Hey guys. Had an AF for about 3 months. Diagnosed by a GI. It was torture and I feel for everyone out there who is suffering. Here is what I found trying home remedies and professional medical help -
WHAT WORKED -
1. Added more water-heavy fruits to diet. Limiting candy, gluten, etc.
2. Took approx 2 heaping tablespoons of metamucil 1 hour after dinner
3. Took milk of magnesia before bed
*****I drank more or less depending on what/how much I ate that day...This was key I think. Through trial and error I discovered how much I would need to drink each night (usually between 30-45 ml) to have a soft, but not liquid, stool.*****
4. Used Diltiazem as prescribed by my GI
5. Sitz baths, 3x a day at first. Then 2x a day.
6. Heating pad, multiple times per day (As much as possible, really)
7. Boudreaux's Butt Paste (super strength) - provided some relief when I was at work/away from home. Did nothing for healing, only temporary relief when away from bath and heating pad.
8. Using shower head to clean area after a BM (at first I didn't wipe at all, as it healed I combined soft wiping w/ shower head after)
WHAT DIDN'T WORK -
1. Ignoring it
2. Diet changes alone
3. Non-sitz baths (doesn't matter how frequent)
4. Coconut oil, ozonated olive oil, sudocrem. There is no magic cure. I learned the hard/expensive way.
OVERALL THOUGHTS -
At the end of the day, I think it comes down to the bowel movements. With the regimen in the 'WHAT WORKED' section above, I was able to usually have 1 BM in the morning (lucky for that). If it was just a little too hard, I would go backwards a few days in terms of healing. For those who have 3+ BM per day, I feel for you, and I can't offer any advice other than to try to keep them soft.
It didn't seem to matter what I ate for the most part, as long as I was getting enough fiber and balancing how much I ate with the correct amount of Milk of Magnesia at night.
I could tell I started to heal when I had less pain during the BM. It would still spasm right after and bother me all day. But I could tell I was healing because it didn't feel like passing glass during a bm.
Due to winter holidays it took me a long time to see my GI in person and get the Diltiazem. I think I was already healing when I started it, but it definitely seemed to speed it up and helped greatly with the spasms.
This was 3 months of torture for me. The psychological part was hard too, I thought I was never going to be the same again. I had some pretty low moments, basically on the floor bawling my eyes out thinking I was trapped with a giant glass ball with spikes in my rectal area forever.
Hoping I won't relapse. It occurred during a bowel movement when I was straining very hard...I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER make that mistake again.
Good luck to you all. I hope my advice can help someone out there. PM me if you need any other tips or just motivation. at one point I was reading these success stories thinking I would never find my own. I'm so happy to be posting this here today.