Fissure after Hemorrhoidectomy

NoSleepSeattle · 03-24-2007, 02:26 PM

My doctor gave me some cream called Analpram HC however it didn't seem to work. I used it 4 weeks. Instead of working it seems to have made the skin down there really, really, red. Anyone else out there had a reaction to an HC cream? I'm now in my sixth month and trying to recover from all of this. The doctor says a musclespasam is keeping the fissure from healing. He didn't mention anything about any other way to aviod a surgery. He's pushing me to have a lateral sphinterectomy. He has said that it doesn't hurt like the first surgery. He said it would take about 2 months to recover from it. I'm really scared I definitely don't want another surgery. I'm praying for God's great mercy to heal me so I don't have to have another surgery. Anyone else in this situation?

ericollin · 03-25-2007, 04:53 PM

Yes, I have the same exact problem that you do. I had a hemorrhoidectomy that led me to having a fissure which is more painful than my hemorrhoids.

PLEASE stop using the hydrocortisone!!! I have only heard that it causes thinning of the tissue down there which is NOT what you want.

Any doctor that wants to do surgery right away for a fissure should not be trusted. What type of doctor are you seeing for your fissure? You need to see a colorectal doctor. You need to get one of the following prescription creams for fissures: nitroglycerin cream 0.2%, nifedipine, or dialitezem (sp). These medicines help to relax the muscle that is in spasm. I am presently using the nitro and have finally seen some improvement in my pain and healing. If the creams don't work for me then my second line of defense is doing to be a Botox injection down there. It is supposed to relax the muscle in spasm also.

I do NOT want the sphincerotomy (LIS) surgery either. That surgery has a very small chance of leaving you fecally incontinent. I know the risks of this are small but I have been in contact with someone from this board who was left incontinent from the surgery 9 years ago. Please change doctors if you must to get one of the three prescriptions that I mention above.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I have had my fissure since November and am on my third doctor as most docs just don't understand the pain and severity of a fissure and what medicines to use for them. I point blank asked my second colorectal doctor for those topical meds listed above he wouldn't prescribe them for me so I moved on to my present colorectal doctor who has had a lot of success using them with his patients.

Please be your own advocate. Stop the Analpram HC and call for those other medicines. What I have found about fissures is the longer you have one the longer it takes to heal one. I kick myself for not leaving my second doctor quicker as I may be farther along with my healing by this point.

Healing prayers to both of us,

ericollin

shygrl2 · 03-25-2007, 11:13 PM

Hello, I have posted on this once or twice before and i hate to see you guys suffer with your fissures. Believe me! I let myself suffer for over two years. I was so affraid to have the LIS surgery for the fissures. I was so affraid of incontinence.

But let me tell you, I just could not take the pain anymore and I tried everything from Nitro to other creams and nothing helped. My surgeon could not even believe how I was suffering.

I had to do it, And let me tell you....I felt better the very next day!!
I can't believe i let myself suffer that long....the surgery was nothing!
I don't have any incontinence what so ever. I have my life back!

Your body will tell you when your ready, It took me two years and the pain was worse than the incontinence fear i had. I should have nerver waited that long because my fissures were so deep...I could have caused myself more harm.

Please be sure to have a colonrectal surgeon do the surgery. I don't think
you will have a problem with incontinence. My surgeon told me that he always cuts the muscle a little less than cutting more and he assured me that if I had incontinence he could repair the muscle too.

I hope this gives you guys some hope....Feel free to ask me questions.

ericollin · 03-25-2007, 11:58 PM

I have been on this board for awhile. On another thread here I ran into a man that had a LIS surgery performed by the same colorectal surgeon that I was seeing this past Nov-Jan. This man had his LIS surgery in 1998 and has been incontinent ever since!!! This man has also had a sphincterplasty done by another colorectal surgeon to try and fix this incontinence and it didn't fix it. This has scared the living-daylights out of me. I am NO longer seeing that surgeon but the chance of it is always there if you have that surgery performed.

However, I cannot have any more rectal surgery. The hemorrhoidectomy and aftermath of it is the worst thing I have EVER experienced. I don't wish it on anyone but the surgeon who performed my hemorrhoidectomy. He told me that I would be all better in two weeks. It has been 6 months and I am still in pain on a daily basis. The creams can help heal a lot of fissures so NoSleepSeattle needs to know that those should be tried as a first round method. Surgery should not be tried until all other methods fail. That is my 2 cents.

2good2bthru · 03-26-2007, 12:28 AM

I had a hemmoroidectomy in early July, followed by the hell of convincing my surgeon that I had developed an abcess. I went to an emergencency room in another town and they did a cat scan and found out it was already 4.5 cms large. When the surgeon came in though, he found out that it was one of his buddies that had operated on me and insisted that I go back and let him correct the "mistake." I was in so much pain and when we contacted the surgeon again, the ER surgeon had talked to him so he had me admitted to the hospital. He told me I didn't have an abcess and let that thing grow to over 7 cm while trying antibotics! I finally told him I couldn't take the pain anymore so he did a cat scan and did surgery the next day. He missed finding the fistula though, so the pain returned and as my husband was doing wound care he found the fistula. The surgeon said he never would have found it. He did the 3rd surgery and cut me open like a fileted fish. My husband, who used to work on ambulance runs, got sick when he saw it saying oh my God, what has he done to you?! This was in early August and I am still having to take showers after every bowel movement because the hole never closed. The surgeon wants to go in and do a 4th surgery, but we have found someone to take over thank God. I hope to be normal again soon!My bowel movements shoot straight throug me now and I hate to eat anything.