Patient 29

Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 10:00:22 -0500
To: jackfaf6.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: anal fissure

Dear Jack,

I have found your pages useful, as have so many others . I haven't found any accounts of the Botox (Botulinum Toxin) treatment so I thought I would share my experience with others. I have suffered with a fissure for about nine months. Every remedy was tried on your pages to avoid having the surgical procedure. My hot water heater has been running overtime from so many baths. I might add that I am a forty year old male professional that spends most of his time on the telephone in an office. My heating pad was the only thing that got me through workday. For some reason heat would mitigate my pain as the days wore on.

I spent months in pain and decided I was going to find a doctor who would give me the Botox treatment. It became quite a quest. It would have been easy if I lived in a major metropolitan area however my situation was quite different . Everyone I talked to told me it was experimental and the only treatment was surgery. It only gave me additional resolve to find a physician using that treatment. I have many friends who are physicians and I decided someone would know . Finally, an opthomologist friend told me he would call his old collegues at Johns Hopkins. It eventually led me to UVA were I found a very good gastro enterologist who was using the procedure with success.

I had to have two treatments and have found to this point that they have been successful. The only reason I had two treatments was because I fell back into some old habits and had too much fun at a new years eve party. I might add that alcohol is a major no no when you have a fissure and I knew it. I promised myself that I wasn't going to fall in that trap again. Now some comments about the procedure, It was quite painful as many of you know there are many nerve endings in your rectal region. The doctor used an anuscope to light the region and properly place the injections. A numbing medicine was used but it didn't help all that much. After the procedure you start feeling almost instant relief ,the spasms that plague so many of us start to recede and your life is givenback to you. It still is important to keep taking stool softeners and to drink lots of water. I would also say that Kondremul is a great way to assist in the process. The only side effects that I had was uncontrolable gas for about a week after the treatment. You stop taking the elevator in your office building during this process and your secretary gets a fair number of laughs. My doctor warned about this and told me it would be only temporary, and it was.

I would do again in a second. Another comment about Botox is it is very expensive and it really helped that it was covered by my insurance carrier. Good luck to everyone.

Another Botox story from a different patient.
Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 20:34:39 EDT

Have been reading many stories on your web site but have not found to many on Botox injections. I ended up with an anal fissure 4 months ago. I don't know how I got it but knew that all of a sudden I was in alot of pain. After trying suppositories for six weeks with no success I went to a Colon and Rectal Surgeon who suggested Botox injections. He suggested trying the Nitroglycerin Ointment as well but went ahead and scheduled the injections for two weeks later. I tried the ointment but felt no better so went ahead with the Botox. I actually went into the hospital and was put out with a mild sedatives. The doctor injected me with four injections of Botox. I went home about an hour later. I was in minimal pain for the rest of the day. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as healing. What I found out was it wasn't an ovenight thing. It has taken 10 weeks of healing but I went to see my surgeon yesterday and my fissure is 100 percent healed. I am still dealing with a few muscle spasms but other than that I feel great. So I wanted to let you know that this was one success story with the Botox injections. My doctor said he gets about a 50 percent healing rate with the Botox. It was definitely worth it. This pain has been one of the worst I have experienced. I hope others will try the Botox and have the same success. Good luck to everyone.

Also see Patient 36's account and the Botulinum Toxin treatment part of the medical pages.