Anal Fissure Self Help Page

Summary

This is a self help page for those seeking more information on anal fissures. Since hemorrhoids often appear to happen with anal fissures, I talk about them too. My goal is to help others by providing information on these ailments.

• Email List for people with Anal Fissures to communicate with each other..
• Search this Site.
• Modification History.

Why Do This?

I had an anal fissure and was in a lot of pain and did a web search only to find two pages that dealt with anal fissures and I wished there were more. I appreciated reading Joe's saga. I especially liked the last few paragraphs where he said that his fissure receded into oblivion in the two weeks following surgery. I think my self help pages are like an anonymous self help group. It is obvious from the many hits my pages are receiving that they are filling a need. Many of the hits are from searches on "anal + fissure" so people are looking for these pages when they find them. If you would like to contribute anything from a patient or physicians perspective, please do (I will keep your name off of any material you give me unless you want it on the material).

Isn't this embarrassing?

Sure it was embarrassing when I told the first five people but then I got used to it. I think some of the people I told were more embarrassed than I. Besides, my name is not anywhere to be found on this page or on my account. I made sure of that.

How common are anal fissures and hemorrhoids?

I told about 15 to 20 family members, friends, and work related people that I was going in for surgery. Of these, two had had an anal fissure and gotten over it and one was currently dealing with one. Many had dealt with hemorrhoids. This may be an unrepresentatively high hit rate, but maybe not considering the very significant shelf space at drug stores devoted to hemorrhoid treatments, laxatives, and stool softeners. There is obviously a big demand for these products. Several Drs. that I consulted that give company physicals for a living said that hemorrhoids are very common.

First Hand Accounts

These accounts have been submitted by people who found the anal fissure self pages and wanted to share there experiences. Most of the accounts are different from each other. The more of them you read, the more you will learn. Some of the accounts are similar. I include the similar accounts to show that their experiences are not unique but shared by others.

I would also like to hear from more patients so I can include their experiences. Perhaps some will have their ailments fix by different methods and we as readers can see what is available, what works best, and what to expect. Perhaps this knowledge of what to expect will lower patient stress and speed healing.

Surgery Patients

• Patient 8 This fellow tried using Nitroglycerin ointment but opted for surgery in the end. He has a good discussion on the surgical risk of becoming incontinent as a result of surgery. He has a killer follow up on the causes of anal fissures. A must read!
• Patient 1, a detail description of what happened to this fellow through surgery and recovery.
• Patient 2, a detail description of what happened to this lady through surgery and recovery.
• Patient 13 This fellow had a good surgery experience but recommends not ever agreeing to dilation. For good experiences with this procedure, read Patient 53's and read Patient 70's stories.
• Patient 15 Two more good surgery experiences and a recommendation not to "play the home remedy game".
• Patient 47 This guy had his lasered shut in 10 minutes in Los Angeles, CA.
• Patient 5 Fissure and fistula, no luck with Nitroglycerin ointment.
• Patient 22 This lady had anal fissure surgery but it was not immediately effective.
• Patient 54 This fellow had his fissure heal and then went on to have a sphincterotomy that stop the intense pain that was being caused by pressure and tightness of the rectal muscles. He is now pain free after two weeks.
• Patient 66 Surgery went bad for this fellow.
• Patient 16 This fellow is happy he had surgery. Like Joe's story, read it with a smile and you will be ok.
• I found Joe's story in April of '96 by searching Alta Vista on anal fissure. The first time I found it, I did not find a copy that included the "return of anal fissure B" at the bottom.
  • Joe found my pages and gave me a short status report and now has decided to try Nitroglycerin ointment. (Nitroglycerin ointment is also described below in my Medical pages section). I hope he will keep us informed as to how it works.

