hi i'm claire, 23 years old. i have a 2 year old daughter, my fissure started a few weeks after a gave birth to her and have suffered ever since. for the first year my gp diagnosed me with piles (nobody ever looked at me) and gave me numerous pile creams which obviously didn't work. the pain was never that bad and i lived with it. then one night in January 2010 it got so bad my mum took me to a&e and the dr diagnosed me with an anal fissure. gave me a cream said it should heal etc. never did i was continuously going back and forth to my gp getting more and more different types of creams none of which have ever worked for me, during one month my partner was calling out for ambulances every week because i was in that much pain i would be screaming and couldn't lay down, stand up or sit down. the only thing that relieved me was a morphine injection by the paramedics which i would have to stay in hospital then. but i would just be left on the bed till i was able to go home. they gave me pain relief for it though- codeine phosphate 30mg and oramorph 5ml. which i took double prescribed amount. i finally got sent to see a consultant who specialises in this and i got fobbed off with the same creams i had used before and never worked. every 6 weeks i had to go back.
they finally decided to bring me in as a day case under general anaesthetic to have a proper look inside me. when i had it done and woke up they said they found nothing and just sent me home. which was upsetting. had more visits to the consultant at the hospital, the last was september 2010 where a dr looked at me said she couldn't see a fissure there anymore and i wouldn't need to go back.i was fuming i knew i still had the fissure and tried to explain that i was still getting the pain and she just replied that i may do. so i lived with it.
january 2011 it was getting worse again i was a waitress working evenings but would have to take so much time off work cos i was in agony. i went back to my gp asking him to refer me again, and got an appointment at hospital a month later. the dr there gave me another lot of the same creams. went back 6 weeks later again and the dr said that he thinks i should be brought in as a day case again like last year which i thought was pointless cos they found nothing and it didn't help. he also quoted from the head consultant that "he doesn't think they can do anything for me" which made me angry. i know there is surgery and other treatments i've found on the internet. then i got a letter with the head consultant (who i've never met before even though i have been a patient of his for a year) wanting to see me personally before i get brought in again. so waiting nervously for that.
a month ago i quit my job and am now just a stay at home mum because i am suffering every other day and i have to hold on until my daughter is in bed otherwise i can't do anything, and i have to be at home or i would be stuck. i have to take a bath everytime i go as well as the pain relief, but i might possibly be pregnant again so i cannot take the pain relief anymore and just don'r know what to do with myself. after suffering 2 and a half years and no relief from it i've completely had enough.