kennyboy
12-03-2008, 07:28 PM
There seem to be a number of oils and emulsions for sale over internet that claim to cure anal fissures and all of them seem very expensive. Being cautious by nature I'm reluctant to send money for something that somebody has dreamt up just to gain a fast buck rather than a genuine cure (as they claim). Has anybody found anything that works for them or are they all exaggerated claims to make you dig deep into your pockets? Are they just cashing in on the fear factor because they know there is a genuine anxiety about surgery for this ailment?
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kennyboy
12-06-2008, 05:53 PM
Right ho. I take it that is a 'no' from everybody who has bothered to read my question then? I have decided to take the bull by the horns and have ordered some oil from an American company that claims to help cure anal fissures so I'll let you all know if it has any benefits or not because if you have an anal fissure then you are probably desperate to try and avoid surgery as I am. I have been put on a waiting list for a LIS operation whereby a surgeon will cut my anal sphincter to reduce its elasticity and allow blood to get to the fissure to heal it. I don't want it and am racking my brains to think of a way to heal it myself. I'm going to try a few things and I'll keep a daily diary to let you now how I get on. If I manage the almost impossible then it might be of some interest to other sufferers.
There is a bloke on the internet claiming to be able to cure split fissures with just the stuff in your larder. Trouble is he wants a fortune for you to buy his book, but thinking about it there must only be a few things that you could do with ingredients from your larder.
The obvious things would be to eat all the things we have been told many times on these boards that help to soften the stools, fibre, fruit, cereals, and plenty of water. Trouble is it doesn't seem to cure the split in your sphinctre just makes it a bit more bearable when you have to have a crap. I've tried the change in diet and have managed to soften my stools to some extent but still have the initial pain when the stool makes an exit (every time) and the blood (about one in four craps).
Standing in my larder scratching my head at what else I could try to heal this painful daily experience I started to look at the oils we use for cooking (peanut, sunflower, vegetable) but suddenly realised that olive oil is supposed to be a stool softener and it hasn't been mentioned (to my knowledge) by any other contributor to these boards so I think I'll give it a go and see what happens. Trouble is, not being a Greek or somebody who has grown up with olives continually in their diet who doesn't even have think about the digestibility or the taste or texture of the stuff it's going to be interesting finding acceptable ways to digest the stuff without it becoming an unpleasant daily chore.
Being a male I also have an interest in looking after my prostate gland and have read that a high tomato intake has a VERY significant statistical rating for reducing developing life threatening prostate cancer. Now although I love my tomatoes, especially straight from the greenhouse when they are even more delicious than ripe eating apples, I couldn't bring myself to eat many of those bland watery things you buy from the supermarket when your greenhouse has been exhausted. And a total Italian diet of tomatoes with everything pasta would quickly get me sick of pasta dishes because I like my curries and roast meats etc. so that option is only partly helpful. However there is the option of drinking tomato juice with a meal (any meal) and cooked tomatoes are actually supposed to be better for you than raw ones (can't remember why) so I shall try and mix the olive oil with tomato juice to make it palatable and as my sphincter is in close proximity to my prostate the two can have a quiet conversation without being overheard.
Just tried my first glass and had to mix it well to distribute the oil, about a desert spoon full in about a quarter of a pint. I could just about taste the olive oil but it was not an unpleasant experience so I think I'll keep up with it daily from now on and see if it helps.
When I saw my consultant he said that the fissure is stopped from healing on its own because faeces gets into it as well as it being starved of blood because it is in spasm. I have to think of a way of keeping the wound clean and am looking at a douche which is available on eBay at a reasonable price. Actually there are a number of designs but I absolutely hate inserting anything at all because it's so tender down there so I'll probably get the thinnest I can find. Makes sense.
I think that I'll also but a pipette from the chemist on Monday and try squirting some neat olive oil into the back passage to lubricate the crucial area where the split it. It may not help but anything is better than doing nothing and quietly screaming every time. If all the above doesn't work I can at least face the surgeon knowing that I tried to do something. Rolling over is not an option.