Non-Surgery Patients

• Patient 21 This man has a great healing plan. A must read.
• Patient 29 This patient provides his account of the Botulinum Toxin treatment. It worked for him and he recommends it to others in need.
• Patient 36 Had a tough time with the Botulinum Toxin treatment.
• Patient 18 This man healed himself by diet, lots of water, Nitroglycerin ointment, three meals a day, and no apples. A must read.
• Patient 6 This lady healed herself (that is right, no surgery!)
• Patient 52 This nursing mother was cured by using Softwash cleansing cloths & Desitine.
• Patient 35 This lady found that for her and her 3 year old daughter, eating dairy = anal fissure.
• Patient 50 This man was cured by using Wheat Germ Oil, Gotu Kula & Wheat Grass.
• Patient 65 This lady was cured by flax meal and fish-oil supplements.
• Patient 51 This patient was cured by using Nu- Skin liquid bandage.
• Patient 7 Watch out for cranberries! More very good self help suggestions. This is a follow up to Patient 6.
• Patient 31 This nutritionist has some great healing suggestions. In addition, she cautions people against using mineral oil and offers some alternatives.
• Patient 34 This lady found a cure in MIRALAX powder after 26 years of problems.
• Patient 32 This patient found a cure in the Athlete's Foot Cream Tinactine.
• Patient 68 Steve found that drying his fissures out by using Gold Bond Medicated Body Powder cured his fissures.
• Patient 20 Debbie found pain relief from Anbesol and Orajel.
• Patient 61 Wendy fixed her fissure by changing her diet and using Lansinoh which is marketed to breastfeeding moms to help heal sore, cracked nipples.
• Patient 17 This lady found that enemas helped her get well. Then she had a relapse and opted for surgery.
• Patient 3, this lady is using sitz baths and Nitroglycerin ointment.
• Patient 4, fiber supplements seems to do great and Nitroglycerin ointment appears to help as well. Shunning coffee is credited with major improvements.
• Patient 37 The miracle drug for this lady was the stool softener COLACE.
• Patient 10 This lady used vitamin E suppositories and metamucil to cure her fissure.
• Patient 39 This lady used whaet germ oil to cure her fissure.
• Patient 62 This person used a speculative course of antibiotics to cure their fissure. Their fissure developed after just a few days of glucosamine tablets.
• Patient 53 This fellow had a good experience with dialation and recommends his version of home treatement. After reading about his recommendation for anal dilation, be sure and read Patient 13's and read Patient 70's stories.
• Patient 70 Another fellow with a good experience with dialation treatement. After reading about his recommendation for anal dilation, be sure and read Patient 13's and read Patient 53's stories.
• Patient 11 This lady is trying fasting but does not recommend it as a cure.
• Patient 69 This lady healed her AF with the Clear Liquid Diet and hydrocortisone suppositories.
• Patient 12 This lady had her fissure cauterized two weeks before her wedding. She thinks this helped her healing.
• Patient 14 Type A takes on fissure and wins.
• Patient 19 This lady found that a Hamamelis and Zinc cream helped cure a chronic superficial fissure that kept itching and getting infected.
• Patient 23 This lady found that BF&C ointment helped her heal in a week after having a surgeon tell her she definately needed surgery. I no longer recommend this remedy due to the warnings on the ingredient Comfrey.
• Patient 24 This fellow gets a fissure once per year and finds appling petroleum jelly immediately prior to a bowel motion helps him heal quickly. He thinks that eating Chocolate may contribute to him getting fissures.
• Patient 25 This man would get fissures after taking antibiotics. He found that he could keep the fissures away by eating live yogart after taking antibiotics. He also is using Nitroglycerin ointment and lactulose syrup to get over his latest fissure. You can email him with your questions.
• Patient 26 This lady had a fissure for a couple of years and cured it by three simple changes.
• Patient 27 This patient had a bad fissure. The BF&C ointment did not help but lots of water, diet change, and Nitroglycerin ointment did.
• Patient 49 Epsom salt soaks, Kondremul, and fiber helped this lady and the Tinactin, Dr. Christopher's BF&C ointment and Neosporin were bad deals.
• Patient 67 IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) caused many fissures in this person and lots of fiber and Vitamin E oil cured them.
• Patient 28 This patient found almost instant relief from his fissure by following a natural remedy for kidney stones. I have read that kidney stones can be caused by not getting enough water. The remedy included lots of water, olive oil, and of all things cranberry juice.
• Patient 29 This patient provides his account of the Botulinum Toxin treatment. It worked for him and he recommends it to others in need.
• Patient 36 Had a tough time with the Botulinum Toxin treatment.
• Patient 30 The REAL miracle drug for this lady was the calcium-channel blocker nifedipine (generic for Procardia). Large doses of caffeine are definitely a problem. She thinks dehydration caused her fissures.
• Patient 59 used nifedipine to make an ointment that he used to heal himself.
• Patient 63 This 30 year old lady found that Diltiazem Diltiazem gave back my quality of life and helped her heal her fissure.
• Patient 33 This man used a combination of nutrition, stool softeners, herbal medicine and timely hydrotherapy with self-administered enemas to subdue his fissure.
• Patient 40 Another set of diet recommendations for getting well.
• Patient 41 This man credits eating pecans as being the key to his healing.
• Patient 42 This lady tried everything at once to find healing. Her account is followed up by an account of someone who regained health by following what she had done. Taking Magnesium gets a lot of credit for its part in the healing.
• Patient 43 This man used Neosporin and it healed him.
• Patient 44 This man used oil of oregano and it healed him.
• Patient 58 This man thinks using the potty in a squatting position has contributed to his cure.

