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

Funnyface1 Thank you for checking back in and it fills me with confidence to hear your story, I’m certainly calmer now than when I wrote my first post! Having been examined again this week I now feel like I have a hot poker up my behind but I know it will pass to a lesser soreness in a few days. Congrats on your situation how brilliant it has all worked out so well.

Ki062 sorry to hear your in pain, and at least baby is nearly here and you can start treatment. Could be fissure, sounds like the symptoms but could be some internal piles too. Perhaps for now try putting some aloe Vera gel or witch hazel gel to at least soothe. Or sudocrem is good to calm soreness. Keep poo soft. Eat prunes and figs, soft pop all the time is key x

Thought I would post for anyone struggling and looking for advice. Have now used a tube of diltiazem which I think helped a bit. Have finished that now and just using Sudocrem. Still a bit sore but will see consultant in week and prob agree to next step Botox. Really nervous about that but will update. It’s been over a year now, a lot better but still an annoyance most of the time so hope Botox helps.

Updating- Botox in a weeks time. Really hoping it heals it once and for all. Feel I’m 80% there and it’s only a bit sore and bothersome now but just want to feel normal again.

If anyone else had Botox would be great to hear results/experiences.

I think im almost there naturally. Just how many dates can one person eat???

Good luck with the botox. If i find i haven't sorted it i expect that to be my next step

I wonder if I have this. I have awful pain in my rectum a lot of the time. It feels like a piece of bone is trying to break through the muscle and skin. The odd thing is it doesn’t particularly hurt when I poo but hirtsbwhenever I sit down or stand for too long. Lying is the only position that I can be in pain free. Could this be a fissure?

TheCorrections It could be a fissure, the soreness and pain of these present in various ways. For me I feel it most when standing. Best thing is to get it checked out, if it is a fissure best to get treatment as soon as you can.

You must see a doctor as it could be a whole raft of things but mine stings sharply, but only slightly on pooing, but then leads to a deeper more burning ache/pain higher up and a nasty muscular pain in my right back abdomen. That could have been an indication of all sorts so needed a check first and then I was giving medications and self help advice to improve.

Its not perfect but its far more under control now.

Hello all, I've just come across this thread. I'm 30 year old female and have had a fissure for 10 months now. Tried dietary changes, gtn ointment and diltiazem ointment and non worked. Had my botox surgery 13 days ago and feel no improvement. Starting to feel very depressed and that I'm stuck with this forever. Had all my hopes on this botox procedure working but so far I don't feel any better at all

Misstulipan are you under the nhs? I was seen by a general surgeon under the nhs for my botox. Found that the first 5 days post op seemed to be ok and I felt positive but as soon as I hit day 7 the soreness, achey feeling came back. Today I'm day 13 and it feels scratchy to go to the toilet and painful when I sit down (burny and achey). Feeling fed up

Joanna88 really sorry to hear that, I’m under NHS yes, having Botox in a few days. Really nervous in all honesty. My soreness is mild now and manageable but achy too and I’m hoping the Botox doesn’t make it worse. I found every time I have been examined it’s made me feel worse for weeks after! But I just have to try.
Give it time, it’s still early days and I don’t think the Botox is meant to stop pain but increase blood flow which helps healing. But as I’m sure you are aware it doesn’t always work. I was told that they heal eventually. I totally understand how you are feeling though, Ive had it now 14 months and see no end to it either but let’s be positive.

I appear to be pretty similar to you. Mine is relatively manageable and I wasn't in much pain pre procedure (like you've said I had mild achey pain and some burning). Please don't be scared of the procedure, there's honestly nothing to it and I was relatively pain free after. I'd 100% do it again without any hesitation. Like you I was very nervous and really anxious it would make me worse (with my symptoms being pretty mild in comparison to others) it didn't make me worse, im just the same post procedure as I was pre procedure so please don't worry about it making you worse - it didn't make me worse. I think i just got my hopes up so much that this would work that I've been disappointed I've not felt any better within the last 13 days.....there's still hope that it might work though. Consultant wants to see me again in October. I just want to work sooooo bad! Consultant signed me off work for a week post botox but I had a little break down on Monday about all this fissure stuff and my GP has signed me off for a further 2 weeks. Please don't worry about the botox. I promise you it's not as bad as you think. It's great to speak with someone who's story almost mirrors mine xx

My consultant isn't a man of many words. Has your consultant said anything about when you should start to see improvements after botox? Apparently mine is a small fissure and quite shallow. My biggest complaint is I find it uncomfortable to drive or shit on a hard chair because is burns xx

Like you I would always suffer after an examination but my consultant injected me with local anaesthetic as well as the botox to take the edge off and that really helped. Ask if they can inject some local anaesthetic as well because that will really help you xx

Joanna88 I will PM you later, I think it would be good for us to share in our recovery! X

I had Botox and banding three months ago and felt better for about three weeks, but I'm now just as bad as before. My consultant says the fissure is very deep and is going to repeat the Botox. Has anyone else had success the second time?

