Anal Fissure for 6 months, scared and sore

[MissTulipan]

Hi

Despite having a teenage daughter and having looked for words of wisdom from mumsnet many times in the past, I have never posted, until now...

I have had a sore bum on and off since a few slightly painful poos back in May brought about by eating a load of peanuts (never ever again) Having had mild piles after birth if DD2 I assumed I had piles and self treated for internal piles.

Had sore times and ok times all summer but more sore in recent weeks and noticed external piles appearing and feeling generally sore. Went to GP last week and she looked and said I have piles on the outside and thinks I have a fissure. She offered to refer me to hospital or to try a stronger piles cream. I said I would do what ever she felt was best. She prescribed a stronger hydrocortisone cream, Scheriproct and said to go back in few weeks.

Having now read about anal fissures (gone Google mad) I am now realising that the symptoms match what I've been experiencing but just not to the extreme as some people have described. But I relate to the nagging pain and soreness on and off all day. I don't have issues with constipation and am an active 42 year old. I am going to go back to the GP and ask for the cream that increases blood flow to bum area. I cannot see a tear in my bum but it feels like it is inside above where the tight muscle bit ends.

As it's obviously been there for 6 months and not cleared up I have got myself into a really silly state of thinking that it will be with me forever causing chronic pain (if it gets worse) or I will end up having the surgery that cuts the muscle and i will end up soiling my pants. I'm an anxious person generally but this has made me feel panicked reading about the difficulties treating these things!

Can anyone offer me some words of wisdom and hope as I've spent all evening crying on and off as the family are out. I've been on my feet all day with work and I feel scared and sore.

Thank you

I'm sure you have worked this out already but up your water intake. also when going to loo, take your time. Adopt a posture whereby your heels are resting on the front of the loo seat. i.e a squatting position. This ensures that your...ermm..plumbing is in a straighter alignment and so allows for easier passage..

Thanks for the reply. I have a foot stall, the ones the kids used to use at the basin! I do lean forward a bit too. Thankfully I sit by the water machine at work so drink about 10 glasses a day plus herbal tea (and the odd cup of normal tea!!) I’m so conscious of everything going in my mouth now. Have lost 9lb since May but that’s good actually.

Today I have felt ok, thankfully the Rectogesic isn’t causing any side effects but not sure what to expect from it as the GP didn’t fill me with positivity about the cream. But I am taking on board a lot of positive feedback from mums on here.
So so hoping to get this sorted.
Off to swig some milk of magnesia now...oh joy.

Hi, I’m wondering, anyone who has used Rectogesic is the fact that I’m feeling a bit better just because my bum has been medicated every 12 hours with the cream (like taking constant paracetamol for an ongoing headache) or is it because I’m slowly healing a bit? I’m slightly confused as to how it works. Thanks

I have been using rectogesic for 7 weeks and although the pain is definitely less it's still there! But I would persevere and hopefully it will heal you!

Thanks for sharing that ashleighhr, have you had your fissure for long and was it bad? Mine has never been really painful, no spasms. It’s just sore and throbs a bit sometimes and lingers on. Nearly 7 months now. It’s got a bit better since May when it started but doesn’t seem to completely heal. I can’t see it as it’s high up. The gp thought she could see it. I’m baffled that it’s lastsd this long as no constipation since the couple of days I suffered in May. I’m only on day 4 of Rectogesic and no real change as yet but very early days.
Hope you continue to get better

I actually feel sorer tonight and have had slight sharp pains on and off today. It’s so draining. How people with severe fissures must feel I can’t imagine.

I've had mine for 5 months since I had my first baby! The pain was terrible at the start, like glass!

But it's more bearable now but unfortunately still there!

Hopefully if yours isn't so sore it will heal!

I really feel for you with a new baby and this to deal with. Hopefully the fact you feel a bit better means you may continue to get better. I am so shocked still this has happened. My youngest child is 7 and no past experience of constipation! Just a couple of days of slight constipation and 7 months on I’m still dealing with it. Very weird. But can’t turn back the clocks, just have to deal with it.

Dh had a fissure and the gp recommended fibrogel twice daily for a month and then once daily. It eventually healed. I hope you feel better soon.

I went to the drs for a check up yesterday and she wanted to examine me, it's made it so much worse, terrible pain and bleeding again!

At my wits end now to be honest! Really dreading tomorrow! Hopefully it will get better again!

I had never heard of anything like this! Wouldn't have expected to still be really struggling 5 months later!
Feeling a bit down today because of it!