Pregnant Women and New Mothers

Cure seakers could probably benefit from reading these accounts too. These women deserve special treatment. I have received many stories from these special women through the years. I am going to try and go back through my archives (they are all probably still in my inbox) and add the stories here. I am going to start with the one I receive last month.

• Mom 1 Fissure healed by using aloe vera plant and ending breast feeding.
• Mom 7 This mom also thinks ending breast feeding helped her heal.
• Mom 8 Postpartum woman deals with fissures - Miralax and nifedipine ointment.
• Patient 17 mentioned above got her anal fissure when she had her baby. She lists her email address if you want to contact her.
• Patient 52 This nursing mother was cured by using Softwash cleansing cloths & Desitine.
• Mom 2 Fissure healed by using NuSkin International enhancer ointment
• Mom 3 Aloe Vera Juice Aloe Juice, Dr. Christopher Ointment, and Japanese Vegetarian Diet cure her.
• Mom 4 Maybe prenatal vitamins with iron caused her fissure.
• This account is also listed above in the Non-Surgery patients section. Patient 34 This lady found a cure in MIRALAX powder after 26 years of problems. She used MIRALAX powder while she was pregnant.
• Mom 5 tried Botox without success and got well using Nifedipine.
• Mom 6 Baked Bean and Vaseline healed this Mom.

Children

I have had a few parents write me about their children. The love and devotion of a parent is a wonderful beauty to behold. Here is where I will chronical their stories.

• Child 1 Originally told that the 14 month old son was constipated, this mom found out that he was not and used Senolot and Lansoyl jel to help him get well.
• Mom 2 talks about her child having trouble with milk products.
• Patient 35 This lady found that for her and her 3 year old daughter, eating dairy = anal fissure.
• Child 3 More milk problems for this mom's child. She figured out that fresh milk was bad and long duration milk was fine.
• Child 2 Potty Training an 18 month old was the solution for this mom.

Causes

So what causes people to get anal fissures? The patients below tell us what they think is responsible for them getting this affliction. Some of these stories will be duplicates from other places on the website and some stories not mentioned here also talk about causes. If I ever get a huge chunk of free time, maybe I can do something better but for now, this is what we get.

• Patient 38 This lady says that her high calcium diet caused her fissure.
• Patient 35 This lady found that for her and her 3 year old daughter, eating dairy = anal fissure.
• Patient 45 This man says that slipping back into his old habits resulted in his fissure coming back 14 months after his operation to cure his first fissure.
• Patient 46 This lady got extreme hypothyroidism as a result of her pregnancy and believes that it caused her fissure.
• Patient 48 The Atkins diet gets the credit for this person's fissure.
• Patient 55 This fellow says that Allergy Medicine and dehydration contributed to his fissure and he found great relief from using Carmex Lip Ointment.
• Patient 67 IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) caused many fissures in this person and lots of fiber and Vitamin E oil cured them.
• Patient 56 Eating a bunch of salty McDonalds food caused this 20 year old's second fissure after his first was cured by surgery.
• Patient 57 This 24 year old woman credits lots of stress and coffee drinking, poor diet, and little exercise with causing her fissures. Good diet is her cure.
• Patient 60 This 23 year old woman says that constipation brought on her fissure and that she fixed the constipation which fixed the fissure.
• Patient 64 This 30 year old woman says that chemo treatment for breast cancer brought on her fissure.

General Information

Some visitors offer up general advice. I have been putting such advice in the other categories, but I will now start putting some of them here.

