Scar tissue after hemorrhoid surgery

I was just getting ready to post an update but I see you beat me to it. While I can use the 10 mm dilator with no problem, the 12 mm is painful and causes bleeding so I've stopped using it. This morning, I called a colon/rectal surgeon and made an appointment for Friday afternoon. I feel like my butt is running my life and even if I pay this doctor to just tell me to continue as I am, at least I'll have a little more peace of mind. I dread the exam, but am willing to endure more pain to know for sure what is going on and how best to treat it.

I appreciate your support sassycat. It's a bit of relief just to be able to talk with someone who understands how frustrating this can be. I don't personally know anyone with this problem. While my sister had problems with her hemorrhoid surgeries (first did banding, then did regular surgery), she was fine a couple of weeks after the second surgery. My mother and brother both were fine a few days afterward (he had banding, she had surgery).

At least you can use 10mm without problem. I think that as an improvement. Also, that's good idea that you are going to see a pro.
I'm still sticking with the surgeon who did surgery. I think since he is the one "messed up" should be able to fix it ;)

My GI doctor who is young guy thinks that I should wait. But surgeon who is older guy thinks that second surgery might worth it. I'm going to see my surgeon tomorrow for the dilation and I will tell him everything is still the same.

one thing throws me of is that I don't have much pain but discomfort after bm. I afraid that what is second surgery doesnt help my symptom but add pain to it ;(

I will just have to trust my surgeon as i don't know what's the best ...

I don't know anyone who had this surgery. I know friend of mine has been suffering hems for a long time and he is afraid to have a surgery.

I guess you and me the ones have different body which have to go through rough recovery ... I could only hope we will get our normal healthy life back one day. I miss my normal life so much ;(

Anyway, it's nice to share my feelings with you as you can understand more than anyone ;)

I will let you know how did doc's appointment go tomorrow and please you do the same.

Will do sassycat. My family doctor referred me to a general surgeon for the hemorrhoid surgery. I'm getting so freaked out by the problems (and losing sleep over them) that I think it will help me a lot just to get an opinion from someone who specializes in this area.

Feel free to post any time. I'm monitoring this thread and will get back to you right away. I know everyone else can see it, but it feels kind of private. Somebody should be able to get good info from what we're posting.

hi, I saw my surgeon and he said my anal is much better and scar tissue is much better as well. But he could not help with my horrible feeling though.... My doctor referred me to a general surgeon as well. maybe i need to the specialist too. I will be waiting for your update Good luck

I just got back the colo-rectal surgeon. He agreed it is VERY tight. He had hoped to use a sigmoidoscope to look inside me, but said that was impossible because of how tight it is. He's getting the records from the surgeon who did the hemorrhoidectomy and I'm scheduled to get dilated and examined Tuesday -- under general anesthesia so I won't be in pain.

Surprisingly, I don't need to do any prep to get emptied out. The only thing I have to do is not eat or drink for 8 hours before surgery. But they're not going in very far, just enough to check out the problem area.

This is going to cost me $1400 (I have a high deductible insurance plan). Then he'll tell us what needs to be done to get it fixed. That could be more surgery or just dilation. And he wants me to eventually get a full colonoscopy of course, but first he wants to get this problem fixed.

I'm happy your doctor said your scar tissue is better. The pain you have would worry me too, though.

I'll update again when I hear what the doctor says. Hopefully he'll tell us something Tuesday, even if it's not the whole story. I really hope he's able to dilate me enough to make a difference. I have a followup appt with him the following Tuesday, so I might have to wait until then.

HI,
This sounds really good plan. I'm glad you are on the right track. I talked with my obgyn who is my primary and she said I should not hurry into the second surgery. i agree with her actually. She will make some research about non surgical options for me.

That's funny that my next appointment with my surgeon is on Tuesday and I will discuss with him anascopy (don't know how to spell) under anesthesia and see what's going on there.

I really think dilation will work for you. Seems like it's a matter of timing.

OH gosh, my medical bill is out of control already. I have been sick (hospitalized a week, pregnancy, so many doc's exam etc) since march 2012. It's almost a year still not better yet. All I want is to be healthy.

from today, im trying really hard to stay positive and have faith. its hard to ignore this situation though. but i will try my best.

good luck to you and me ;)

I had forgotten that you recently had a baby. I can't even begin to imagine how you're dealing with it all. I'm fortunate that I don't work. I do help my elderly mother a few days a week, but otherwise my schedule is very flexible and I have no kids to take care of. Trying to manage this and take care of kids or have a job (or even worse -- both!) would make things so much more difficult.

Keeping positive is hard, but only thinking about the worst possible results doesn't help either.

I'm hoping we both get good news on Tuesday. And I'm with you in trying to avoid surgery again.

hi tb1, I went to see my surgeon today. he said that scar tissue and the anal narrowing is better. Last time he thought that the feeling i had was due to of spchincter spasm. But today he said that it was much looser and if the sensation was spasm should've get better by now. He is on the same page with me regarding to avoid the second surgery. He prescribed me ludocaine cream which supposed to numb the area. But he doesn't think it would help he prescribed since I asked him to do something ... He will see me in 2 weeks... I wasn't feeling good today. My pressure sensation was soo bad I couldn't function and I had a major broke down mentally;( My mom has been with me since the birth of my baby without her I would not go through this ... I had a big fight with my mom today and I insulted her so much ;( This butt problem took over my life but I have to be strong for my baby. I hope at least you got an good answer from your new doctor today. I'm looking forward your post.