I'm in so much pain, it's unbearable. Over the counter drugs don't help at all.

Oh dear, that’s not nice for you, I can only imagine the pain. I’m a couple weeks since having Botox, initially I felt much worse as woke up after GA with really sore external piles which I didn’t have before, I guess the Botox procedure quite invasive and they had to locate the fissure. Finally the piles have calmed down but still a bit sore so I can’t really comment on how fissure feels. Mine was definitely healing the surgeon said (but I’ve had it for over a year) and he hoped the Botox would give it the final push to heal fully. Who knows? I live in hope. Mine was never that bad though, just constant nagging soreness.

I was told they can repeat the Botox so its worth trying again soon. If yours is deep it will take time. How long have you had it? The surgeon said prior to Botox that there are other things they can do if Botox doesn’t work.

Years . They prescribed suppositories but I'm in too much pain to use them.

What suppositories? Are they Scheriproct? (Poss wrong spelling there) could you cover suppository in Vaseline and push in after hot bath? You poor thing. When can you get to see the consultant again?

Had botox for nearly 4 weeks now and feeling much the same as before. Slight sore feeling constantly. How long did people find it took to heal after the injections? Ive forgotten what it feels like to have ‘normal’ bum.

Miss T I'm really sorry to hear you haven't healed yet, hopefully it will still happen! Mine healed with diltiazem!

However I still have the tailbone pain I talked about and can't sit down, so swings and roundabouts 😱😂

Hope otherwise you are well!

Hi Ash, I have wondered how you are doing. Sorry to hear you are still suffering with your tail bone, hope baby is well I am good other than this.

I am still hopeful as after the botox the surgeon said that its definitely healing. Fingers crossed.

My DH had surgery last week for a fistula and a fissure after over a year of pain and various investigations/treatments, he was shocked to be signed off for 7 days but admits he could not have gone to work. He still has some pain and discomfort and says he is not sure it has worked😣 I'm hoping it has as I know recovery can take months.
to you all - they are horrible things to have

Munchyseeds Thank you, I hope your DH starts to feel better. He is still in the early days of recovery so fingers crossed for him too

Hello everyone! I found this thread by searching about chronic anal fissures. I had traveler's constipation in April, and thought I just had a bad flare up of my chronic hemorrhoids. I broke down and went to the doctor after a month, and I found out I had a fissure. He prescribed a compound ointment of Lidocaine for the pain and Dilitiazem to help with the spasms. I didn't end up having any headaches or anything, but I've been using that mixed with Aquaphor healing ointment and have still found no relief. I had about two weeks where I thought I was healed, and all it took was one BM and I are am right back to where I started. I take a stool softener daily, and I'm regular with going one to two times a day. But I have extreme internal and external hemorrhoids, and I've had them intermittently since I was about 13. I went to a specialist and he suggested I have the hemorrhoids banded and to just give the fissure more time to heal.

Fast forward another 6 weeks, and things were still just as miserable. Couldn't tolerate bike rides with my family, had to stop going to the gym, unable to walk on my lunch break like I enjoyed doing everyday for the past 3 years. It's completely debilitating and puts such a damper on your life. My husband is so understanding, but it puts such a strain on our intimacy as well as more tasks for him to handle with our daughter. She is a busy two-and-a-half-year-old, but she does understand when Mommy is in pain too.

So the specialist performed an exam to see if banding would be an option at my appointment. That was not the case. I was in excruciating pain, so bad I was uncontrollably crying while trying to speak to him after the exam was finished. The fissure had not changed at all, so he suggested a hemorrhoidectomy and botox injection. It's been a long month waiting for this procedure, but I'm having it on Tuesday. I never thought I would be waiting to have surgery, as I've never had to have anything done in my life. But I'm praying this is my fix because nothing is working. Sitz bath with Epsom salt, using The Squatty Potty, stool softeners, creams prior to bowel movements to lubricate, eating salads, high-fiber diet, nothing has helped. I'm not looking forward to the healing process but I am looking forward to this being a step in the right direction. I sympathize with all of you women that are going through this daily struggle, it's so mentally draining as well as physically crippling!

SoOverIt18 I’m really sorry to hear what you have been going through. Not long until your procedure now. Be prepared for the soreness after but it will pass.

As you will have read I had just Botox, it’s been 5 weeks now nearly and I do feel a bit better, not normal but better. I am trying really hard to be positive but as you have explained it is draining and just goes on and on for so long. I really hope Tuesday starts you on a road to recovery. Let me know how you are getting on. Lots of healing vibes to you