Cheers, Kennyboy.
There is a bloke on the internet claiming to be able to cure split fissures with just the stuff in your larder. Trouble is he wants a fortune for you to buy his book, but thinking about it there must only be a few things that you could do with ingredients from your larder.
The obvious things would be to eat all the things we have been told many times on these boards that help to soften the stools, fibre, fruit, cereals, and plenty of water. Trouble is it doesn't seem to cure the split in your sphinctre just makes it a bit more bearable when you have to have a crap. I've tried the change in diet and have managed to soften my stools to some extent but still have the initial pain when the stool makes an exit (every time) and the blood (about one in four craps).
Standing in my larder scratching my head at what else I could try to heal this painful daily experience I started to look at the oils we use for cooking (peanut, sunflower, vegetable) but suddenly realised that olive oil is supposed to be a stool softener and it hasn't been mentioned (to my knowledge) by any other contributor to these boards so I think I'll give it a go and see what happens. Trouble is, not being a Greek or somebody who has grown up with olives continually in their diet who doesn't even have think about the digestibility or the taste or texture of the stuff it's going to be interesting finding acceptable ways to digest the stuff without it becoming an unpleasant daily chore.
Being a male I also have an interest in looking after my prostate gland and have read that a high tomato intake has a VERY significant statistical rating for reducing developing life threatening prostate cancer. Now although I love my tomatoes, especially straight from the greenhouse when they are even more delicious than ripe eating apples, I couldn't bring myself to eat many of those bland watery things you buy from the supermarket when your greenhouse has been exhausted. And a total Italian diet of tomatoes with everything pasta would quickly get me sick of pasta dishes because I like my curries and roast meats etc. so that option is only partly helpful. However there is the option of drinking tomato juice with a meal (any meal) and cooked tomatoes are actually supposed to be better for you than raw ones (can't remember why) so I shall try and mix the olive oil with tomato juice to make it palatable and as my sphincter is in close proximity to my prostate the two can have a quiet conversation without being overheard.
Just tried my first glass and had to mix it well to distribute the oil, about a desert spoon full in about a quarter of a pint. I could just about taste the olive oil but it was not an unpleasant experience so I think I'll keep up with it daily from now on and see if it helps.
When I saw my consultant he said that the fissure is stopped from healing on its own because faeces gets into it as well as it being starved of blood because it is in spasm. I have to think of a way of keeping the wound clean and am looking at a douche which is available on eBay at a reasonable price. Actually there are a number of designs but I absolutely hate inserting anything at all because it's so tender down there so I'll probably get the thinnest I can find. Makes sense.
I think that I'll also but a pipette from the chemist on Monday and try squirting some neat olive oil into the back passage to lubricate the crucial area where the split it. It may not help but anything is better than doing nothing and quietly screaming every time. If all the above doesn't work I can at least face the surgeon knowing that I tried to do something. Rolling over is not an option.
Cheers, Kennyboy.
Rubydee12
12-07-2008, 12:46 PM
Well, it can't hurt to try the oils etc.. having had LIS on October 30, I am a big fan of it. In the hands of a qualified surgeon who performs the procedure correctly you will find incredible relief. I was free from fissure pain immediately. Free from procedure pain in about a week and free from external skin tag removal discomfort in about 2 weeks. It worked wonders for me...
kennyboy
12-16-2008, 01:19 PM
It’s been over a week now since I started a (hopeful) self cure for the fissure.
The oil arrived in a tiny bottle from the States and when I read the instructions they advised against consuming sugar, dairy products or wheat while using it. Pity they didn’t say that in their advertising information because I wouldn’t have bothered buying it if I’d known. It smells nice however so rather than waste it I decided to dilute it with olive oil (about one quarter by volume) and inject it inside the rectum using a pipette, that way I can still consume the outlawed items. The douche also arrived from that well known on-line auction house so I was all set for the initial treatment.
