Hello, I have recently been diagnosed with an AF. Problem started mid June when I had a brutal bowel movement which I am fairly sure caused a tear, there was a lot of blood on the toilet paper and possibly on the stool as well. Next day my motion wasn't anywhere near as bad, a bit of blood, but felt much better. I then more or less forgot about it until the same thing a week later. Similar pattern i.e. relatively quiet BMs with one further bad episode in-between until two weeks ago when I had yet another really hard BM. This time lots of blood, in the toilet water, on the back of the bowl and on the paper. At this stage I knew I had a fairly serious problem and so started looking on the internet and the symptoms of an anal fissure seemed to fit.
For that week I had a serious dietary change, started drinking lots of water and eating foods with lots of fibre. But last Friday I had another bleed, not as bad as the others, but still there. I went to see my GP who diagnosed the AF. He did a fairly extensive examination (not much fun in that!) including deeper inside my rectum and prostate and diagnosed that it was a fissure and there didn't seem to be anything more sinister. He prescribed 2% Diltiazem ointment and recommended stool softeners (prune juice, Lactulose or Movicol) - I opted for prune juice. The Diltiazem ointment took a few days to get, I have been using it since Tuesday. It does make my anus feel a bit weird, it kind of swells a bit for a few hours after applying, but no other effects that I have read about such as headache, itching or bleeding as yet. In terms of motions I am usually a once a day man, first thing in the morning. That's my history, apologies for the rambling post but I thought I would try and get most of the details in there!
All the best, Geoff