But what if this was the treatment that could finally heal you?? You owe it to yourself to give it your best and get over your fears. I know that if I could have this treatment paid for I would be biting someone's hand off to get in that chamber!!!
You need to take deep breaths, concentrate on your breathing... Relax, and think of it as not being trapped in a glass tube, but being given a quiet peacefull place to relax, away from the world and all the noise..... Ahhhh heaven!!! Lol

OMB x

Hi, I'm extremely claustorphobic myself. Can't do a closed MRI at all. Why not ask your doctor to give you something to calm you down before you go in. It could help but I do understand the claustrophic feeling, it's very real.

Thanks Suzy... I actually have no problem in MRIs because you can always jump out if get freaked out, and it doesn't usually take 1.5x40 hours to complete. But yesterday I lasted only 5 minutes...It really wasn't bad in there, just a wooshing sound. But you can't move at all, and it takes a least a few minutes to get you out of there if you start freaking out. I called for pills and got 5mg of valium, but I really don't know if that's close to enough. I would need to be completely unconscious to get back in that tank. I have trouble on airplanes, elevators, but this was WAYYYY scarier for me. It's not rational at all, I completely acknowledge and understand that I am totally safe and comfortable. But once they close that door behind me and the air starts wooshing, I loose my mind. I'm going to try again, but I don't know if it's going to be possible in my case.

So I held back on the hyperbarics because I actually ended up going 7 days without a spot of blood. The streak ended this morning though, with a little bit of blood again, so I completely miserable again. 7 days in a row was a personal record for me. Question: Does anyone else notice that once their fissure stops bleeding, the area hurts/aches/spasms more than on days when it bleeds profusely? For me, the last seven days were all pretty painful, particularly after BMs, and with no noticeable blood. Today, there was blood again, but my pain is near nothing. Does that sound similar to anyone else's experience?

So I held back on the hyperbarics because I actually ended up going 7 days without a spot of blood. The streak ended this morning though, with a little bit of blood again, so I completely miserable again. 7 days in a row was a personal record for me. Question: Does anyone else notice that once their fissure stops bleeding, the area hurts/aches/spasms more than on days when it bleeds profusely? For me, the last seven days were all pretty painful, particularly after BMs, and with no noticeable blood. Today, there was blood again, but my pain is near nothing. Does that sound similar to anyone else's experience?

Hi asdf,
I never bleed at all which is weird, seen as at one point I had 3 Fissures at the same time.... Sheer hell. I find the spasms and pain are worse if the BM exits fast or is slightly bigger... But now,seen as I had Botox a year ago I'm heading back to square one... Pain all day. Absolutely miserable. I am intrigued about the chamber, but there's no way we would get it here in the Uk on the NHS. I know there is another diary on here about a member who healed in the chamber. Could you bring yourself to give it a go? Keep fighting.... X

Hi Rachel,

I am going to give another shot. Doctor gave me valium, so hopefully that will be enough to calm me down for the whole treatment.

suzyljank wrote:Hi, I'm extremely claustorphobic myself. Can't do a closed MRI at all. Why not ask your doctor to give you something to calm you down before you go in. It could help but I do understand the claustrophic feeling, it's very real.

Suzy, I tried to send you a PM about skin flaps. It's stuck in my outbox for some reason. You responded to one of my threads about 2 months ago. Here is the PM

"I've been reading about anoplasty, and I'd like to know where is the donor site? Is it inside the anal canal? How long did it take you to heal? Why do you say the butt is not like it was before, what's the difference? Can you tell the difference between the transplanted tissue and the non'-transplanted tissue? Also, is the transplanted tissue strong and durable? I'm expecting it to be much more stretchable.

The donor site is on the outside, they take a piece of skin close to the anus cut it and slide it inside and suture it after they remove the fissure and or scar tissue. Some donor sites are sutured closed other are left open to heal. I had two at the same time and they left the donor sites open to heal so when they did any scarring wouldn't pull on the anal opening.
My donor sites have healed pretty well but it is a full 2 year recovery so I have a year to go. They can get irritated easily and they do get tender from time to time but they look like normal skin except where the cuts were made. The flaps on the inside feel the same I guess but now the area can stretch. I have to do daily dilation and I can feel that but it's not bad. I'm now able to have a relatively normal bm. I'll never be able to stretch like someone who didn't have anal trauma but I do just fine. I don't know if the skin is stronger but I know it's healthier than the scar tissue. I couldn't even pass a pea or a kernel of corn, that's how bad things got for me. As far as healing time I'm really not the best person to ask because most people only have a single flap done. I had 2 done at the same time so it took me about 6-8 weeks to feel comfortable walking around and almost 3 months before I could drive because you can't slide your butt, that a big no no. I had my surgery at the end of last april and I had ups and downs all summer. I slept in a very comfy recliner for 2 months too. I started to feel more normal towards fall. But recovery was nothing like the pain from the fissure and spasming from the stenosis. There is pain involved but it's all manageable. I mostly used ibuprofen, but I also have reflux disease and because I took so much I can no longer use it because I got a peptic ulcer. I would say the pain for me was around a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10. In the hospital I sometimes had a 6 or 7 but that didn't last very long. It gets better slowly but then all of a sudden the pain is mostly gone. If you have IBS like I do that can irritate things for a while but things settle down. All in all surgery helped the most. If you need this surgery don't be too scared. I think the flaps were more helpful than LIS for me. LIS didn't help me it only relaxed the muscle a little for me but the flaps made the skin stretchable again. Good luck Suzy.

Hi. So I manned up and got in the tank for my first hyperbaric treatment today. I took a max dose (10 mg) of valium to calm my nerves. I am extremely proud of myself for doing it because I am a very anxious and claustrophobic person. Today's treatment was only to 1.3 ATM, I think, so the treatments will get progressively longer and at higher pressure, but I am hopeful that I will be able to handle it. I gave it another shot because a CRS from NYC, Daniel Feingold, recommended it, along with the valium, and said that all of the 5 or so patients he has sent for HBOT treatment had healed. For anyone considering it, I got the entire treatment covered because I had an advancement flap that has not yet healed. I do not believe a classical fissure alone would be enough of an indication for insurance to cover it. I think a normal, sane, non-psychotic/anxious/depressed/claustrophobic lunatic would actually find the whole thing a breeze. You just chill out and watch TV really. I was still too anxious to sleep, but hopefully I'll calm down in the next few sessions.