Consuming the olive oil has become a challenging exercise but not a major problem as I have found that mixing it with other foods is quite an acceptable way to take it. Drizzled onto cereal you hardly notice it and mixed with mashed potatoes etc. it actually enhances the flavours so no major problems there. Three bottles have been consumed in about a week and I’ve tried a cheap brand, medium priced and expensive. The cheap brand tends to leave an after taste when you drink it neat so best to use that for cooking, but cooked olive oil is not as good for you however.
Read on these boards that somebody was taking a couple of desert spoons of mineral oil every night. If that is liquid paraffin then I’ve been advised not to take it as it can cause unwanted side effects and is sold mainly for use with animals. However my daughter has given me a supply of liquid stool softener which has an oily base (Lactulose) so I’ve decided to use that a couple of times a day as well as the olive oil.
The use of the douche took some getting used to but practise makes perfect and it’s not a major problem to clean out the bowel with it after defecating and before I insert the oil mixture with the pipette. It takes a bit of organising to do everything in the correct order and at first it took about 15 minutes messing about, but it now takes me about seven minutes to do everything without rushing.
Has it been worth it?
I am over the moon to be able to report that I have not had a firm stool to tear the fissure for over a week and have had no pain when defecating. The itching has subsided even after a curry. The relief has been a god send because the pain was getting to screaming levels before I saw the surgeon. If I can continue to keep myself free from that dreaded blood on the toilet paper and that excruciating pain then I can only assume that the fissure is being given a chance to heal. A few weeks ago I could not have even considered inserting a plastic douche nozzle as I was that sore. The sphincter muscle was in spasm and it felt very tight and raw down there but the soft stools brought about by the olive oil has allowed the sphinter to relax I think so that inserting the douche nozzle is not painful at all at the moment. However I am only too aware that one swallow does not a summer make and I will need to keep self-disciplined. It only takes one hard stool to send me back to jail.
I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers, kennyboy.
The oil arrived in a tiny bottle from the States and when I read the instructions they advised against consuming sugar, dairy products or wheat while using it. Pity they didn’t say that in their advertising information because I wouldn’t have bothered buying it if I’d known. It smells nice however so rather than waste it I decided to dilute it with olive oil (about one quarter by volume) and inject it inside the rectum using a pipette, that way I can still consume the outlawed items. The douche also arrived from that well known on-line auction house so I was all set for the initial treatment.
Consuming the olive oil has become a challenging exercise but not a major problem as I have found that mixing it with other foods is quite an acceptable way to take it. Drizzled onto cereal you hardly notice it and mixed with mashed potatoes etc. it actually enhances the flavours so no major problems there. Three bottles have been consumed in about a week and I’ve tried a cheap brand, medium priced and expensive. The cheap brand tends to leave an after taste when you drink it neat so best to use that for cooking, but cooked olive oil is not as good for you however.
Read on these boards that somebody was taking a couple of desert spoons of mineral oil every night. If that is liquid paraffin then I’ve been advised not to take it as it can cause unwanted side effects and is sold mainly for use with animals. However my daughter has given me a supply of liquid stool softener which has an oily base (Lactulose) so I’ve decided to use that a couple of times a day as well as the olive oil.
The use of the douche took some getting used to but practise makes perfect and it’s not a major problem to clean out the bowel with it after defecating and before I insert the oil mixture with the pipette. It takes a bit of organising to do everything in the correct order and at first it took about 15 minutes messing about, but it now takes me about seven minutes to do everything without rushing.
Has it been worth it?
