Struggling with an Anal Fissure: Hospital Visits and Pain Management

Well, as you all know, I had an anal fissure. After 2 weeks of agony at home with it due to recently having a pouch reversal and passing stools up to 20 times a day, I could not handle it any longer and decided to go to the doctors and get referred back up to the hospital. I was seen by the surgeon who performed my initial ileostomy and reversal, and to inspect the fissure, I had to be put to sleep for 30 minutes as inspecting it under normal circumstances was far too painful. Upon finally looking at it, he noticed how severe it was and put a rectal drain in for me. Passing stools was so painful that at times I would be reduced to tears on the toilet in agony. The rectal drain stayed in place for 2 days before it blocked and had to come out, but it had given me 2 days of much-reduced pain, so I was thankful for that. All in all, I had to spend another 2 weeks in the hospital with the anal fissure. I tried a cocktail of painkillers, but in the end, only subcutaneous doses of morphine were enough to help subdue the pain, and I had to stay in as I was not allowed home on morphine. My surgeon told me that as the fissure was so severe, he would not like to operate and stitch it as it was possible that it could cause muscle damage and make me incontinent. This would, therefore, lead to me needing a stoma again, and I wasn't prepared to take that risk. I have now had the fissure for a total of 4 weeks, and it is just getting to the stage where it is comfortable enough to go to the toilet. I am finally at the stage where I can eat a little, and the past 3 days are the only time I have managed to get a decent night's sleep since my reversal on the 29th of March. I've been told it is still likely to be another 6 weeks before it's fully healed, but I'm just glad that I'm finally seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Glad things are getting better. I had a fissure before my colostomy, so I know the pain you endured.

It's not pleasant at all, never knew such a small cut could cause so much pain. It was even worse getting it just after having a reversal and going to the toilet 15-20 times a day =( Just glad I'm only going 4-5 times a day now and the pain is much more manageable =)

I tend to get concerned when I see an anal fissure. In my case, the fissure turned out to be a tumor and I believe, had it been caught and properly treated sooner, I may have had a different outcome. So I always say, get a second opinion on a fissure. But again, I'm glad things are improving.

Initially, I was only supposed to be asleep for 20 minutes while they inspected the damage, but in total, I ended up being under for almost an hour. They also did a scope to ensure everything was still fine with my pouch, and it was. In the end, the verdict was that I had a "Severe Eroding Posterior Anal Fissure," and everything else was normal and fine.

Any special diet or anything to make these next few weeks easier?

Aiming for a 5 on the Bristol Scale so a relatively normal diet but with plenty of fiber to get things formed

Don't know why, but Frost Mini Wheats works in that area, at least for me it did. You seem to have things under control.

How are things going?

Very up and down at the minute. Pain is really depending on how formed the stool is when going to the toilet. It is healing so slowly that it is hard to ever notice any real difference. Good news is that I finally feel comfortable enough to venture out a little though, so I guess things are getting slightly better.

Good luck, man.