• General 1 Advice from a retired European medic.
• General 2 OrigynRx specializes in topical medications for Anal Fissures, Hemorrhoids and Anal Incontinence. Most importantly, along with the topical medication OrigynRx provides a focused dose delivery system, which includes AccuTip, a side slotted anal application tip and DoseRite, a device that assures accuracy for every single dose.
• Your anal fissure page is a pretty good source of info. A few updates to add: Nifedipine ointment is a good alternative to NTG ointment today. It seems to be as effective and without the headache. Botox is a good treatment but should be reserved for the right situation- probably only patients that traditional surgery might be more risky and that fail other management. -- Brian Harlin MD (Practicing Colorectal Surgeon at NYU med center- will return email) Wed, 6 Aug 2003

Random Information

Let's face it, I am having trouble taking much of the new information that I have been getting and putting it into self help web pages. So I have decided the best way to deal with this reality is to add a page where I can stick new information quickly. I will still put some new information into new pages and update old pages, but I will more likely just stick it in this Random Information Page. I will put the new information in the top of the page so you can quit reading it as soon as you see something that you have read before. If you periodically visit these pages to see if I have added new information. I suggest that you check both the Modification History and the Random Information Page.

Medical Pages

• Nifedipine helped Mom 5, Patient 30, and Patient 59 get well. It looks to me like it is worth a try. Apr 2003.
• October 2004 Note: Back in January 2003 I withdrew my recomendation for Botulinum (Botox) treatment because at that time few people had told me that it worked for them. Since then, I have received several positive reports and was given this consent form and after Botox Injection treatment material by a very trusted source. The word is that this procedure is being used regularly with a 90% success rate. Because of all of these positive reports, I again think the Botox treatment is worth trying. I have heard about the Botulinum Toxin treatment. It appears that this is a very effective treatment. I will try it if I ever get another anal fissure. One reader of these pages wrote that Dr. Gorfine used this treatment on him after first trying the Nitroglycerin ointment. From reading about the treatment, it certainly sounds like a treatment to consider. There are several links at this site on the treatment. If some of you try this, please let me know how it works for you. If you are interested in trying Botulinum Toxin, David Feldman is a New York City Gastroenterologist that is recruiting patients for a new study using Botox and nitroglycerin. Healthgate.com has a nice article on the botulinum toxin and how it is used to treat several conditions and how it works. The New England Journal of Medicine shows a bunch of articles when searching on Botulinum Toxin and I found this one interesting. It says that Botulinum Toxin is more effective than Nitroglycerin Ointment. Also see Patient 29's and Patient 36's accounts.
• Topical Nitroglycerin ointment 0.2%. I did not know about this ointment when I had my fissure. From what I have read, it is a promising treatment and deserves trying. Dr. Gorfine is a big proponent of this treatment. I would definately use this treatment if I ever get another fissure. Another name for this ointment is glyceryl trinitrate (GTN). See the Clinical Trials section below for information on a Nitroglycerin ointment clinical trial.
• The Anal Fissure Information Page has some useful information and organized links to other good sites. It has a Nutrition section too. Wayne maintains it and is moderator on the Anal Fissure Mailing List.
• Fiber is discussed in these articles.
• Bowel function and Dietary Fiber with a food fiber content chart.
• HealthCentral
• Searching Healthtouch for fiber with the health information box checked shows up three links on fiber: 1, 2, and 3.
• The Palo Alto Medical Foundation gives out these handouts on Anal Fissure Information Sheet and Instruction Sheet After Excision of a Thrombosed Hemorroid. The Anal Fissure Information Sheet has information on a High Fiber diet too.
• The Ultimate Hemorrhoid Page
• Video of a Lateral Internal Sphinctorotomy. The ProcoSite also appear to have videos, pictures and information for other procedures and ailments too.
• A Comparison of Conservative Treatment Versus Surgical Methods by Manu G Nariani, Rajeev Chaturvedi, and Jignesh Jatania of the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Science is a an excellent compilation of the various non-surgical alternatives that are available. After reading about their recommendation for anal dilation, be sure and read Patient 13's account.
• This link describes a new procedure that is a combination of the Botox injections plus a surgical procedure that deals with the fissure that DOES NOT come along with the risk of incontinence because the muscle is not cut into. It's called Fissurectomy-botulinum toxin. April 2006
• A concise guide to symptoms, illness, & surgery from HealthGate.
• MD Digest, Can Nitroglycerin Cure Anal Fissures?
• Providers ClinRef FPHandbook Chapter05/14-5.html
• MedicineNet POWER POINTS about ANAL FISSURE
• Health library summary from ask.com. Ask.com also has a nice description and treatment page.
• Applied Medical Informatics
• This page says that little kids get anal fissures too. It has a good reference to a section on constipation.
• Dr. Kinzinger's pages, short but clear descriptions.
• This is second hand, but a Dr. told me that in countries that do not have a high meat content in their diet, they have virtually no cases of hemorrhoids and anal fissures. Can someone give me a reference for this? I think milk products are probably just as important. I have some relatives that are a vegetarians with tons of milk, cheese, and oil in their diet and they have problems with hemorrhoids. I suspect that countries that are low in meat content are also low in milk product content too.
  
