Recovery after Sphincterotomy and Hemorrhoidectomy

Yeah, it is wierd how it doesn't hurt right away after a bm, but an hour or two later it starts hurting like your bottom is full of lead and your rear is turning inside out because of it. Is it delayed reaction? After a couple of hours, like you say, it starts to feel better.

I did not have the hemorroids removed, just the lateral sphincterotomy and had to stitch the fissures. I have lichen sclerosis also which may have caused the fissures. The doctor told me that the fissures were the problem, not the hemorroids. I told her that I have been praying that I don't have to have surgery to have the hemorroids after I heal up and she said that no, they should get better after the sphincterotomy heals.

I feel bloated all the time and am afraid to take a fiber supplement like they suggest, because I am afraid that it will bulk me up more and I will get backed up. I am tired all the time too. It has been since October 29th since I had the surgery. Were you still tired for weeks afterwards?

I thank you for your words of encouragement. It just is hard to think you will ever get better when you feel so bad. My blood pressure
went up sky high also since the surgery.

Hannigan

I had a sphicterotomy 4 days ago and didn't feel any pain for 5 hours after surgery.. and it was hell after the effect of IV pain killers wore off. I was limp with pain and was given tremadal the next day to alleviate the pain. My first BM was a nightmare... and so were the subsequent ones. My whole body becomes stiff and turn stone cold after BM. It takes about an hour for the pain to reduce. I was told by my surgeon that the pain will reduce to a mere discomfort in a week's time.
After reading all the posts here, I feel that I have lot more pain to experience.

Beware the botox sphincterotomy ! While this certainly seems to have cured the fissure I was suffering, it has now led to a non functional seal for who nows how many months 'til the botox wears off. Not that I leak any solid stools, but the mucus leakage is awful, causing itching, red 'nappy rash' and a nasty stench, like rancid cod liver oil. Its not enough to wet the underwear, thank god, just to get into the area surrounding the anus. Thank goodness its normally held in by Mr Sphincter.

If anyone else has had this nasty side effect of a botox / sphincterotomy, please let me know if it gets back to normal after a a few months. Its 3 months in now and still not sealing. I am now very scared that the smell might get through my clothes, and have to wash several times a day. Won't be playing Twister for while !!!

:$

OMG!! After reading all these stories of having a sphincterotomy & hemmroidectomy, I'm SCARED TO DEATH! I'm scheduled for both on Monday. I have a fissure and several internal & external hemmroids that are quite painful. The doctor said the only way to get rid of them is the surgery, but I'm wondering if I should have it.
Is anyone glad they did it? How long will I need to take pain meds & will Ibuprophen work?

Try not to let the horror stories get into your head. I purposely forced my pending surgery date out of my head until the day of the surgery. Otherwise I would of been a stressed out maniac.

Yes, what you have read is probably more or less true. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Don't listen to anyone who says your recovery will only be 2-3 weeks. That's BS. I'm at week 5 and I honestly feel I'm 2-3 weeks away from no discomfort. If by then I'm not fully healed, I'm going to be pissed. My wife and I own our own business. So I was very fortunately to be able to go back to work when I felt ready. For me it was week 3 and only half days. I then came home and soaked in the tub. By week 4 I was able to work all day (desk work) with no discomfort.

The first 3-4 days are going to be horrific. I'm not trying to scare you, but I'm being honest. My doctor said it was a painful surgery, but it wasn't until talking to the anesthesiologist prior to surgery did he tell me what to really expect. He had a friend who went through it so he was very honest in saying it hurts worst then anything. Although at the time I took it at face value, but he was right. All you can do is stay calm and go through the process. I stayed on bed rest for 1 week after surgery. The second week I'd alternate between the couch and bed.

After a few days things will get better. Here's my advice to make it easier. Don't go over board with the fiber, stool softeners and the like. Take one Colace a day and that's it. For the first few days eat some high fiber fruit with your dinner. If you do more then this you're going to need to go more then once a day, and that you don't want. After you have your BM it's going to burn afterwards. At first that will last for hours. After time it will not burn as intensely or as long. If you can remember these two things your recovery will be a little easier.

