hey all, had an account here before but forgot user info. Long story short, I'm a young adult male diagnosed with IBD in my teens. Often had problems with ass pain, hemorrhoids, fissures, bleeding, etc, but for awhile was told it was just part of having IBD. Eventually the problem got progressively worse to the point where something would prolapse out of my anus after pooping, about the size of a small grape. incredible amounts of blood and it was very hard to pass any stool. after many failed attempts at treating this as a hemmorhoid, finally I went to a CRS and learned it was actually a wart and had it surgically removed.
I'm straight and never had anal sex, dont know how it got there despite the doctor rudely insinuating that you can only get it from anal sex. Dealing with this CRS was by far the darkest period of my life, he was very aggressive when examining me and seemed to not care about my pain at all. During the postop recovery, I had to have strong acid applied into my anal canal to prevent any new warts from recurring every 2 weeks.
Needless to say, this was pretty brutal on my anus. Every time i would feel like its starting to heal, then I would get the acid treatment and it would inflame it and mess it all up again. After 5 or so applicaitons, finally I was told it looks like there were no recurring warts and I never went back to that rude doctor again.
Anyways, it became apparent that through having this wart for a few years then the whole operation trauma, I had developed a pretty severe chronic fissure. During the past 2-3 years I worked with a different CRS and my GI to try and treat it with conservative approaches, nitroglycerin, and nifedipine. This would help to an extent but I would always end up relapsing. It became pretty apparent to me that a big cause of it was, like many, I am so tight down there. Even when the fissure would start healing, it still seemedlike a much smaller than normal canal, and anytime i had a slightly hard poop at all it would rip it back open.
It started getting pretty bad again and I was getting close to pulling the trigger on LIS, but decided one last effort to try and put all methods together and try and heal. I also bought a small buttplug - 0.8" in width to see if it would be useful in self dilation.
And it seems to be working pretty good! My general routine is, when I wake up in the morning (usually when I feel most tight), I apply nitroglycerin to relax the anus, and then I insert my buttplug and try to relax it around it. At first it was very difficult to get the plug in, but with each day it goes in easier and easier. Lately I have been leaving it in during some daily activities and I feel so much more relaxed and loose down there. I also take stool softeners and if I feel a very hard stool before pooping, sometimes I use one of my mesalamine enemas which seems to absorb into the stool and soften it.
For those interested- the plug I use currently is Doc Johnson Mood - Naughty 1 - Small. I did a bunch of research on small plugs and this was the smallest in thickness I could find, 0.8" in width at the thickest part. Its pretty comfortable and I can do daily activities with it in.
Also- instead of traditional lube which I find dries up quickly, I use "Palmer's Bottom Butter" a diaper rash zinc oxide cream which is really thick and creamy and seems to do a much better job at lubricating and maintaining lubrication if I leave it in for a long time. Its also quite soothing. I cant emphasize how much I like this stuff specifically for my anus. I tried other diaper rash creams but find this one has the best consistency and a nice smell to it. Please give it a try if you are trying massage or self dilation.
I'm pretty optimistic so far- I dont want to say I'm fully healed yet but this is the fastest I have seen myself getting better and the best it has felt in several years. I may try to upgrade to a larger plug as this one is getting pretty easy to put in. The reason I chose plug instead of dilators is it is more convenient to kinda just leave it in there versus doing a dilating routine (although I do spend 10 minutes or so easing it in and out through the thickest area usually at first before leaving it in).
I'll come back with some more updates later on. Lurking this forum has been great to hear other peoples ideas and experiences. Wish me luck!