Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | I had a really bad one...

... a couple of years ago, so I DEFINITELY feel your pain! It was just awful, I remember lying on the couch all curled up and crying from the pain.
I got mine from being so IBS-D for ages, then was suddenly C.. I think that's what caused it anyway. I saw a couple of doctors in England, and was given topical creams for it but didn't have a whole lot of success with it.
When I came back home (to Canada), my GP sent me to a surgeon. He said that as it was a "chronic fissure" (At this time, I had probably had the thing for close to a year) that I would have to do something about it. He said that I could either have surgery (I can't remember the name of the surgery) where they basically cut a little bit of the muscle of the sphincter (sp) so that the fissure can heal and not be pulled apart every time you have a BM. The thought of this was too much for me at the time, so I went for the other option which was to have Botox injected into there, have it cease up the muscle for about 3 months to allow the fissure to heal.

So that's what I did and although getting the needles weren't pleasant, it was pretty quick and it did help a lot. The fissure took a while to heal completely, but eventually it did.. Sometimes I still get a little bit of pain there (very, very rarely) like when I had my colonoscopy prep or go from very D for a long time, to C.. or something, but NEVER as bad as it was.

I would say doing little things like using baby wipes, which are more soothing and using a hemmorhoid cream might help with the discomfort. Warm baths with epsom salts are good too.

I would ask your doctor about what your treatment options are, and see what he/she suggests.
I know my sister got one after she gave birth and she (who has no bowel problems, mind you) took a lot of fiber to make her poops really soft until the fissure healed itself. That's probably not an option for you, but maybe just seeing if there is anything you can adjust in your diet to make things a bit "smoother".

Good luck, hope this helps a bit!
--Steph

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~~I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell-I know right now you can't tell~~Matchbox 20
IBS-D,pain.

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