Oh yes I don't mind the gas and air only half decent thing about it lol.
Ah I forget you were really fit before hand...I swam and did weights but was seriously overweight now I'm 7 stone lighter than when this started so it's a good job I was overweight...must be very frustrating for you though I can imagine you can literally see your muscle mass disappearing...not long till you can get it all back though.

Ya it's not a healthy life with a fissure! It's not only the diet but the stress I'm sure. I really hope I will be back at it soon, I can't even imagine getting back to it now. I had severe anxiety before I started weightlifting 5 years ago, and with the exercise I was able to go off of all anti-anxiety medications. So to say I miss it is an understatement.

I guess we just have to keep on keeping on and wait for normalcy to return!!

No it certainly isn't....I haven't had a piece of fruit in 18 months it's ridiculous!!...you will get back as soon as you can hit the gym it will be like you never left...muscle memory is an amazing thing, I used to do weight lifting before I had my children....then life and work got in the way, but when I started again 3 years ago it was amazing how easily it came back. Your body will remember and your mind will appreciate the opportunity to get rid of all this stress

Thanks mpb, it helps to think that way.

I'm in a panic right now because even after sleeping the sphincter is incredibly tight down there. Normally it has relaxed by morning at least slightly, and yesterday morning before my bm I was virtually pain free, I could even easily pass gas. Now it's tighter than ever and I'm scared I'm going to rip the fissures open again with a bm. What is going on?! Bm wasn't ideal yesterday but not horrible, no new fissures have opened, there's no horrible pain during bm just this unbearable pulling tightness. It makes it hard to physically walk everything feels so squeezed down there! Ugh I'm panicking

Relax. Panicking just makes it worse, like stress. Are you taking GTN? If not. Take a 20 minute sitz bath with close to hot water.

Are you getting more stressed like IT says stress makes it so much worse...we release cortisol which tightens all our muscles especially the involuntary one like the sphincter...it's the hormone that makes stressed business men end up having heart attacks...with us it's our sphincter. Do you have done olive oil or nappy cream you can put up before your BM to create a barrier.

I use vaseline before a BM and Im not shy about how much. If you shone a light, from a mile away my rear would look like a lighthouse.

Once I go, stool practically just falls out and the vaseline protects the fissure.
LOADS OF WATER. 2-3 liters a day. (70 - 100 oz) and add some olive oil to your diet, over sweet potatoes, with wholeweat pasta keeps them nice and soft.

Stress however just throws everything out of order. Even if I do follow this the stools get harder and the sphincter tightens up. Imagine the damage. I have to work extra hard to keep them soft if I'm stressed out or nervous.

You will have better and worse days. A fissure is unpredictable.

I have days when I wake up with pain and days when I feel like I did before the fissure. It's a nasty little ailment. Once you think you're on the right track, it shows its ugly face and attacks again.

Learn to accept it until you get LIS and find ways to make it manageable.
Pain and spasms. Try a sitz bath. Get painkillers that dont constipate. If you're alone, put a dab of vaseline on your pinky finger and massage the sphincter. Sounds gross but it does relieve the pressure a bit for me when everything else doesnt. Ask the pharmacist or your GP for GTN and apply about an hour after a BM. I try make sure I am regular so that I can fit this into a schedule. Work about 30g of fibre into your macros and get the most in during breakfast with some soluble and insoluble throughout the day. A morning shot of coffee and about 4 prunes with midmorning snack to get things moving. By 10am I usually have a soft BM. Wetwipes with no alchohol to clean(I use about 6 or 7 making sure its clean till nothing stains the wipe, even if it means gently putting some inside to clean out more) or if you're at home, clean up with warm water on a bidet or sitz bath. Then once the fissure starts acting up, which in my case is between 30 to 60 minutes later, apply GTN. It is a hassle, I know but it is manageable. Find out what works for you and listen to what your body tells you. Keep a food journal with movement times and pain levels in the footnotes.

Other than that, give it a name and just treat it as that difficult relative you just have to learn to live with and keep calm.

Better days will come.

I am stressed, but that's not easy to prevent considering I have too start a colonoscopy prep on Monday. I'm also now anxious that the fissures are going to tear open again - it sure feels like it.

My problem is that either due to the extreme sphincter tightness (what I'm thinking is probably proctitis) or pelvic floor dysfunction, I'm not able to pass soft stool. It's horrible - I have to use an enema and go in the tub if it soft, and with my ibs if I take a stool softener or eat those foods then I go about 5 times a day. I've had to take the approach of keeping my stool more firm in order to be able to pass. I'm very careful to not eat too much at once to avoid large stools. I take half an immodium every night and I'm on morphine, yet still I go twice a day every day.

I am using the Vaseline and that has healed lots, but not when things are so tight...like you couldn't even fit a q tip in there. Sits baths and heating pads do not relax the muscle at all anymore...

My doctor gave me nifedipine but would not prescribe GTN. Nifedipine also does absolutely nothing to relax the muscle. It feels as though not just the sphincter is tight but the whole rectum. It constantly feels as though I need to go badly, even when there is nothing.

I don't know how I can do the colonoscopy prep if I can't pass gas even. I'm so done with this thing that has ruined my life

Keep calm.... I dont suffer with IBS so I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for those who do. As I said, find ways to manage it. The colonoscopy isnt a walk in the park, Ive had one without anaesthesia and it hurt quit a bit. Cholic after is terrible. Ask for a local anaesthetic if possible. the cholic will be the worst but usually passes once you pass enough wind.