advise needed, colon rectal problems ......again!!!

Hello everyone!!!I am 6 months out and have dropped 167 pounds already, less than 100 to goal!! That's the great part, but here's the problem, So, I have written a few times on here about my hemorrhoid/fissure problems and I have had great advise,thank u guys!!! Today I really want your opinion on what I need to do at this point. I am still facing crazy problems in the same area.Basically started 60 days after surgery , so been going on four months. I have been to my local ER 6 times just this month with pain. I am taking all of my vitamins and eating fairly healthy. After bowel movements, I go into a very deep few hours of pain. Where I live( not a big city) the dr.s seem to recognize I'm in pain but don't really have a solution. I am on hydrocodone 10-325s and sometimes take 2 at a time just to keep from jumping in front of a bus!!! I have read Diana's fisher info as well as many others on here, just cant seem to get either one of my problems to go away no matter how much medication, ointments, diet, sitz baths etc I try. I did go see a colon rectal surgeon a month or 2 back but he just wanted to do surgery, but then agreed after i told him a I was a DSr that I should let it heal on its own. Today I can honestly say I dont think that will ever happen. For each day I feel better, the next few days it gets worse. This has overtaken my life. I feel I cant even enjoy my weight loss due to so much pain. I read everything you guys post on here and truly only trust u guys on what to do. My surgeon and his office started a couple of months after surgery not to interested in my problems ,so I don't even call them anymore. 

So, here's my question. Who has had real success on here with fissure and hem surgery? Should I trust these colon rectal surgeons when I know they don't understand the DS? What kind of medicine will absorb well for this kind of pain?(hydrocodone not feeling much better than an advil at this point).How is my recovery from those surgeries going to be? I'm very nervous about going backwards again. And, finally, Is surgery a good choice at all since my digestive system has been altered?Has anyone with major problems ever feel like they are"fixed"?

So thank you ahead of time I know this is a sore subject, I'm so jealous of those of you whom don't have to deal with it.I am still grateful for my surgery,I just wish more doctors in other fields knew more about it. I kind of feel like we are alone. At this point I just want to feel normal. Thanks- Mike Andrews

Hi Big Mike

 

First off Congratulation on your weight loss !!!!  That's wonderful

So I am 3 1/2 years out from my DS surgery.. I developed severe pain after having a bm and continuing almost constantly for hours after the bm.  This was about 1 1/2 years post ds.. Dealt with it for some time. I did many hot hot sitz baths.   Went to my primary, who was useless for my issue.  Finally after so much horrendous pain, actually crying in pain, I saw a colon rectal surgeon who first prescribed cream, then suppositories, finally I couldn't take it anymore and I had surgery and all I can say is OMG I wish I had it done at the first sign of pain.. IT helped 100%, I would highly rec the surgery, end the constant suffering, we know how many bm's we can have a day.  I had a fissurectomy and something else (don't remember what it was).   My only issue after surgery is I developed an abscess which I had to have and incision and drainage almost weekly, It never healed and had to have another surgery to fix that, But I have had no problems since.

 

Good Luck and Run don't walk back to the hiney dr..

 

Kathy

WoW Cathy thank you so much! I really needed to hear your story, I am going back this next week. I need to feel better, hopefully they can fix mine as well, thank you

Of course I can't say exactly what's wrong with you, so I'll just say in general terms that if you do have a fissure (which is extremely painful, as you have described) and if you've had it for months and it hasn't healed by now, chances are it will never heal without surgery. There is more than one way to do the surgery and that's something the colo-rectal surgeon should know about, no matter how much or how little he knows about the DS. You can learn all about your options and determine what sounds most appropriate for your individual situation.

If the surgeon really doesn't seem to understand the DS, why not supply him with one or two of the really good articles about it? If you don't have them, send me a pm and I can help with that. I wish more docs knew about the DS too, but you can help yourself here by educating the ones who take care of you. And who knows, you may be helping other patients in the process.

Larra

 

Thank you Larra, great idea, I appreciate the info!!!

I am going though something similar right now. I had a serious issue with sugar alcohols that gave me 6 months of diarrhea. This gave me a fissure. I went to see a proctologist who gave me some medication to help relax the muscle spasms but it did nothing. I finally spoke to my primary doctor who listened to me. The reason my fissure was not healing is because  I am having bile acid diarrhea and the acidic poo was just irritating my fissure and keeping it from healing. It was also causing me extreme horrendous pain and swelling. He prescribed me medications for bile salt diarrhea and my poos are normal now. No acid. This has made a huge change in my life. I still have about two hours of doctoring in the mornings but that is way better than the all day long horrendous pain I had before. I even have some pain free days. My fissure is starting to heal now. Two steps forward and one step back. That is how fissures heal. I wish you luck. 

Increasing my iron and calcium also helped to firm me up. I have completely normal poos now. It is awesome. The smell is pretty normal as well. 

Hi Irish!!! Well this does sound very similar to my problem. I tell people all the time that it does feel very acidic when I have a bowel movement, just got a PPI from dr that I started taking last month but its always a burning feeling  that kills me like acid is eating me up, I am going to speak to my dr about what you have and see if they can determine if thats my problem as well!!!! Thanks for writing!!! I see you are getting skinny!!! Good job- Mike

Did you have your gallbladder out with your surgery? This will cause  bile acidic poo for the first few months to a year. He can treat it with Cholestol or Welchol until it stops. Unfortunately mine became chronic and it will never go away. Maybe he can just treat you temporarily and see how it goes. If he decides to do it then please remember that those drugs keep you from absorbing fat soluble vitamins. You will have to figure out a way to take those vitamins four hours apart or an hour before you take the new medication. 

For over a year I had to sit on frozen vegtables twentyfour hours a day. I would switch out the bags when they would unthaw. It was truly a nightmare. I am a stay at home mom, and I cant imagine what I would have done if I had to go to a regular job, because I would have had to quit. I was diagnoised with a fissure also, but it wasn't the pain that was killing me as much as it was the "FIRE" that I was experianceing. It would even be in my female area down below. I was on vitaladys plan. Well, after about a year I went through some depression about it, and my vitamin taking started to suffer. Not good I know, but it saved me. I realized it was one of the vitamins I was taking that was causeing the problem, not the fissure. I got so sick of sitting on the couch on frozen vegtabes. I felt like a chicken hatching an egg, it was truly horrific. It turned out it was the "FOLIC ACID" I was taking. I want to shout the answer out to the world. If you are taking this, I implore you to back off on it for a week or two and see if you notice a difference. It takes a little bit to get out of your system. I will at some point try and add it back in but maybe once or twice a week instead of a few times a day.....Miracle! to say the very least.....

I think its amazing how many of us suffer with these problems!! I dont take any folic acid but Im gonna make sure I dont add it either. THANKS!- MIke