I am over the moon to be able to report that I have not had a firm stool to tear the fissure for over a week and have had no pain when defecating. The itching has subsided even after a curry. The relief has been a god send because the pain was getting to screaming levels before I saw the surgeon. If I can continue to keep myself free from that dreaded blood on the toilet paper and that excruciating pain then I can only assume that the fissure is being given a chance to heal. A few weeks ago I could not have even considered inserting a plastic douche nozzle as I was that sore. The sphincter muscle was in spasm and it felt very tight and raw down there but the soft stools brought about by the olive oil has allowed the sphinter to relax I think so that inserting the douche nozzle is not painful at all at the moment. However I am only too aware that one swallow does not a summer make and I will need to keep self-disciplined. It only takes one hard stool to send me back to jail.
I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers, kennyboy.
kennyboy
12-27-2008, 10:08 AM
Another week on.
After a strenuous few days in the garden got a bit of ring itchiness which I put down to some internal hemorrhoids but not the fissure. I always get itchiness after heavy lifting but the olive oil has shortened the time of the sensation and it went off after a few days so it can't be anything major. Got a bit worried over Christmas because with eating at other people's houses and eating out in restaurants I couldn't take the olive oil as a regular intake with food (well you can’t really swig olive oil at friend's houses can you, they might think you are making an adverse comment about their cooking) but dosing up whenever I could has kept the stools soft and manageable. There was one hard(ish) stool that I was a bit worried about but it didn't tear the fissure just felt a bit tender afterwards. What is encouraging is that the skin tag has gone so I assume the fissure has healed and any soreness is the sort of thing you get when any wound in repairing itself.
Got a book for Christmas about the benefits of olive oil as a health food and was mightily impressed....don't know how I've managed to ignore such a wonder food for all these years. The people who live on the Greek island of Crete are reported to be the healthiest people in Europe and their average annual intake of olive oil is 31 litres per person. Wow!
If this progress with the fissure is maintained I will be able to tell the hospital that I don’t need the LIS surgery when they call me in for the operation but I’m not counting all my chickens just yet. I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers everybody, wishing you all a pain-free New Year. ;)
After a strenuous few days in the garden got a bit of ring itchiness which I put down to some internal hemorrhoids but not the fissure. I always get itchiness after heavy lifting but the olive oil has shortened the time of the sensation and it went off after a few days so it can't be anything major. Got a bit worried over Christmas because with eating at other people's houses and eating out in restaurants I couldn't take the olive oil as a regular intake with food (well you can’t really swig olive oil at friend's houses can you, they might think you are making an adverse comment about their cooking) but dosing up whenever I could has kept the stools soft and manageable. There was one hard(ish) stool that I was a bit worried about but it didn't tear the fissure just felt a bit tender afterwards. What is encouraging is that the skin tag has gone so I assume the fissure has healed and any soreness is the sort of thing you get when any wound in repairing itself.
Got a book for Christmas about the benefits of olive oil as a health food and was mightily impressed....don't know how I've managed to ignore such a wonder food for all these years. The people who live on the Greek island of Crete are reported to be the healthiest people in Europe and their average annual intake of olive oil is 31 litres per person. Wow!
If this progress with the fissure is maintained I will be able to tell the hospital that I don’t need the LIS surgery when they call me in for the operation but I’m not counting all my chickens just yet. I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers everybody, wishing you all a pain-free New Year. ;)
slamina1
09-23-2009, 03:48 AM
Hi, just joined this board and read your thread. I have fissure and skin tag and wondered how you continued on with the olive oil? It's quite some time since you last updated this thread so hope you're still checking this board.
I'm thinking of trying the olive oil and as it's now about 9 months since you posted I'm hoping you have a good long term result to report back :)
I'm thinking of trying the olive oil and as it's now about 9 months since you posted I'm hoping you have a good long term result to report back :)
kennyboy
09-24-2009, 07:03 PM
Hi, just joined this board and read your thread. I have fissure and skin tag and wondered how you continued on with the olive oil? It's quite some time since you last updated this thread so hope you're still checking this board.
