I am now in week 7 of my first anal fissure. It started out as what I thought were hemorrhoids. I always sat for a long time during bms, usually playing on my phone while occasionally giving extra pushes over the course of anywhere from 30-60 min. For as long as I can remember, I never had complete evacuations. I only realize now that it was due to lack of fiber. But what I would do during clean up is put aloe Vera gel on several pieces of toilet paper, and proceed to use my index finger to push the toilet paper deep inside to scrub out the remaining feces. I've been doing this now for a couple of years with no real problems. Occasionally I would notice a little throbbing after a bm, but it would be mild and subside within 30 min post clean up. About 8-10 weeks ago, the throbbing started lasting longer and longer. About 7 weeks ago, it started to throb all night until I would go to sleep (I always have bms at night) I attributed this new problem to being hemrrhoidal. What I tried to do was treat the problem with a prep h suppository. A few min after inserting, I felt splitting/burning pain that I never experienced before. This in my opinion was the creation of my fissure.
For the next 2 weeks, the pain I had post bms would carry over to the following day. It became increasingly harder to sit down and I started to experience more pain each time I had a bm. By week 3, I went to see a gastroenterology doctor. He did a digital exam, which made me yelp a couple times and confirmed I had a fissure. He prescribed me .4% nitro ointment and 2.5% lidocaine and scheduled a 2 week follow up appointment. 2 weeks came and went, and the symptoms hadn't improved during that time. He then referred me to a crs who I saw 2 days later. The crs gave me instruction on changing my diet. I am now doing Metamucil and stool softener twice a day along with eating no meat or dairy. I've seen significant improvement since starting this. It's been almost 2 weeks and I can sit again pain free during the day. I no longer have any burning pain associated with the fissure. However, bms are still a problem.
Immediately after bms, I begin to have some minor pain and immediate swelling. I feel like this is from hemorrhoids, which I've developed additional ones since the fissure due to my sphincter spasms. I will immediately soak in a bath post bm now and that will postpone my pain from the spasm. But as soon as I get out of the tub, the spasm starts and doesn't end until I wake up the next morning.
My question to those that have healed naturally is, how long until I get to the point where I no longer experience any spasm post bm. Like I said, I no longer have the severe burning sensation which occurred at the fissures height between weeks 2-6. I know these things take a long time to heal, but I'm hoping to get a sense of the various stages of healing I still have to look forward to!
Thank you so much all for your help!