Hi all,
I am wondering about stool softeners. I had been completely pain free for a month and thought I had maybe turned a corner on this mess, when I had a painful stool on Monday. It wasn't hard, but it was a bit more formed than usual for me. Now I am back to being sore again. The past few days my stools are painful at the beginning and right at the end but not in the middle. I wonder why that is. Also the pain is not sharp and burning but more dull aching. I am having knee surgery on Monday so I have gotten stool softeners because of the pain meds. The doctor suggested Dulcolax. I haven't used softeners before so I am wondering if they are habit forming? (As a reminder, I didn't get my fissure from constipation, but from a colonoscopy and it became chronic after the fissure abcessed and was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics which caused severe colitis and diarrhea.) Should I be using softeners all the time to keep stools from being formed? I suffered from very loose stools for months after the antibiotics so I hadn't been thinking about it. Also I am a vegetarian and tend to eat lot of fiber already.
I hope I haven't completely gone back where I was before. That month of no pain was bliss. I wish I knew why things are acting up now!
Peace,
Susie

Oh, I hope not, either, Susie! I do believe that since you had that month free of pain, that is a good sign, a very good sign that you are improving. To go a whole month without pain is a blessing and something so many of us here couldn't (or still can't) do. But fissures rarely heal on a schedule and they will come back to bite you just when you think you are over it...but that is usually week to week, not monthly. But setbacks are common so don;t be too alarmed, not yet.
I can really only speak for the dulcolax, which is what I took. The gel caps are not as effective as the liquid, so I would try the liquid. it is not habit-forming, i took it for seven months and then stopped it just fine.
MOM is very effective but habit forming. It is OK to use short term.
I'm sure others will be on shortly to give their take on the other stool softeners which I have no experience with...

Hi Susie,
Have you tried benefiber and/or miralax? They both soften stool and are not habit forming.....I would try not to worry too much about it acting up. As I am sure you have read here, many of us have times when the area acts up after a hard or well formed poo.

Once you get a fissure your anus is compromised. That area needs about 1.5 YEARS to regain its original strength with no setbacks in that period. So, being a month pain free means nothing in "fissure world", sorry to say : (((. Any time you re injure the area , you are back, maybe not at the beginning, but step back certainly and you have to make sure your poop is soft any way you can. Benefiber and Miralax should do a trick and both can be used long looooong term. Even if you take a lot of fiber if the poop is not soft, you have to do something about it . To heal a fissure your poop has to be toothpaste like (sorry for the visuals).
Best of luck with your knee surgery and everything else

Fissures suck ! That is why !
I will second the miralax and benifibre

Argh!!! Yesterday, I stepped up the fibre and took some citrocel. That one has seemed to help me in the past, is it habit forming? I will try the benefiber or mirolax unless Citrocel is as good? My stool was really not formed at all this morning, super soft, and there was a streak of bright red blood on the T.P. I have not seen that much blood in my fissure mess and I hadn't seen any for about six months. Oddly, the stool didn't hurt and the throbbing that started several minutes later has been much less than yesterday. But generally I am really depressed about this turn, especially because it happened right before my surgery. On the good side, perhaps the knee and bum pain will cancel each other out! :)
Sometimes I wish I could do violence against the medical resident who did my colonoscopy, it was such a routine procedure but the shadow has been so long for me, I never guessed I would get a fissure that would plague me still a year later!!
Sorry for the venting, I'm just so frustrated with this,
Susie

Venting helps us feel better. Was it the cleanout that caused your fissure after a colonoscopy? I don't see how a smooth instrument that they use for colonoscopy could cause a fissure.

I don't know what part of the procedure actually caused it. The prep may have made the area swollen. All I know is that the colon was completely clean, so they didn't take anything and I woke up after the procedure with bright red blood and cramping/spasms in my legs and lower back. The nurse commented that they might have "nicked" me on the way out. My CRS said that colonoscopies cause fissures way more often than people know about.

Susie -
I am so sorry that you have gone through all of this!
Everyone on the board uses different supplements. Products work differently on individuals. In my expirience, I like Benefiber. While stool softeners help some people, they do NOTHING for me. I like MOM and miralax oon very rare occassions. Citrocel did nothing for me either, and I don't understand why not - its fiber too?!
I hope things get better soon!
Jen

Pushing anything in the anus can cause a fissure - being it smooth or not. Actually , that area is so fragile , I am surprised that most of the people do not get a fissure during
colonoscopy. It is not a tiny tube at all !!!!!! AND needs to be maneuvered up and down and making turns - like pushing a garden-hose up your butt !!!!!!! Just horrible procedure