors and more doctors. Because of other health problems that include my GI tract, they don't want to perform LIS on me as they feel the risk for incontinence is too high, and since I would still have an acidic diarrhea problem to contend with anyway after surgery I'd likely still be prone to fissures. A couple of doctors are now thinking colostomy would be worth thinking about. I'm still on the fence on that.

Your description of your experience with fissures does definitely provide a great example of how varied the pain can be. And I think the pain can also vary depending on its location, whether a tear has happened in a new place or if an old healed fissure has torn again. It's all made even more infuriating because it's all taking place in an area you can't visualize easily, so we're constantly blind to what's going on. Even to this day, I've never been able to see one of my multiple fissures, even the ones that have gone so deep the surgeon said it had torn down to the muscle underneath.
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Re: What do "re-tears" feel like?

Postby Scientist2516 » 10 Nov 2013, 20:16

jr2, there's a couple of people on this forum with colostomy bags, and it's not good news for fissures. Do a search to read their stories. Even with a colostomy bag, there is still stool and BMs, and they are very caustic and cause fissures too.
These people seem to be very badly off, with very little hope for improvement.
Nifedipine/lidocaine, no help
Diltiazem, effective, but caused major rash
Nitroglycerine, effective.
Topical estrogen for final healing.
Gentle heat to bottom - pain relief, muscle relaxant
Kondremul mineral oil
Time - lots of time.
Status - Healed!
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