Hi, I'm Noah, I'm 24 and from the UK. I am glad to have searched for an AF support forum today because I am really struggling right now. My story I guess is split into 2 parts.
First, flashback to August 2012 when I was in East Africa.. I developed an AF as a result of my diet (I was chugging buckets of peanuts each day as well as generally not eating very balanced) and I was in massive pain with it. I bled most of the time when going to the toilet, and I was itchy quite often. It took me until November 2012 to go see the doctor about it (because .. you know .. i'm a guy .. )
The doctor inspected me, confirmed I had an anal fissure and prescribed AnuSol, to be applied every day for a week. Now, I have to admit I was a bit blaze back then because the pain wasn't too bad. I think I applied it to the area for about 3 days before I started to notice the effects. It was a bit of a faff applying the cream to that area to be honest, and as it was the first time I had done that, I stopped after 3 days.
After that, it pretty much subsided. Occasionally I would suffer one or two days with it (probably as a result of diet) and then it would go again. Each time I would pass a little bright red blood. But I was bearing with it.. and there were a couple of ocassions when I'd apply the AnuSol and it'd sort itself out.
Now the second part of the story -- in the last few months of 2014 I have moved to the Philippines. My diet has completely changed. I am eating white rice three times a day and getting some fruit and vegetables. When I first arrived I was okay. But then maybe about a month ago, I was bleeding a LOT for a period of about 3 days.
I applied the AnuSol (this is the same tube that I got in Nov 2012. It's in date until 2015, and I haven't used the applicator for hygiene purposes, I have been using a bit of gauze on my finger.) Although it says Do not store above 25 degrees, and of course it's very hot here in the Philippines so I'm not sure if it's spoiled.. it felt a little more runny than it did when I was in the UK. Is it still okay to use? Does anyone have experience of AnuSol? I'm thinking of having someone at home send me over a new tube as it is available over the counter in the UK.
Once I applied it, the pain and bleeding stopped. But I noticed I was getting really mucus-y stools (sometimes I would just pass mucus. This continued for a few days.
In the last week though it's returned and it's the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced. I'm not bleeding at all, but there are many problems that I think are contributing to it's acute-ness.
As you can imagine my diet and lifestyle have completely changed and I'm not in control of what I eat. I've stopped eating rice at breakfast, and instead take bread, but it's pretty much unavoidable at lunch/dinner time unless I want to eat just a handful of vegetables as my main meal for the day. I also suffer with extra acidity in my stomach, especially when I'm anxious/stressed. Recently, because of my adjustments and the culture shock, my anxiety was high and I was feeling a bit nauseous.
I noticed I was starting to become constipated. I am trying my best to drink water.. I have 1.5l bottles with me every day and I try to drink most of it (as well as the glasses of water I drink outside of these bottles, e.g. with my meals). I'm trying to eat foods that will "loosen" me up but nothing is working.. my stools just seem to be big and bulky because I'm currently only going to the loo once every 4 days (!) As you can imagine, I am in so much pain.
Another problem is that I cannot sit down on the toilet here for various reasons. So on my own private toilet I have to stand on the seat -which I think is fine because that's just like a squat toilet and it's perhaps more natural to be like that. But at my place of work, I cannot do this so I have to kind of hover awkwardly; and the toilet is up on a ledge (difficult to explain) so I have to contort my body just to go, and it is causing me agony. When I'm done my legs are like jelly because of all the tensing. I could try and make myself only go at home, but because of the constipation really I'm "Whenever I feel like going, I go" because it's a rare treat right now.
So many factors, and I'm sorry for rambling.. but I just need to get this out to people who understand. I don't know what advice I'm looking for, but support would be good. Right now I feel like my body is shutting down because I'm not digesting my food, and when I do it's painful coming out. And of course being 6000 miles away from home is not helpful. I'm reluctant to see a doctor here (which goes against everything I believe in) but feel like if it gets worse I might have to.
I'm fairly limited to what I can do other than try and change my diet - suggest to the community I am living with if we could eat some fruit (the worst thing is that I *hate* papaya, lol, so I will have to force myself to like it). I've been eating smooth peanut butter and drinking coffee which I think I have to give up.
What are natural ways to help me out with this?
Another thing is that I don't have a shower or access to warm water.. I just use a bucket of cold water to wash with twice or three times a day. Toilet paper is of low scratchy-scratchy quality but perhaps I should do as the locals do here and wash with water every time I use the toilet (not appropriate when I'm in a rush as often I am - my BM are never timed appropriate to my routine.. whyy!)
Anyway, thanks for reading this.. I'm sorry it's long and not at all structured. I just really needed to vent, and know that I'll be okay. Seriously if I have had little sleep the night before, and have had a long day and I'm feeling sick - I feel like I'm going to die or something. Or that I'll have to give up everything here and just go home.
ETA: I'm also taking multi-vitamins which as a result of the added Iron is making my stools black and tar-like. I'm not sure if i should come off these and switch onto the multi-vitamins I have without Iron.. Here is a list of vitamins contained.. could any of these be contributing to solid, bulky stools?