I'm thinking of trying the olive oil and as it's now about 9 months since you posted I'm hoping you have a good long term result to report back :)
Yes, thank you for your interest. I have taken olive oil daily (about 3 desert spoons twice a day) including oat bran, two sachets of fybogel and plenty of fresh fruit and I have managed to self heal my fissure and maintain regular pain free motions. It can be done with self discipline. Try to avoid the quick fix (so I was told) of the surgeon's knife as it can turn out to be the first step to permanent problems. Good luck.
I'm thinking of trying the olive oil and as it's now about 9 months since you posted I'm hoping you have a good long term result to report back :)
Yes, thank you for your interest. I have taken olive oil daily (about 3 desert spoons twice a day) including oat bran, two sachets of fybogel and plenty of fresh fruit and I have managed to self heal my fissure and maintain regular pain free motions. It can be done with self discipline. Try to avoid the quick fix (so I was told) of the surgeon's knife as it can turn out to be the first step to permanent problems. Good luck.
slamina1
09-26-2009, 06:10 AM
Yes, thank you for your interest. I have taken olive oil daily (about 3 desert spoons twice a day) including oat bran, two sachets of fybogel and plenty of fresh fruit and I have managed to self heal my fissure and maintain regular pain free motions. It can be done with self discipline. Try to avoid the quick fix (so I was told) of the surgeon's knife as it can turn out to be the first step to permanent problems. Good luck.
Thank you for your reply, I eat lots of fruit and veg already and will start trying the olive oil, but I think I'll have to take less than you do to start with and build it up. I'll try 1 desertspoon twice a day for starters and go from there. Thanks for the info, hopefully it will work for me too.
Thank you for your reply, I eat lots of fruit and veg already and will start trying the olive oil, but I think I'll have to take less than you do to start with and build it up. I'll try 1 desertspoon twice a day for starters and go from there. Thanks for the info, hopefully it will work for me too.
kennyboy
09-27-2009, 04:55 PM
Right ho. I've written loads of information on how to try a self heal and if you want the small detail then click on my user name and read on. The exchanges with others will tell you everything you need to know.
In brief the stages are simple.
First you must get your sphincter muscle to relax naturally. The surgeon does it by cutting the muscle which of course is unnatural.
You relax your sphincter muscle by not allowing it to tear again. This you do by making sure you maintain soft stools. Everybody has their own methods and I've written extensively on mine. There is no one medicine or one food that will do it for you. You have to take a variety of things to keep your body guessing. One day I may take prunes with everything else (oil, fiber, water, these are the essentials) and then I may drop out of prunes and take something else for a while and then change to something else in a few days and so on. The body has an unusual knack of adapting to foods and causing it to retain firm stools again which is absolutely a sure way to open up your fissure again and then you're back to square one.
Once you are sure your fissure has healed (and you will know when) you can relax the diet a bit but always be self disciplined with the oil, fiber and water.
Then you may get to the stage I'm at right now...... just a fading memory. Did I really get to near screaming with it? Was it just a very bad dream?
Take care and all the best.
In brief the stages are simple.
First you must get your sphincter muscle to relax naturally. The surgeon does it by cutting the muscle which of course is unnatural.
You relax your sphincter muscle by not allowing it to tear again. This you do by making sure you maintain soft stools. Everybody has their own methods and I've written extensively on mine. There is no one medicine or one food that will do it for you. You have to take a variety of things to keep your body guessing. One day I may take prunes with everything else (oil, fiber, water, these are the essentials) and then I may drop out of prunes and take something else for a while and then change to something else in a few days and so on. The body has an unusual knack of adapting to foods and causing it to retain firm stools again which is absolutely a sure way to open up your fissure again and then you're back to square one.
Once you are sure your fissure has healed (and you will know when) you can relax the diet a bit but always be self disciplined with the oil, fiber and water.
Then you may get to the stage I'm at right now...... just a fading memory. Did I really get to near screaming with it? Was it just a very bad dream?
Take care and all the best.