• Here is a new a new (to me on Dec 2, 1998) surgical technique, which promises to be more successful and much less likely to cause any incontinence. The pages say: An anal fissure is a painful lineal ulcer at the margin of the anus. Chronic anal fissure used to be treated by dividing the internal sphincter. Dr. Wannas was able to prove the cause and the persistence of the chronic anal fissure is not internal sphincter spasm, and thus, there is no need for its division. Instead, division of a thin layer of fibrous and muscle tissue which has no direct role to play in anal continence is all that is needed for the cure of chronic anal fissure. Dr. Wannas, works at the Wannas Clinic in Alberta, Canada. He has a book called Recent Advances in Day Care Surgery, WANNAS' OPERATIONS. I would certainly try and find a surgeon that would use this procedure rather than the standard sphincterotomy. But then again, I have no scientific bases for this belief so you will have to make your own call. As of May 14, 1999, no one has sent email to me with regards to this procedure. This could be because for much of this time the links were broken. They work now. If you have this procedure performed on you, please let me know how it works for you. As of August 21, I have had zero feedback on this procedure. So I have to assume that in the eight months I have had it listed here that it has helped few or no people. Too bad, it sounds like it might have potential. After reading the February 2002 College of Physicians and Surgeons report on Dr. Wannas, it appears that he is out of business. Thanks to the sharp reader that brought this to my attention. This is another prime example of something that looks good for a while, and then does not.
  • On September 28 and November 29, 2001 the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta found Dr. Hanna R. Wannas guilty of demonstrating a lack of skill or judgment in that:
  1. he did fail to perform an adequate examination of his patient on April 9 and on April 21, 1999 prior to performing hemorrhoid surgery, and
  2. he did fail to properly assess and treat his patient prior to and following the hemorrhoid surgery he performed on April 21, 1999 given the present conditions and the anti-coagulation regimen of his patient.
  The Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta ordered that:
  • A condition be placed on Dr. Wannas' license to practice restricting him from performing any office-based surgery.
  • Dr. Wannas' office-based practice be peer reviewed and proven satisfactory.
  • Dr. Wannas shall comply with any recommendations of the peer review to the satisfaction of the Registrar, before he be permitted to resume office-based surgery.
  • Dr. Wannas was assessed the costs of the investigation and hearing in the amount of $25,989.25, payable within 30 days of the final order of the Council.
  • The costs have not been paid to date and Dr. Wannas' license to practice medicine is currently suspended.

Clinical Trials

A second oportunity to participate in clinical trials of a Nitroglycerin drug is available as of July 2007. Here is what the clinical trial official sent me about the trial:

A medical research study for anal fissures. Doctors are currently conducting a medical research study evaluating the safety and effectiveness of an investigational ointment to see if it helps relieve pain associated with chronic anal fissures. This study will be conducted in US, Argentina and Brazil and begins July, 2007. The investigational ointment being evaluated in the APT study is called Cellegesic. Cellegesic is a nitroglycerin ointment and is approved in the United Kingdom, Australia and other European countries, under the name Rectogesic®, for relieving pain associated with chronic anal fissures. It is not approved in the United States. Click here to learn more about the study and to find a study site near you.

If you participate in this study and want to let others know more about your experience, please send me an email.

Fan Mail

Some email does not quite fit into the First Hand Accounts sections but is still valuable.

• Fan 1, thanks and a good book suggestion.
• Keep trying doctors until you get one that listens.
• Simple Enema Therapy
• Lots of water solved the problem for this man.
• Watch the after surgery pain medication.
• Try aloe baby wipes instead of toilet paper.
• Tell everyone about your fissure. It will be better than you think.
• Maybe fibroids in women lead to constipation and fissures?
• Spouses perspective.
• I love it when young women send me email like this.
• This 36 year old man is year pain free after changing diet. He tells how he did it.
• Ever wonder why I maintain this site, people like this fan make it all worth while.

