Preop Diagnosis: Anal Fissure Anal Stenosis

Hey kitkat..

I can't imagine what you may be going through and don't really have any good words of advice..

The only thing I can say is that I hope you can get that taken care of so that pain can be alleviated!!

Sorry girl... hope you feel better!!!

Oh sweetie, I am so, so sorry.   I just went through two weeks of arsehole hell and CANNOT imagine dealing with it for as long as you have. I don't think I've experienced anything that painful for as long at a time as that was. Seriously thought I was going to run screaming a few times. Fortunately, it's way better via a round of Clindamycin (which I'm halfway through).

If you haven't tried Diana Cox's remedy (which I'm sure you know about as long as you've been dealing with this), please do try it prior to having the surgery. It's here: www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/3693225/Anal-Fissures-Medical- Non-Surgical-Treatment-Regimen/

/mother hen
*big giant hugs*

Kathy, hunny, that sounds horrific...  I'm so sorry you got my crap added to your over-flowing plate. 

I have no advice just wanted to say that sucks!! When it rains, it freaking pours sometimes. I hope you feel better FAST and hope the stress with your family gets reduced soon!

Kathy, I have no advice but big hugs to you! I am so sorry that you are having such pain.

Sheesh Kathy, that really sucks; I'm so sorry you have to go through this. That being said; git er done so you can get on with your life. You're going to enjoy life a lot more when you don't have this PIA to worry about and deal with.

Best wishes for a smooth fix and easy recovery.

Kerry

Thank-you, Kerry  :)

As you probably read, I had a sphincterotomy in 1995, after suffering from a mis-diagnosed anal fissure for three years.  I had 'rhoidectomies, trigger point injections, even physical therapy (don't ask -- it was probably only a little more horrible for me than the PT).

The recovery from surgery was HORRIBLE for several days -- make SURE you have adequate pain management -- by which I mean something like demerol.  But by a week out, the PITA was GONE.  It was worth it -- but I cannot overemphasize that you MUST insist on adequate pain management for the first several days.  I still can't believe it was an outpatient procedure, and that I was home alone afterwards.

Diana,
I don't know what scares me more; waking up tomorrow morning to endure the bowel movement that is sure to make me cry or the surgery. 

I'm scared for it.  I was hoping that the guy would not say that diagnosis to me.  It took him 2 seconds to look at it, and he said those two words.  I burst into tears right there humped over the table with my ass in the air.  I was humiliated.  I am a control freak.  And, I DO NOT LIKE to be vulnerable at all.  

I worry for the 8% that have fecal incontinence after the sphincterotomy.  :(

I know you have been through it and a great advocate for those suffering with it.

I do not have constipation.  And, I do not strain.  I have varying degrees of stool depending on my diet.  But mostly soft formed, when eating LOW carb. 

I don't understand it.
:(
Kathy

First of all, anal fissures are not that uncommon -- but TALKING about them, like we do here, IS.

I'm not sure why we DSers seem to be more likely to get them.  Our stools are usually soft and easy to pass, but they are big, volume-wise.  Perhaps we are more likely to "clench" our sphincters to hold in gas, which might irritate or hyperstimulate the sphincter?  I don't know -- I got my fissure waaaay before my DS, and I was not constipated either or even suffering from IBS.

I did get a second fissure in 2006, which was nearly 3 years after my DS, and I don't know what caused that either -- but I caught it early (one does not easily forget the "****ting broken glass" symptom) and the medical treatment worked.

Another possibility that comes to mind is that our poops may be more acidic than normies, what with the bile acids not having time to be completely bound to the dietary fat and reabsorbed by the gut (and which is one of the reasons our cholesterol levels go down), and the acid burns the delicate mucous membranes, causing an ulcer/fissure to cut through the mucosa into the muscle layer.

In any case, as I understand it, the sphincterotomy is "simply" slicing the sphincter muscle to stop the spasms and to allow the fissure to heal (and probably cleaning up the frayed edges of the fissure to help it close).  Not fun, but effective.