Hi all,
Thanks so much for this forum. I have been reading it for the past 5 weeks or so, which is when my problem began, and it has been helpful and often reassuring.
I'm writing today because I hope to get some insight into what the healing process is like and how to monitor setbacks, etc.
Background:
A month ago my fissure started after a day of constipation and a large BM that produced a sharp-pain, blood (not so much), and burning, throbbing, itching, and soreness almost all day. I had also been under a lot of stress (still am) with a potential move, plus work, and I had been straining and rushing in the bathroom and wiping too much and causing irritation. In any case, I thought this problem would resolve quickly because similar things had happened to me before after some straining or constipation with no long term issues. But this time for 3 weeks straight I would feel that sharp pain when having a BM, have some blood and burning and itching (oh my, the itching was the worst). I took sitz baths, kept things clean, upped my water intake, and tried to ignore it.
After 3 weeks though, I decided to make an appointment with a gastroenterologist just to make sure nothing else was going on. A few days before my appointment, the bleeding had subsided a bit and I thought I was probably healing, of course right before I was finally going to see the doctor.
The doctor saw an area of irritation, but no visual tear, so she also said it was probably healing, recommended Colace for 2-3 weeks to keep things soft and get me through my impending move and career change and that that should do it. She mentioned it takes around 6 weeks for these things to heal if they are going to do so on their own.
The next day, about 1 month to the day of initial problem, I had bleeding again, a sharp pain (which had not ever really gone away) and burning, etc. It definitely felt like a setback. However, the pain was nothing like the initial problem, but still it was completely demoralizing.
Now it's about 5 weeks in, I had no bleeding but pain yesterday, today I had very little blood but with pain that subsided very quickly after a BM. In other words, the bleeding is not going away, although not increasing necessarily, but the pain and burning after BMs, and from sitting, seems to be subsiding quicker and I'm not suffering from spasms or itching, etc.
My question is whether or not blood is a good indicator of healing, or if there can be bleeding even if things are getting better? How do you all judge the healing process? What does it look/ feel like?
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and for any input you may have.