Email List for Anal Fissures

If you want to talk to others via email, you might want to try Wayne Macdonald's Anal Fissure List. It is a list open only to those who subscribe. As with any self-help group, there are no "experts" - only members who have their personal experiences to share. The list is known as the Anal Fissure List. Subscribe to it by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/analfissure/join. Wayne also maintains the Anal Fissure Information Page. It has some useful information and organized links to other good sites.

What would I do now at the first sign of trouble?

First realize that hemorrhoids and anal fissures do not happen over night and they will take time to heal on their own under the best conditions. If I had it all to do over again, I would have figured out how to live so I never got a second hemorrhoid after I got the first small one. I progressed from getting small hemorrhoids to big ones and then on to a very painful and long lasting anal fissure. I am going to do everything I can to avoid getting another small hemorrhoid ever again. I certainly do not want to find out what ailments are beyond an anal fissure in the progression of ailments. At the first sign of a hard stool, painful bowel movement, or hemorrhoid, I suggest people:

• Attack first by assessing water consumption (I do not count coke or anything else as water) and make sure they are drinking at least 3 large glasses a day and consider upping it to 6 to 8. Another way to compute the amount of water required is to use 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight. Caffeine dehydrates you. Count caffeinated coffee and other caffeinated drinks as a negative when you are adding up your water consumption. Keep it simple, drink water rather than something else.
• Eat a high fiber cereal for breakfast every day. Cut way back on meats and fat, especially red meat, cheese and oil. I personally think that milk products have been over sold by the dairy industry so I especially avoid them. Dr. Weil points out that many people are allergic to milk or cannot digest it so maybe you could benefit from reducing or eliminating your intake of milk products. People are usually allergic to the casein in milk products and Beth Kevles has a page that describes how to live without casein. Take one dose of Metamucil (1 tsp or 1 Tbs depending on concentration) with both lunch and dinner.
• Take Ibuprofen to help with pain control. Use what ever Preparation H hemorrhoid treatment works for you (cream, suppositories, etc.), try Diaper Guard (a white cream for diaper rash) for itch in anal area.
• Read Patient 21, Patient 6, and Patient 7's accounts carefully and consider taking the stool softener, Kondremul (as of April 2001 the phone number on the bottle is 800-344-7239), it seems to help people a lot. I did not take it but after reading several of the submitted accounts, I certainly would have tried it or other stool softeners.
• Read all of the patient accounts if you can find the time. You can then form your own treatment plan.
• I would also try Nifedipine, Botox Treatment, and the topical Nitroglycerin ointment 0.2%. I am convinced that they work for some people. If you are unable to heal your self, the standard surgery procedures have worked for a large number of people. Avail your self of them if you have been suffering for for a long time. A long time will be a few months for some people and maybe a year or two for others. As of October 2001, I would also consider trying Tinactine as used by Patient 32.

Contacting Me

Sometimes it takes me two or more weeks to respond to an email message. Sometimes I respond in a few minutes. It depends on if I am in town or not and how busy I am with family, work, and play. I am sure you understand. (I have about 170 email messages in my inbox from this list. Some are very old. I try to reply to them as I have time. All of the old ones are related to suggestions regarding the pages and patient accounts. I respond to some simple questions and comments within a month. Sometimes I don't respond to messages. I will probably only add accounts to these pages that are significantly different from the current ones. However I am still interested in hearing how people get well. This helps me learn what is likely to help people get well. With this said, please let me (email to jack1faf6.arc.nasa.gov) know what you think about my pages and how I might make them better. (For the record, my name is not Jack. I used to use Jill here but people mistakenly assumed I was a woman.) Please do not send me Microsoft Word .doc files. I do not read them. I use a text email reader for these pages so please send me text unless you just have to put your message in HTML. I promise that I will never post anything without your permission. By default, I will remove your name and contact information unless you ask me to include it.

Other interesting links

Send them to me and I will try and include them here.

Anal Fissure Self Help Survey request

From January 17, 2001 until August 4, 2001, page visitors were invited to complete a survey that was created by Dr. Dee Vernberg from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas and Jack. She wanted to survey people who visit the Anal Fissure Self Help pages. She believes the Anal Fissure Self Help Pages are unique and helpful and that the format of this site could be useful in helping people with other problems.

