after approx 18 months of fissure struggle things are much improved and yesterday my consultant confirmed that the fissure is practically healed :)

he has been keen to do a flexible sigmoidoscopy for at least 6 months. i have been putting it off as i have felt that the fissure was definitely improving slowly and i was keen to avoid anything that would cause damage and put my recovery back. as we all know it is difficult enough to promote consistent healing without taking enemas and inserting cameras!

consultant still wants to do the sigmoidoscopy. i am still less than enthusiastic. it is such a great feeling to be practically healed and i am very scared of causing damage. my feeling is that i am in very little distress and i have no other symptoms of any more serious complaint and i have had no bleeding from the fissure for over a month now. i would like to leave well alone for a little while to give more healing time.

keen to hear anyones thoughts and experiences? my consultant assures me the exam will cause no damage, but i am somewhat sceptical. consultant is general surgeon rather than crs and i am not entirely convinced he understand the terror the idea of a camera exam can create in folk like me who have experienced the pain and misery of fissures!

I had a sigmoidoscopy done last year, under a mild anesthesia. It wasn't bad. However, cannot understand why they would want to do it when you seem to be recovering well.

Savaici wrote:I had a sigmoidoscopy done last year, under a mild anesthesia. It wasn't bad. However, cannot understand why they would want to do it when you seem to be recovering well.

thanks for the reply. glad to hear you didn't find it too bad. i have been told they could offer sedation for the procedure which i guess is similar to what your were given.

i think at this point they want to do the sigmoidoscopy because they feel the fissure has taken an unusually long time to heal and they would like to screen for other conditions which may have caused or contributed.

my own feeling is that now it is healed in the abscence of any other symptoms we should leave well alone.

but family, friends and medical opinion all seem to think otherwise!

It sounds great that you are healing. what helped you to heal?
I am actually in the same situation as you are. I had a fissure for about 7 months and for the last 2 weeks I had an improvement with Miralex, yet today it bleed today though a bit. I have sigmoidoscopy booked for the end of March with CRS and since I thought it is too far and had bad bleeding 2 weeks ago after constipation, I went to GI which I have seen 3 months ago. He also recommended test, yet colonoscopy. So I asked for sigmoidoscopy with him and they were able to book me for next Tuesday. Yet now I am not sure what to do. Externally he did not see a fissure, yet before he saw. So bleeding is probably from internal fissure or something else. so doctors said they need to see in order to advise anything. I actually considering botox, yet also they need to do scope first. so I understand your dilemma. wish you to heal and have peace of mind!
did anybody did scope exam when they had a bleeding? will it be painful when I will do enema if there is a bleeding?

guest1 wrote:It sounds great that you are healing. what helped you to heal?

in a word - movicol! to be more precise i think the key is finding an eating regime that produces consistently trauma free bowel movements.

for me the following works very well and if i stick to it i find healing progress is pretty steady.

for breakfast and supper i have a bowl of oat bran porridge with half a dozen boiled prunes and a movicol sachet.

in between i eat pretty much any reasonably balanced meal that is available but avoid red meats, white bread, white rice and white pasta. i only eat small portions of bulky starchy foords like brown rice, brown breads and pasta. basically i eat lots of vegetables with small portions of white meat or fish and small rice, potatoe pasta etc. that seems to do the trick

Just my 2 cents worth - I had my routine colonoscopy (50th birthday present!) about a month after my fissure was diagnosed and while it was still very active and painful. However, the colonoscopy was absolutely fine and caused no extra pain or trauma. Even the cleansing was fine.

I know that not everybody has had a good experience of colonoscopies with a fissure, but mine was OK.

Hi there,
Just wanted to report back about sigmoidoscopy that I had today. I was more worried about it that I should. First my test was all normal, even it did not show AF. thanks G-d! Cleansing was fine, I just took laxatives of less dosage because it took me less to clean it. no enema. so it did not aggravate whatever fissure is there. I took a sedation with test and did not feel anything. there is some cramping or gas right now, but it was there before the procedure since I took huge dose of laxatives to clean. so, I am glad doing it now, because I have a piece of mind now. GI told me to keep stool soft and it is just retearing each time. however to get to soft stools on ongoing basis is the challenge for me!

Well, that's good news, guest. Glad to hear you got the All Clear, and that the procedure wasn't painful. Now - get well!!

Yeah, talk about getting soft stools during period. HELL of a challenge! Irritates my perfectly healing fissure each month!

Thanks, Scientist! Your post made me to be less afraid of the test and that it could be done without aggravating AF. Now I feel more calm and hope that I am on my road to healing.
Buttqueen, I know what you are talking about. My condition is getting worse usually during period. Hopefully in general it will be getting better.
Sending to everybody healing wishes!