LIS or Botox Surgery?
I have been suffering with chronic anal fissure for about 3-4 years. My story reads like many: a nasty bout of constipation is the likely start; was misdiagnosed by GP for hemorrhoids. I cant even remember all the prescriptions we tried over time, but i do remember they never worked. Finally the pain was so bad I went to a gastroenterologist and he diagnosed a fissure. He gave me diltiazem and 8 weeks later i was fine. For 10 months i thought it was a thing of the past. I was grateful everyday that the pain was gone. Then, out of nowhere, it came back with a vengeance. Eight more weeks of diltiazem and i was in the clear again, but it lasted only a month. So now this thing has completely dominated my life for the last 6 months. Over this period i managed to function by willing my BMs from their normal AM time to PM. (not easy) For me, just walking after the BM brought on intense debilitating spasms, making daily function impossible. So, by having the BM at night, i could soak in the tub, then go to bed, not aggravating it. This was really an amazing breakthrough for me and allowed me to have a semi-normal life. (I hope someone else may benefit
from this seemingly simple adjustment.) All this time i was on diltiazem and analpram, waiting for it to work again. But after so many weeks it became apparent that it wasnt going to work. I was switched to Nifedipine and for the first 4 days it appeared to be working. Then it was all down hill. Its hard to believe the pain could get worse, but it did. WOW! Now i have such intense spasms that i am up all night. I was given lidocaine for the pain, but it does nothing, in fact it seems to aggravate the situation. My MD said he didnt want to give me narcotic painkillers because they would constipate me. So, i have found in my years of dealing with this pain that only two things have brought me quick relief. The first, of course, is the sitz bath. Even this doesnt always help me. The second i have never seen anyone talk about. I am (or was-not these days!) a yoga practioner and i found that shoulderstand drains the blood out of the lower regions and reduces the overall blood pressure in the area. So, when i am having a wave of spasms i lay down and get my legs up on the wall, the more inverted the better, and the majority of the time, i feel the pressure and the edge of the pain drain away. (Hope this helps someone else too!) I hold it for several minutes, as long as i can and then carry on. This has been my #1 source of relief, as silly as it seems, it really works. But, not all the time. Not recently. I am now so miserable i am forced to consider that which i never wanted to do: surgery. I havent slept in days, cant work, cant do much of anything- i am at my wits end and i need a solution.
So, i finally get to my point: what would you, fellow sufferers do in my position? Botox? LIS?
A:
These remedies are merely band-aids on something that will not go away. Unless you have a medical condition that will not allow you to have the surgery – go for it. You won’t be sorry. The horror stories that you will here – don’t believe it. Find a good CRS and have the surgery. I suffered for years and was scared to death to have the surgery and when the pain and bleeding became too much, I cried “uncle” and had the surgery (three years ago), and I have not had one problem since.
I have had two botox shots in the past year and they seem to have helped. I thought after the first botox all was healed (still using baths and nifedipine) but then developed an odd mass that also made the fissure retear so i did another botox with removal of the mass. Still healing from that using same diet and bath regiment.
Seems to be coming along but one thing i’ve learned over the years – healing is an extremely slow process – give yourself years before you can say you are in the clear and in all likelihood – i’ll have to be vigilant about diet the rest
of my life -but the fissure can be healed or at least reduced to nothing more than an occasional nuisance.