She collected 209 survey responses. She and Jack both want to thank these people for taking their valuable time to help us try to better help others. She is still working on analyzing and publishing the results. We hope to provide links to the results when they become available.

Thanks,
   Jack and Dee.

This is the  visit to this page since 27 Jan 97.

Modification History:

• 07 Apr 08, Updated Patient 55 account.
• 21 Feb 08, Updated Patient 30 account.
• 29 Dec 07, Updated all of the counter cgi calls.
• 10 Dec 07, Updated Patient 24 account.
• 29 Oct 07, Added Women 8.
• 02 Aug 07, Added Clinical trial for Nitroglycerin.
• 16 Jul 07, Added Patient 70.
• 24 May 07, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 21 May 07, Added Patient 69.
• 16 Apr 07, Added Patient 68.
• 02 Feb 07, Added Patient 67.
• 02 Feb 07, Added Patient 66.
• 13 Nov 06, Added Patient 65.
• 30 Oct 06, Added Women 7.
• 25 Sep 06, Added Patient 64.
• 10 Sep 06, Updated Patient 63.
• 06 Sep 06, Added Patient 63.
• 23 Jul 06, Added Patient 62.
• 23 Jul 06, Added Patient 61.
• 23 Jul 06, Added Patient 60.
• 23 Jul 06, Added Patient 59.
• 27 Apr 06, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 10 Apr 06, Added new surgery procedure link to to the Medical Pages section.
• 10 Apr 06, Updated Patient 15.
• 03 Apr 06, Updated Patient 58.
• 20 Mar 06, Added Surgery Video link to the Medical Pages section.
• 21 Mar 97, Added Patient 9 and broke up patients into surgery and non-surgery groups.
• 09 Mar 06, Added Patient 58.
• 09 Mar 06, Added Patient 57.
• 09 Mar 06, Added Patient 56.
• 29 Sep 05, Updated Women 6 account.
• 12 Sep 05, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 01 Jul 05, Added Patient 55.
• 21 Mar 05, Updated Patient 42.
• 14 Mar 05, Added Patient 54.
• 18 Jun 05, Added Mom 6.
• 17 Nov 04, Added Patient 53.
• 05 Nov 04, Added Patient 52.
• 29 Oct 04, Added Palo Altos Medical Foundation information sheets and rearranged some of the Medical Pages links.
• 29 Oct 04, Updated and added this consent form and after Botox Injection treatment material to the Botulinum Toxin item in Medical Pages section and updated my suggestions.
• 16 Jan 04, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 26 Jan 04, Updated Patient 31.
• 17 Jan 04, Updated Patient 51.
• 13 Jan 04, Added Patient 51.
• 13 Jan 04, Added Patient 50.
• 05 Jan 04, Updated Patient 31.
• 09 Sep 03, Added Patient 49.
• 25 Aug 03, Changed my email address due to virus email.
• 25 Aug 03, Added Patient 48.
• 25 Aug 03, Added General 2 to the General Information Section.
• 20 Aug 03, Updated Patient 44.
• 24 Jul 03, Updated Patient 29.
• 24 Jul 03, Added Patient 47.
• 07 Jul 03, Added Patient 46.
• 07 Jul 03, Added Patient 45.
• 07 Jul 03, Added Patient 44.
• 16 Jun 03, Added Child 3.
• 23 Mar 03, Added Patient 43.
• 23 Mar 03, Added Patient 42.
• 23 May 03, Updated Patient 41 account.
• 23 May 03, Updated Patient 40 account.
• 29 Apr 03, Added Nifedipine to the Medical Pages to my suggestions.
• 18 Mar 03, Added Patient 41.
• 24 Feb 03, Added Child 2.
• 03 Feb 03, Added Patient 40.
• 03 Feb 03, Added Patient 39.
• 03 Feb 03, Added Patient 38 and Cause section.
• 28 Jan 03, Added Fan 13 to fan mail section.
• 27 Jan 03, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 23 Jan 03, Added Patient 37.
• 15 Jan 03, Added Patient 36 and reduced my recommendation for the Botulinum Toxin treatment.
• 08 Jan 03, Updated Patient 35.
• 09 Dec 02, Added Patient 35.
• 23 Oct 02, Added Fan 12 to fan mail section.
• 23 Sep 02, Updated Patient 25 account to have current email address and web page URL.
• 09 Jul 02, Updated Patient 34.
• 08 Jul 02, Added Patient 34.
• 22 Jun 02, Added General Information section and first submission.
• 22 Jun 02, Added Mom 4.
• 22 Jun 02, Added Patient 33.
• 08 Jun 02, Updated part on Dr. Wannas.