I remember lying in bed thinking to myself, God I can't wait for it to be two weeks later. And then when I was two weeks later, I was still in pain and recovering. Just be patient. Accept the pain and the recovery process, there's nothing you can do about it. Ya it sucks but I feel over time it was the right decision to have the surgery. Good Luck!

I had a hemorroidectomy some years ago, it was extremely painful, and I have a high pain threshold. (I wouldn't recommend that sugery to anyone) I believe the surgeon was too aggressive and caused me to have an anal stenosis. My sphincter is so tight I cannot have a BM unless I take Miralax, Amitiza, a tea called smooth move and with all that I still have to push as if I were giving birth! Two weeks can easily go by without a BM. Because of the stenosis I am scheduled for a sphincterotomy in a week or so. I am dreading the recovery period, my surgeon told me I could probably go back to work within a week. I somehow doubt that. If anyone out there has anything to share, I would love to hear from you. I will let post my experience as soon as I am able. Good luck to all.....I know your pain. Code:

yeah this makes me terrified. i've had a chronic fissure for a year now, and i'm in severe pain with bleeding during BMs. i did the creme and the botox, but neither worked. i'm slightly incontinent from the botox, but the botox should only last a couple months...it makes me worried what surgery will bring though. i'm scheduled for early march.

my doctor led me to believe i could return to work the next day and that i would immediately feel relief. while the relief from the fissure may be true, i don't want to be in severe pain for months to come! i'm only 22. it's so embarrassing, i don't even know what to tell my boss/co-workers/friends. i definitely was expecting to be okay within the next couple days. but intense pain/don't return to work for weeks?? i don't know what i should do... :-(

You most likely got Anal Stenosis not from your original surgery, but rather from your recovery. This is usually brought on by your stools being too soft during recovery. It's important to make them soft, but also firm enough so you don't get anal stenosis. I think because of the pain people tend to over compensate by making their stools too soft through laxatives, stool softners and excessive fiber. After the first 4-5 days you really shouldn't need anything more then a stool softner and a healthy diet with normal fiber intake.

Had Sphincterotomy, Hemorrhoidectomy and polyps removed 3 days ago. Deliberately didn't read any help sites on-line. Have had my surgeon do colonoscopies on me and was confident in his abailities. Tried all other alternative treatments to no avail. My doctor told me that my condition was too far gone for anything but surgury. Can't believe patients are being told they can go back to work next day...WHAT! Totally agree with the comment of bm was like giving birth to a large pineapple. I have been told at least 2 weeks till back at work. My doctor said that this surgury is very common and from reading all these posts I believe it to be so. Apparently up to 80% of people will be affected by hemorrhoids sometime in their life. Am having at least 3 sizt baths (salt baths) per day, usually after a bm...this helps to ease and clean. Am taking Tramodol for pain(tramodol doesn't cause constipation) and panadol and nurefun in between (nurefun helps reduce swelling). Need to keep motions smooth and have been taking agarol and ducolax. Find the ducolax very strong on my tummy, (gives me gas and liquid painful motions) but I guess it's better than passing lumps. Will probably just keep high fibre diet going. Hope some of this info helps others.

OKay, I am supposed to have a sphincterotomy tomorrow and you all have terrified me. I can't be out of work for 3 weeks because I don't have that much leave. Is the pain after surgery worse than the pain of keeping the anal fissure? If so, I will just put up with it until my vacation time kicks in.

I had my spincterotomy+polyp removal 4 days ago. The doctor first did an enema which completely cleared everything out. I feel for some of you guys they didn't do this which is why you had so much pain the few days after the operation. I haven't had a full BM yet but feeling the wound is healing slowly. I am taking Metronidazole 400mg and Diclofenac Sodium 50mg which both seem to help a lot. I find I have to take regular baths (2 or 3 each day with extra hot water) and have been using soft white paraffin (on tissue) whenever I wipe myself and it really helps. I tried a BM today and find sitting on the loo (and trying to go) is way too painful. But crouching/squatting (like the French) over the loo is much easier. I am gently exercising my bowel movements each day and right now only wind is coming out... I am monitoring my body temperature and it's fine at 98. If it increases to 100 or I haven't gone after 1 week then I will probably phone the hospital...

