To: jack1
faf6.arc.nasa.gov
faf6.arc.nasa.gov
Hi there,
I was wondering if you might consider posting the following somewhere on your self help page.
This website is fantastic - an absolute must read for any anal fissure sufferers. Unfortunately after a year of suffering and using hemorrhoid treatments I finally went under the knife and had the involuntary sphincter muscle cut slightly to aid healing. It cured me for almost a year, although throughout that time things were never right, and I came to the conclusion that the problem was more to do with what I was eating rather than anything else. By this I mean that when you are going to the loo 6 or more times a day and suffering extreme pain, sometimes 4 times even before noon, you begin to pay very close attention to why it is you're on the loo. I quickly realised that cows milk was sending me to the toilet within 15 minutes of consumption, although this was diahhrea more than anything, and I couldn't understand why that would be such a big problem since to cure a fissure you're supposed be going more regularly. I still don't know.
Anyway, with regards to food, I took a food intolerance test which came back telling me I shouldn't eat wheat, gluten, cows milk, egg white, egg yolk, yeast, almonds, brazil nuts, sesame seeds, and a few other things for about 7 months before introducing them into my diet again. I did this, and to be honest I did feel different in some ways, but with regards to the fissure I'm not entirely sure how related the two things are, perhaps it was caused by the intolerances and the way it made me have lots of bowel movements per day - I don't know. One thing I can say though is that because of these intolerances I really never ever had constipation the whole time I went through this ordeal. If anything the fissure was caused by frequent toilet visits involving softer than usual bowel movements wanting to leave the body extremely quickly and perhaps somehow gashing me on the way out, rather than through struggling to move a bowel.
Now, two days ago, and nearly a year and two months after the operation, I'm back at square one. This time I can 100% tell you that it was due to one inparticular meal of this very unfortunate day. This was my very very first McDonalds since the operation, and considering I should eat wheat and dairy products etc this was a real treat for me. The next day my arse was torn to oblivion! The first serious blood and pain since the op, and absolutely 100% without a doubt due to the damn Mcdonalds. And I don't think it was the intolerances that caused it - I think it was the salt. The amount of salt in a Mcdonalds meal - considering I had 1 cheeseburger, 6 chicken nuggets and 1 large fries must have accumulated a hefty amount of salt, taking into account that my body isn't used to much salt as I make my own food most of the time because I can't eat out with my intolerances, and I never add salt to my meals. The night of the Mcdonalds I felt the need to drink lots of water before bed and throughout the night - needless to say it didn't help, but I wasn't doing it to aid my bowels, I hadn't even considered it, my body was just asking for lots of water.
So anyway, here I am now with a bag full of goodies from the health food shop after reading this site - Aloe Vera Juice, Bowel Benefit Bars, Colax colon cleanse tablets with aloe vera, Hi-Fibre Sachets and a hot water bottle to sit on. One other thing I bought which I saw when I was in there was some Tea Tree Oil Antiseptic Cream. I've heard of the healing powers of tea tree oil so I'm going to give this a shot directly on the fissure - boy I bet it will sting!
Anyway, I fully intend to update you with how I get on, but it looks highly probably right now that I will end up on the operating table - I'm not sure how many times this operation can be done before they leave your arsehole in a complete mess but we'll soon see.
One thing I would like to know is - I read Patient 51's help page and she mentioned using Nu-Skin which she sprayed on after bowel movements which acted like a bandage. I would be very interested to know where this can be bought from online, specifically in the UK, but if not, somewhere that will ship to the UK.
Thanks for reading and all the best. I'll update soon.
Hi again,
I just thought that I should add the following. I'm a few days away from being 21 years old. When I first developed the fissure I was 19. When I read the statistics on fissures, my age group was the least likely to get one, so it's interesting and perhaps important for me to let it be known younger people can go through this too. It may also be important to note that I believe the number of young sufferers has probably gone up over the last few years with the amount of fast food and diets that constipate us, although like I said above, I don't believe this was how I first ended up with a fissure.
One more thing, I'm not sure if anyone has tried this but I've been wetting a cotton wool bud and pouring table salt on it and applying it after a bowel movement. I don't know how much this helps but it stings and I know salt is supposed to be good for cuts - although it's ironic that it was the amount of salt in the Mcdonalds I ate that gave me this damn fissure the second time around!