SassyCat, hang in there. I know this seems overwhelming right now, between having a baby, hormones, adjusting to baby, and now the ordeal of hemorrhoids. You are stronger than you know. My hemmorhoids began when I was pregnant 12 years ago. They got progressively worse and I had two other serious medical isthirsty ear year, that combined almost cost me my life.  but I finally had the hemorrhoid surgery flour months ago. , so even though hard to cope now, better to get this resolved. See if you can get more help from neighbors, or if you belong to a church or temple see if they have people who can help provide meals, rides, run errands or whatever.   Is there a high school or middle school student who can come help you out after school for a few hours some days? now is not the time to be shy about asking for help. Pay  close attention to your diet and make sure you drink enough water.  Your. Body has much to recover from this year and your baby needs you to regain your strength. Try to take a five minute weak each day o clear your head even if only right  in front of your house. Try taking a bath to relax ven if only for 10 minutes. You can do this!

I had the dilation yesterday under anesthesia. He was able to dilate some, but not as much he wanted. On the positive side, he said there were no problems other than the stricture and narrowing from scar tissue. My other doc did nothing wrong and he could find no fissures or anything other than the scar tissue. I go back to see him next Tuesday for a followup. He said I'll probably need another dilation, but can tell more when he sees me again.

I have some pain, but it's not too bad. I had some bleeding yesterday, but none today. I'm waiting for a call back from the doctor's office to get more information about how loose or firm my BMs should be right now.

I can understand your frustration making you take it out on your mom. Just apologize and tell her it's the hormones and stress that caused it and you'll try to not do that again. Do what you can to relieve stress, whether that's meditating, exercising, playing video or computer games, and of course playing with your baby. The stress may be adding to your spasms and it definitely doesn't do any good! You can't avoid the stress, but hopefully can find a productive way to relieve the stress.

You have my best wishes and I'll keep tabs with you via this forum.

hi tb1, Thanks for your support! I really needed it. I have been feeling pretty bad last few days. I don't know what went wrong. I started having pain and discomfort reached at the top. I just went to see my GI doctor and he examined and he said fissure is still there and it could be just a fissure or wound from surgery or both ... he said give it a another month to see if things get better. I think I'm giving very minimal care for my baby. I could have been doing much better job but I can't ;( I talked with my mom and of course any mom would understand ;) I think I'm gna try to start going to gym or zumba dance while I can get help from my mom. I think you are absolutely right about stress ... I think I try hard but sometimes I just want to cry or scream to someone ... If your case is only the narrowing I think it will get better if you keep doing the dilation. My narrowness got much better ... My vagina started feeling soo dry. I don't know if it is because of having baby or the part of fissure symptom ;( I wish you the fast healing and thanks for being here. At least I know someone is hearing me ... Also i think you should really have colonoscopy that could stretch really good.

Hi Sassycat. The doctor said what I had was like a partial colonoscopy. It was the same equipment, but they just didn't go beyond the tight area. He does want to do a full colonoscopy sometime down the road.

I haven't had any kids, but I remember my friends complaining about vaginal dryness after birth. They said it was the hormone changes that caused that. You might ask your OB/GYN about that. They have creams that you can put in there to make it feel better. Exercise should help with the stress. I have a niece who's a schoolteacher and she she started boxing for her exercise. Not against other people, just using a bag. She says it's great for getting rid of stress. But any kind of exercise will be good for you.

Keep posting whenever you feel the need or have an update.

I had an appointment with the doctor today. He examined me with his finger, and while it hurt it wasn't as bad as the last time. He said it is better, but still not where it should be. He said I needed to have a colonoscopy since I'm over 50 and it has been more than 10 years, so I have one scheduled for Wednesday on next week. He will use that to get a better look at the narrow area (he couldn't look at as much as he'd like to last week because it was too tight) and check the rest of my colon. He's also going to try to dilate me again. He thinks I may need a third dilation down the road. He hopes to get it big enough and avoid surgery, since that can cause more scar tissue and start things all over again.

How are things with you Sassycat?

Hi Tb1,

I am getting busy as my baby grows. Her daytime sleep is getting less and less.

I'm really glad that you scheduled the colonoscopy. Like i said earlier colonoscopy did a good dilation for me.

I'm still seeing my surgeon and GI doctor and they both think that I should give a time and to avoid second the surgery.

I think I'm getting little bit better or I am getting used to live with this issue. At least I don't feel sad anymore ;)

I will see my surgeon on 3/7/2013 and see how my narrow anus is.

I really started believing that we need to do everything we can to avoid the second surgery.

I started massaging my anus and the around the anus with coconut oil. I learnt about it on anal fissure forum. It really helps! I don't know if it help you or not. But it worth of trying.

I will update it after I see my surgeon. Please be with me until we got over this!

We seem to be on a similar schedule Sassycat.  You see your surgeon the day after my colonoscopy!  I go back 2 weeks later for another checkup. 

Is the coconut oil for the fissure?  I'm glad it's helping you.  Luckily, I don't have a fissure.  But I'll do some research on it to see if it might help me.

And of course I'll keep in touch.  I hope and pray we'll both get our problems fixed by summer so we can completely enjoy life again.