Fissures

For those of you who are sensitive and don't like to hear anything that may make them squirm... Please do not read this! It is personal, but it is a medical issue that I dealt with this year...





I posted this on my Yahoo support group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/analfissure/messages?o=1

In April I had a baby, which left me in severe pain! I found out 5 doctors later that I had 3 anal fissures. Long story short, A friend of mine introduced me to this group, and I received some wonderful advice!

I am just going to list what I feel helped me, and maybe it can help some of you out there looking for some answers:

-Quit breastfeeding. Obviously men and women who this doesn't pertain to, disregard this one. But for those of you that this pertain to: I think that this was a biggee for me. Yes, it was tough, I loved breastfeeding my Daughter. If I was to do it over again though I would have stopped sooner, becuase I am sure that I was putting large amounts of stress and anxiety on my baby due to the sever pain that I was having. I think that it really cause some dehydration issues.

-Quit taking prenatal vitamins. They do the opposite effect of softners.

-Miralax, Miralax, Miralax! This I suggest anyone suffering from fissures to try! I should do a commercial for them, although it would probably be TMI for all of the consumers out there. NO, but seriously, I take 17mg every night! The stuff is amazing. My pain lessened drastically very shortly after I started taking it regularly, and I mean regularly, I never miss taking it.

-Benefiber. I don't take it religiously or anything but I know that it does help keep things soft.

-Lots and lots of water!! And I think that that explains itself...

-Botox injections. I don't think that I necessarily would have needed this if I would have done [the things listed above] sooner. But I am sure that the botox helped as well. I was originally scheduled for the Lateral Internal Sphincterotomy, in sheer desperation for some pain relief, but I am sooo glad that I changed my mind last minute.


So, thank you everyone for all of the support! I really needed it. There were times where I genuinely wanted to die, instead of go to the bathroom. I even went on anti-anxiety meds! I just felt like NO ONE understood the pain that I was going through!! When I joined this site, it put me at ease knowing that I was not alone! So, thank you thank you thank you!! Words cannot express my gratitude. I am feeling much better, not 100% yet, but things are manageable now, and I don't have anxiety attacks anymore when I have to go to the bathroom (I have to thank everyone who was there for me, when I called in a state of panic, LOL).

And to all of those who are suffering there are brighter days ahead, I know at times it seems extremely unbearable (by a few women also dealing with fissures I have heard that it is 10 times worse than labor. I had an epidural so I cannot attest to that... but it was much worse than any pain I have ever experienced in my lifetime!) And it may seem like you are going to be in pain for the rest of your life... But things will get better!
Thanks,
Rebecca