I haven't posted in a while, but this board really saved my ass!
I got my first fissure around the end of January. Minor thing, hurt during BMs, not much concern. Spasms gradually crept in, however, until I needed to go to the doctor about it. At their horrible advice, I ate a lot of fiber and blew out my ass, tearing a new one bigger than anything I'd ever had to deal with .
My spasms lasted all day, and often into the night. I was completely taken out. I couldn't work for a while, I couldn't go many places or do many things, and I was afraid to both fall asleep and wake up. I lived in fear of every moment, and came to envy those that could wake up and sit down in peace.
This site was the only thing that really helped me, and for that I'll be forever thankful! I got made fun of and put down by everyone I knew, called a baby, and all manner of things which I can see the humor in on their end, but I was literally out on my ass because of my ass for months, flopping around in pain, not even able to enjoy it.
Since I was out of work and freelance many a thing, I couldn't afford surgery at the time, or medications beyond Hydrocortisone, which helped with some things but not healing. I'm pretty active and into health and fitness as part of my career, which is part of what lead to my problems, the other part being the stress of an abusive relationship.
Since establishing Perfect Poops (PP), it took me about 12 weeks to recover to the point that I didn't feel like a shell of a man . I still have to be careful about many things, and may never be able to handle anything like yogurt or cheese again, but I no longer think about my ass all day. I've even had some poops that would normally have been rough for me without issue in the time since. I do/did have issues with some mild leakage from what I gather is puss from some internal hems, but I'm hoping that's not permanent, is it leads to me smelling like crap down there if I don't attend to it periodically throughout the day. I also have a sentinel pile left over that's big enough to name, but I figure it can safeguard my anus should anyone try to do anything unsavory down there and lead me back to where I was for months in agony .
The main things that helped me were -
- Support from people that didn't call me a baby on this site. I'm a big ass manly dude that does manly things, so support was limited to detrimental in RL on that front. I wouldn't have been able to relate to something like this having such widespread spasmic effects either, so I don't fault anyone, but this site helped a lot.
- Milk of Magnesia. This really was, and is, a lifesaver to me. I had to take a lot of it, and really did give myself liquid poops for 12 weeks, as anything else tore it open again because it had gotten so bad. I took 5-6 tbsp a night, which is a lot, and experienced many a health issue dealing with the side effects of that, but it was worth it. I've since gone down to 2 tbsp a night, and even then, I think I can manage less if I wanted.
- I had to take my fiber into down dramatically, no more than 15-20 g a day. That was my biggest issue, as I was on much higher fiber before in ways that killed my ass.
- I had to lower my protein intake a lot, which lost me some muscle and pride, but it did save my ass.
- I had lots of good fats, as lowered fat intake also contributed to the harder stool issues I had initially.
- In line with the above, all manner of oils, manly olive oil. Tried Coconut Oil a few times, but usually came back to Olive, which worked just as well for me and was cheaper.
- Sitz Baths every night with Epsom Salt
- No wiping, all shower head for post BM clean up
- Lying in certain positions throughout the day to keep my organs from rubbing on it, which changes frequently as the days went on.
- Doing crunches to get the blood flow out of my sphincter when things got bad. Worked for me. Relieved the pressure.
- Not doing any heavy lifting that placed direct pressure on the area, which was hard for me since part of my income comes from it!
- Chewing way more than necessary. Really liquified things.
- I drank a lot of water already, but had even more once I was on Milk of Magnesia. A LOT of water.
- Continuing on probiotics
- Avoiding gas producing foods, since farts killed me too, and I couldn't hold them at a point
- No straining during BMs. None at all. Not even a little.
- Again, Milk of Magnesia. Life saver for me. Instantly effective, liquified the stool, no reopens when used well. I never had a problem with regularity, and if anything I'm hyper regular in ways I came to hate , just stool softness and bulk
Preparation H, and everything in that league never helped me, though they helped some hemorrhoid issues.
Again, this site saved me life, and I'm finally in a position to say it.