Anal fissure for a year won't heal

[lisak789]

I am getting so worried I have had a "fissure" for a year. It had its flare ups where I will bleed when I go to the bathroom and be painful to not being painful at all. The problem is is it won't heal I have looked at it and it looks like an open cut all the time. Even when it feels better it still always looks open. I am scared its cancer. The symptoms are similar and like I said its been a year and will not heal or close up. I have been to the doctor and they say its just a fissure but I'm not so sure. I'm 35 and scared to death.

[vindrea]

I have one too, remember every time you go to the toilet it will open up again so its a difficult one to heal x

[Annie0904]

I had one for a couple of years. Unfortunately they are not easy to get rid of and surgery isn't recommended. I got some gel from my doctor which is like a gt spray used for angina. It gave me terrible headaches though so I didn't use it. A natural remedy is wheatgerm oil.

[spacebunnyx]

Hiya,

I've had this and it scared me so much! sometimes it comes back but its generally when I've had a poor diet, got dehydrated and generally not looked after myself... I'm also naturally a bit on the constipated side which doesn't help!! :blush:

Hope you feel better soon.

x

[andrea15]

I had one younger than you. Go back to drs and ask for it to be healed surgically. Its a day procedure. Not pleasant but it cured mine. Take care

Andrea x

[FinallyHope]

Hi everyone, this may sound strange at first but please try heat packs to stop the pain. I'm a 34 year old male who was suffering from 2 fissures for about 10 months. I got them from a botched banding procedure. The best thing you can use to stop the pain, in addition to diet change, is Heat packs. Really, heat packs. I was in so much endless pain from the fissures until I found relief by using heat packs. Take a heat pack, one of those ones filled with silicon beads that you heat in the microwave for a few minutes that then stay warm for about 40 minutes or so. You can find them at most pharmacies.
Gently press the heat pack directly up against your anus and keep it there, the heat forces the muscle to relax and stops the spasms, which stops the pain caused by the fissure. You can use a hot water bottle too as long as you can mold it to place up against your anus. Seriously. This saved me from so much endless fissure pain, it's like a concentrated hot bath focused directly where you need it, but without the inconvenience of running a bath and being stuck in a bath just to get relief. (I know baths are nice and all but not really always practical or accessible)


Best position is to lie on your back in bed, put your knees up like you’re going to do a sit up and then place the heat pack between your legs right up against your bum hole. Sorry for the graphic image but I can't really think of another way to describe it. Just be careful not to burn yourself, you want the heat pack/heat bag or hot water bottle to be hot but not so hot you burn your skin. It helps to wrap it in a pillow case that's soft and then if your heat pack is too hot, wrap it in more layers of the pillow case, which will protect you a bit more if it's too hot at first.


Before the heat packs I was taking dangerous amounts of pain meds to deal with the fissure pain which for me was all the time, including during the nights which were really hard... until I discovered the heat pack. Which thank God I did because they really work. Please try them, I understand this might seem silly and I haven't read it anywhere else but I know the suffering from fissures and this will help keep the pain at bay. Seriously, heat packs, heat bags or a hot water bottle pressed lightly up against your anus and held there, keep it held there and it will work. I sometimes keep it there for 15 minutes or more and then I take it off. Then when the pain starts up again I'll put it back and the muscle relaxes and the pain go's.


Try it. I had tried everything from which hazel oil in my bum to manuka honey in my bum (my wife called me sweet cheeks because of the honey), but the best thing to stop the pain has been the heat packs. Heat relaxes the muscle, stopping the spasm and the pain.


Ultimately though you want to find a solution to heal the fissure once and for all so I suggest the surgery. I've had Botox and that did not work, in fact I was in a lot of pain afterwards, then I got the fissurectomy/sphincterectomy combo surgery and I am finally free from it all. I know it sounds nuts to get a surgical cut to fix a fissure but it’s the sure way to fix it. Conservative methods like Botox and Rectogesic Ointment did not work for me, in the end only surgery worked. I wish I had done the surgery first cause I went through months of pain and hopelessness that I could have avoided had I just done the surgery first.


Though very important, make sure you research and choose a reputable specialist to perform the surgery. Don’t just go with anyone, find and choose the best that you can cause for me it was the 3rd specialist that ended up fixing me with the fissurectomy/sphincterectomy. The first specialist caused the problem, the second specialist didn’t help and made my pain seem trivial until finally I researched and found the best in my area and he, the 3rd guy fixed me. So it’s worth it, pay a little more, travel a little farther if you have to but see the best that you can or at the very least someone with a lot of experience with exactly that surgery. If you’re in Sydney Australia then the Prince of Whales private hospitals “Sydney Colorectal Associates” really have a great team; Dr. Newstead fixed me and I am so thankful for him but he’s part of a group of several specialists there that all seem good.


Until then though heat pads, use heat pads to relieve the pain.


I’ve come on here to give people this info to help but sorry I don’t think I’ll come back to follow up cause honestly I just want to move on with things, so please take the advice above and save yourself pain and anguish.


Diet, Heat pads then surgery.

[pb]

I had one for about a year, it did eventually heal.
Eventually got some cream from the hospital that helped it heal.
Cannot remember the name of it , but know gps are not allow to prescribe it.

[SarahH]

Anoheal....I keep some in the fridge all the time. I had Botox and Fissurectomy years ago and it worked a treat for one large fissure that would not heal. Since then I have branflakes everyday and it keeps the fissures (mainly) at bay. Surgery is the only cure for a very large fissure if it has not healed after a few months.

Sarah

[Murdo]

When I get constipated or have to do a really large or hard poo (excuse the crudeness), I feel this pain about an inch or so inside my anal passage on the left hand side (like as if the poo has torn my skin/re-opened a tear) and after the poo when I wipe my backside, there is fresh blood and some blood in the toilet. It is a very embarrassing thing, that happens infrequently, so I haven't been to see the doctor about it. Does this sound like it could be an anal fissure, as it is something that worries me?