Hopefully it will feel better soon! And you too 😊

Thanks Lisette, I’ve been having milk of magnesia as recommended earlier in this post although I am pretty regular person anyway! But will try anything. Thanks
Ashleighr sorry to hear you had bad day. It’s miserable isn’t it. I had day out today with friend and risked glass of wine with Rectogesic ( no problem, felt fine) took my mind off my bum for the day.
It helps to know others are going through it. Keep in touch with how your doing

By the way I find sitting on a hot water bottle good

MissTulipan he got dehydrated on a flight and ended up with the fissure, poor man. I hope you are on the road to recovery soon.

How long did it take him to heal? Thank you for your words

He thinks it was 4 months after diagnosis and treatment. He had it a while and was terrified that he'd cancer. The fybogel softens the stool but doesn't make it too loose.

There is an older thread about this and one of the posters gave the following advice, which dh concurs with:

'Other (very blunt) advice I was given includes - what you really want for a fissure to recover is large, soft poos, ideally once or twice a day. So they gently stretch your anus, but won't scratch it.

Laxatives, or laxative effect food taken without bulking agents, just make you do lots of small more 'liquid' poos. Pooing a lot irritates your bowel and anus, and obviously if you are wiping lots of times a day, you're going to irritate the area more. That's why you want to 'soften' and 'bulk up' rather than take a laxative. '

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/970856-Anal-fissure-s-TMI-alert

Thanks so much for the post. Think I feel a bit better today.

It’s unpredictable though the whole feeling, up and down up and down.

Thank you 😊 I feel a lot better today as well, so having a g and t to celebrate, which is probably a bad idea!

But thanks again for the support, it is helpful to know that you're not alone!

Hope you continue to feel better

Hope you enjoyed the g and t ashleighr1988. I’m sure it was well deserved and pleased to hear following your appointment with gp you had a better day. Did the gp have any further thought/comments?
I have been taking high dose of vitamin c with zinc and also magnesium. No idea if it helps but at least I feel I’m trying, along with all the correct foods and water. I’ve eaten less too which has resulted in weight loss but that’s fine. I figure less in less out!
Hope you are still enjoying precious time with your baby and getting enough sleep. Sleep is such a good healer.
I think I am in a more positive mind set now as it’s been 3 weeks since learning of my Fissure after of summer of thinking I had internal piles and medicating for piles. The initial shock of the Fissure sent me into a panic after reading horror stories but I have accepted it now and have calmed down a bit.
I will update on my progress later in the week.
Hope things continue to improve for both of us

ashleighr1988 How are you doing? I had a few much better days but today gone a bit backwards. Feeling sore again but not so throbbing and don’t feel I have something stuck up my bum as much as before...such a delightful topic. Was feeling so much more positive. Am hoping this is a small set back.

For anyone else who finds this thread, I’m day 10 on Rectogesic

Sore again today after starting to feel really positive. Anyone else go up and down and still heal eventually?

Just found this. I had a very painful chronic fissure (when it was in spasm it was so sore I couldn't even talk which is unheard of for me) Rectogesic helped but only temporarily. What did make all the difference was seeing a surgeon who recommended Botox. (I know - other people get botox on their face, I get it up the bum but still...) He says it has a similar effect to cutting the muscle but without the risk of complications, and it can be redone as often as necessary. I had to have it done twice. The first one worked really well for about 6 months and then it wore off a bit so the consultant did it again. That was 7 years ago and I've had no trouble since. If yours continues I would recommend asking for a referral, but don't let them go straight to cutitng the muscle (The second time I was actually booked in for that op by one of the registrars, and the consultant was so horrified when he saw the notes he phoned me at home to say that I was far too young to be going for such a drastic and irreversible op and that we should give the botox another chance and he would do it himself. ) FIngers crossed yours heals too - it's such a horrendous pain - like passing cut glass when you go to the loo and then the muscle spasms after.

Oh and I was told to keep my poo the texture of toothpaste, given fybogel to take when needed and advised to use wet loo roll

Oh I vent tell you how I've suffered. I'm breastfeeding still so I've had problems with medical help. But I found keeping my stools loose with Movicol, and pooing with my feet on a stool ( squatting position is the most biologically appropriate way to poo) helped tremendously. I had mine for a few years and it's just healed up nicely.

The rectogesic cream didn't really work for me. Just made my head pound. Scheriproct cream and suppositories were good. As was metanium and coconut oil. Also a walk bath straight after a poo to get that sphincter all relaxed. The pain comes from the bum hole tensing with pain after a poo, so the heat from the bath was perfect.