Recovery after Sphincterotomy and Hemorrhoidectomy

5 days ago I had HAL haemorrhoidopexy, excision of skin tags and lateral internal spincterotomy.
Each day I feel a little bit better. It's still very tender around the area- especially in build-up to a BM.
Drinking plenty of water, prune juice, take stool softener, anti-inflammatories as prescribed.
My consultant advised I should be able to return to work after 5 days but I certainly am not.
Will require another week off work I think.
I think myself a couple of weeks of pain better than a lifetime of discomfort. So I am still glad I got it done.

To anyone with a chronic fissure...

Have the diamond flap anoplasty done, not a sphincterotomy. The procedure is much less invasive (the don't cut any part of the muscle) and recovery is quick and painless. I had the procedure done two weeks ago and I feel great. Hoping it stays this way as I continue to heal, but I definitely recommend it to people suffering from a chronic anal fissure.

Talk to your surgeon about it and ask about diamond flap anoplasty.

Has anyone had healing time extended past the 6 to 10 weeks for the spincterotomy? My daughter is in her 4th month and the fissure is healed but the cut is not on her buttocks. This is where they cut her.

This site helped me so much in coming to the decision to do this surgery, so I wanted to write my story.

I had a fissure for 4 months -- 4 terrible months of popping multiple pain relievers and planning my days around bowel movements. As a 37-year old mother of 2 young kids working full time, it was so difficult to manage. My colorectal surgeon had me on the nytroglycerin cream for several months with no improvements, and so she offered me a last minute surgery slot for lateral internal sphincterotomy. Given that each bowel movement resulted in hysterical tears followed by 8 hours of shooting, throbbing pain, I decided to go forward with the surgery.

I am now 6 days post op. My Dr. did a closed lateral internal sphincterotomy, and also removed 3 internal skin tags that were at risk of prolapsing. (According to my husband, who admitted he wasn't really listening after the surgery) I didn't feel any pain until 6am the next morning.....it was uncomfortable with some nerve pain, so I opted to take painkillers for 12 hours. Day 2 I was up and moving around, making meals and doing laundry and caring for my children as usual with mild discomfort that was easily managed with Tylenol. Day 3 I started to feel constipated and freaked out about not going #2, so I pumped myself full of Milk of Magnesia, Colace, Sennekot, dried apricots, water.....EVERYHING. I even walked 3 miles on my treadmill to try to get my gut going. Day 4 was the first BM. NO PAIN!!!! Until afterwards, which was burning and terrible and I just couldn't go to work. I was in pretty bad pain for 4 hours afterwards, and questioning everything, but day 5 was glorious and I went back to work.....and day 6, I had another BM and it was relatively pain free and the after hours have been comfortable enough where I didn't need any Tylenol. The swelling is now totally reduced and I would consider my discomfort minimal at worst.

I'm cautiously optimistic that this was the right move for me, and so glad I saw the positive stories mixed in here and decided to go for it. I've had no incontinence to flatus or stool, and my recovery probably would have been even faster had she not taken the tags. (I am assuming they are the reason for pain!) I think my colorectal surgeon is now my hero and am so glad I listened to her.

I am now 2 weeks after my sphincterotomy and can tell something is wrong. I started out after the surgery with very minimal pain and was only takin 2 Tylenol a day for the little bit of pain. I read everything online before the surgery so I was expecting pain during the first bowel movement, but honestly it wasn't even close to as bad as before the surgery. Everything was fine until about day 5 when suddenly I got a severe pain while having a bowel movement. I took it easy the next 2 days and continued sitz baths after my bowel movements and it didn't get worse. Then it got worse. Each day since day 8 the pain has increased to the point of the Tramadol isn't working. I don't know if it is an infection because I did something wrong or a cyst, but honestly it hurts worse now than before the surgery. Reading everyone's posts I can only think that I must have done something wrong the first 4 days for the pain to come on so suddenly. I have a follow-up with the surgeon tomorrow and I am hoping whatever it is does not require additional surgery. My advice to anyone who has or is going to have the surgery is don't rush into it. Ask a lot of questions about what needs to be done post care. I read these posts to learn what to do and am thinking I should have read more.

