My doctor thinks so but he admits he never really saw it even as he gave me a sigmoidoscopy and injected me with botox last year. Symptoms returned 6 months after I got better the first time.
My symptoms include the following:
Defecating doesn't usually bother me much. What really makes me uncomfortable is sitting in chairs. Padding doesn't make much of a difference. What really helps is chairs that recline. I spend less than an hour a day in regular chairs because they are the most common source of a flare for me.
My discomfort flares up and then by the next day usually goes away almost entirely.
Squatting is sometimes enough to cause a flare. Sex can sometimes cause a minor flare, I think its the bloodflow to the region as much as it is any particularly acrobatic moves.
Smoking pot sometimes makes things worse... it feels as if I am more swollen down there. I think maybe its not affecting the actual fissure so much as its heightening my experience of it because pot did a similar thing for joint pain I used to have. I'm not sure though. Either way, I have understandably done the sensible thing and reduced my use of pot.
My first symptoms were at least two years ago. I thought it was just hemorrhoids which I've had often and on since I was in high school so I used hemorrhoid creams. I first saw a specialist (gastroenterologist) about 18 months ago and he diagnosed me with probable anal fissure. He gave me nitroglycerine ointment. A few months of that didn't do the trick so I got the botox treatment. That didn't do anything immediately, but after another 6 weeks of nitroglycerine I was basically back to my old self. Unfortunately, 6 months after that my symptoms recurred. I'm back on the nitroglycerine and pretty unhappy.