I'm really at a loss. I mean, I know there are people out there with worse conditions, life threatening conditions, and I am complaining about an anal fissure. But please forgive me and do voice any suggestion/advice. I had anal sex back in 2007 and after one certain time, I noticed I had a lot of pain. Upon checking it out, I noticed a tear on the side of my anus. When I tightened my anus, it would look normal but when I would release as if I was going to have a BM, I would see a little tear almost like I had two openings! :/ However, the pain was minimal and soon went away but the physical tear never did. I still continued to have anal sex (Not all the time but still active) and it never really affected me. About three years ago (2011/2012), I couldn't anymore due to what apparently looked like a hemmorhoid. Needless to say, it's been on and off since then, and sometimes I would get severe amounts of pain and then it would almost look like it was healing. I went to the doctor about it the first time last year and the first two GIs told me it was an external hemmorhoid and they gave me Lidocaine and Hydrocortisone cream. This did absolutely nothing. Last month I went for a third opinion and upon inspection, he told me it was an anal fissure and prescribed me Nitroglycerine cream. I've been taking it since 06/10 and although I don't feel the pain while defecating when I pull in I feel the pain/soreness. Also, I noticed the bulge which I thought was a hemmorhoid has not gone away. It feels a little harder and extends up towards my scrotum.
I'm assuming that either Botox or LIS are my only other options... Or does the Nitro cream take longer to heal? I'm taking stool softeners and drinking Metamucil and lots of water. Then I was reading online and I think that bulge might be a sentinel pile? Ahhh I'm so confused and nervous. Has anyone else felt this way? What did you do and was the surgery worth it? Will my anus always look horrible the way it does now??