I'm taking your advice! I have surgery (sphincterotomy and tag removals) in 2 days...I m praying it goes well. Hemorrhoidectomy was months ago and very very difficult. I'm not reading any more of this!! :-)

I know this is an old message but you sounded so much like me.I got my fissure 12-2015 I finally to no avail of hot baths,Creams,No underwear pain meds,Got emotiinally stressed as well as,physical.I had no ins but went tbrough a project access progam so it took longer.He kept saying the fissure is almost healed.One night i woke up from a deep sleep an felt like i was thumping an throbbing inside.I hurt so bad i almost called 911.Dont know what happened.So i had the surgery.I was suppose to be cleaned out but the day i came home i direahed all over the place.Plus i was still numb so i didnt know at first.The doc said on my ck up 'Yeap almost ybody.healed.I said what?It dont feel like it.Well drink 3 liters of h20 sitz bath metmucil.Went back the other day.Im in severe pain,Itching feeling pressure like a something is preesing down..This is ruining my life.I cant enjoy nothing.Im 58'yrs old.Ive had babies,A hysterectomy.So i have a high tolerance to pain but ive never seen anything like this He said the fissure is healed.He said the surgery is healed to only.come back as needed.I promise i know what i feel.Id rather kept the fissure this is worse.Oh he said i was having muscle spasms an gave me valium the The 1st ckeck up.Didnt offer anything the other day 2 months since surgery.Been in pain since dec 2015..Anybody else felt like this.Please an

I had a sphincterotomy on May 12, 2017 in response to chronic anal fissure and large hypertrophied papillae that would extend through anal canal during BM. Per post surgical instructions from MD I am taking 17 grams Miralax daily and also 1 tablespoonful Metamucil twice daily. None of my BMs have been painful but they ache for a little while afterwards. It almost feels like sphincter spasming. I have taken no pain medications the entire time. I don't think it's been painful but I do have a high pain threshold so I'm not sure what a typical person would think. I think I may be getting TOO much fiber because I am having BMs 3 times a day now, albeit they are small. I had planned to go back to work (I stand all day at work) on Day 11 but am not sure if that is the best decision. I will have to make a decision about work in 4 days whether to return yet or not. I will keep you posted.

Hi, I'm having a surgery for anal fissure and internal hem' next month so tell me the first BM post op was hard and painful or just a little compared with prior surgery not using stool softeners or laxatives? I'm literally scared the hell out and kept and still postponing the surgery because of that

This day 7 of my hemorrhoidechtomy. 2 large ones removed one small one banded. The real pain occurs when I pass stools.

Man reading these replies is def scary!
I must say the warm water baths help me a lot.. after I have bm it does burn but then I soak in warmer water not too hot and that usually helps a lot.. I have been able to get through most of the pain with just Tylenol and Motrin.. I'm on day 5 and actually feel fine.. it's a bit awkward to sit and walk at times but I think the soaking it really has helped me a bit..

Did you heal from the problem finally I just had the surgery 5 weeks ago and I'm so nervous it won't heal ?

I'll try and some up my story in a nut shell. I had a hemorrhoidechtomy and sphincterotomy for a fissure tear on September 28, 2017. So I'm almost a month post op. Everything has been going well. For pain I took prescription Tylenol and Advil. I was afraid to take the oxycodone due to it possibly causing constipation. The pain was kind of intense the first week but it got better over time. After every bm I sat in a warm shallow bath for about ten minutes. It helped tremendously. I was also prescribed a cream to put on but I can't remember the name of it. Sorry. By the end of the second week I was off all meds for pain. I took
metamucil, milk of magnesia, and stool softeners for the first week. I only take stool softeners now just to keep things flowing nicely. I'll probably take them for another two weeks to make sure I continue to heal well. I should just eat a more balanced diet but it's tough. I'll work on that. So as of now, four weeks after surgery my pain is slim to none. I've started to resume exercise which feels great. I'm so glad to be putting this behind me. It caused a bit of a strain on a budding relationship I was in thankfully that worked out.. Bottom line I don't regret the operation one bit. I only wish I got it sooner.

I had a hemrriodectomy and anal fissure repair on Tuesday and today’s Sunday. The pain does get better after 3 days. I’m no longer talking any pain killers or antibiotics as it caused a lot of mouth sores. Painful to even swallow water. My only concern is the stool leakage. I have the urge to go and immediately go to the bathroom only to find a small amount already made its way out. Will this go away? Is it normal? Getting more depressed.

I had my anoplasty surgery in 2/20/2018, I haven't pooped yet, just a little, almost to none, when should I pooped? and I don't have to push at all while pooping?