The other thing that was done was for the surgeon to place a special lining over the area where the polyp was removed. This was left inside me after the surgery and expected to eventually fall off naturally. No doubt this has aided the healing process and reduced the amount of pain.

I had a sphincterotomy five weeks ago today, and I am still in tremendous pain and discomfort. I have a burning and achy pain constantly that increases when I sit and the standard muscle spasms after bowel movements. Also I constantly have the sensation that there is a lump or something just inside or just right outside the anus; I've had this sensation (and pain) for over a year. Has anyone experienced this level of pain so far after surgery? I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have hemorrhoids as well.

I did have an internal lump sensation and it lasted 2 or 3 days (started feeling it about 7 days after surgery) which was accompanied with a mild stinging and a little bit of bleeding. I had become slightly constipated which I think was the main reason for the stinging. I feel the fact I was constipated somehow was causing pressure on where I had had my polyp removed. I increased my intake of Fybogel to twice a day which helped to reduce the stinging and had been told to keep taking it at least once a day for at least 30 days after surgery. I also took magnesium hydroxide for 2 or 3 days which also helped.

I also have this feeling of a haemorrhoid just outside the anus. When they perform the sphincterotomy they made a small incision and I feel this in itself caused the swelling. I found the swelling could only be reduced by taking regular extra hot baths and keeping my physical activity to a minimum. Even now (3.5 weeks after surgery) the swelling is still there but decreasing every week. My hope is that it goes away completely in the next few weeks.

The fact you are in so much pain is a real worry. But could understand it if you aren't taking some sort of fibre supplement since you are not giving the wound a proper chance to heal. I was more or less pain free 10 days after surgery. It sounds like your wound has not healed correctly or is constantly being re-opened with each BM. If you are bleeding then I would personally go back to your doctor.

40 yr old Male, 5'9", 210lbs. I developed a chronic fissure with bleeding after experiencing constipation after an extreme change in diet.
Fissure started just after Christmas and was seeing a highly recommended colorectal surgeon who only prescribed lots of fiber and coating the fissure with A&D ointment (no other pain medication or creme or anything). Doc told me to suck up the pain, and that surgery had the potential for complications and that if I was able to stand the pain, it would eventually heal.

During last 3 weeks of March, pain became bearable (relative to the 3 months of previous hell), and only lasted a few hours after a BM, and bleeding was now intermittent. I felt I was improving but could not believe that it had not healed more, and after research on the net regarding possible medication (which I presented to the doctor), he dismissed them and told me I didnt need them. At this point I went and obtained a second opinion.

After the second colorectal surgeon initially examined me, he stated that he did not believe my fissure would heal on it's own and recommended a sphincterotomy and associated house advancement flap anoplasty. He said there were already scar 'tags' forming where it had started to heal but was constantly being re-opened during a BM. I opted to monitor it for one more month and left the doctors office with a prescription for valium (assist with pain) and nifedipine creme. Over the course of a month, I only had to take 2 of the valium, and did not notice a difference with the use of the nifedipine.

In mid April, I returned to the second doctor who examined me again and said he had not seen any improvement in the fissure and felt there was nothing else he could do for me other than recommend a precautionary colonoscopy and the fissure surgery. I had the colonoscopy earlier this week (1 small polyp, expected to be benign), and the sphincterotomy and anoplasty is scheduled for May 25th.

Doctor said I would be out of work for a minimum of a week, and would also have to have a "butt" catheter installed as part of the procedure which would be removed in a week, which was not expected to interfere with any BMs.

Has anyone had this house advancement anoplasty and can comment on the recovery time, or had any experience with this "butt" catheter? I have not been able to find any useful information describing it or showing any pictures of it anywhere on the web.

I'll try to update posts on my recovery experience after the surgery.