• 26 Mar 02, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 19 Mar 02, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 19 Mar 02, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 03 Jan 02, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 15 Sep 01, Updated Patient 32 account.
• 09 Sep 01, Added Patient 32.
• 10 Sep 01, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 27 Aug 01, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 20 Aug 01, Added Anal Fissure Self Help Survey request update..
• 20 Aug 01, Added Patient 31.
• 20 Aug 01, Added Random Information Section.
• 20 Aug 01, Updated Patient 17.
• 05 Jun 01, Updated Fan 11.
• 15 May 15, Updated Patient 24.
• 01 May 01, Added compilation paper to the Medical Pages section.
• 23 Apr 01, Added Kondremul phone number, updated Child 1, and added some more fiber links to the Medical Pages Section.
• 11 Feb 01, Added Patient 30.
• 11 Feb 01, Added Patient 29.
• 11 Feb 01, Added Patient 28.
• 31 Jan 01, Added Patient 27.
• 25 Jan 01, Added Patient 26.
• 17 Jan 01, Added Anal Fissure Self Help Survey request.
• 27 Oct 00, Updated Patient 23 account and my suggestions.
• 10 Oct 00, Updated Contacting Me section. I am responding to fewer messages these days due to lack of time for tending to this task.
• 07 Sep 00, Added Fan 11 to fan mail section.
• 21 Aug 00, Nitroglycerin Ointment without a prescription.
• 10 Aug 00, Updated Nitroglycerin Clinical Trials information for Nitroglycerin ointment. The old trial is over and a second one has started.
• 09 Aug 00, Added the Search this Site section.
• 08 Aug 00, Updated Patient 25 account.
• 08 Aug 00, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 12 Jul 00, Updated Patient 24 account.
• 12 Jul 00, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 11 Jul 00, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 09 Jul 00, Updated Patient 25 account.
• 05 Jul 00, Updated Patient 24 account.
• 05 Jul 00, Added Patient 24.
• 12 Jun 00, Added Mom 3.
• 31 May 00, Updated Patient 23 account.
• 12 May 00, Updated Botulinum Toxin item in Medical Pages section and updated the Botulinum toxin study page.
• 04 Apr 00, Added Patient 23.
• 03 Apr 00, Updated the Medical Pages section slightly.
• 28 Mar 00, Added Mom 2 and updated Child 1.
• 03 Mar 00, Added Children section.
• 03 Mar 00, Updated Botulinum Toxin item in Medical Pages section.
• 28 Dec 99, Updated Patient 22 report.
• 06 Dec 99, Updated Patient 22 report.
• 09 Sep 99, Updated botulinum toxin item in the Medical Pages section.
• 05 Sep 99, Added link to Botulinum toxin study in the Medical Pages section.
• 02 Sep 99, Updated Patient 17 and added her to the Pregnant Women and New Mothers section.
• 30 Aug 99, Added some milk links to my suggestions.
• 22 Aug 99, Added link Anal Fissure Information Page link to the Anal Fissure List and the Medical Pages sections.
• 21 Aug 99, Added two fiber links to the Medical Pages section.
• 21 Aug 99, Removed reference to Dr. Wannas surgery procedure described in the Medical Pages section above from my suggestions.
• 10 Jun 99, Removed note that said you can email Dr. Kinzinger from his pages in the Medical Pages section.
• 07 Jun 99, Added the concise guide to symptoms, illness, & surgery link to the Medical Pages section.
• 14 May 99, Added Pregnant Women and New Mothers section.
• 14 May 99, Fixed the links for the Dr. Wannas' surgery procedure in the Medical Pages section and added Patient 22.
• 30 Mar 99, Added Ask.com links to Medical Pages section and updated my suggestions.
• 02 Mar 99, Updated Nitroglycerin Clinical Trials information for Nitroglycerin ointment.
• 20 Feb 99, Added link to the Anal Fissure List.
• 19 Feb 99, Added Patient 21.
• 19 Feb 99, Added Patient 20.
• 19 Feb 99, Updated Patient 17.
• 14 Dec 98, Added The Ultimate Hemorrhoid Page
link to the Medical Pages.
• 03 Dec 98, Added Dr. Wannas' surgery procedure to Medical Pages section and updated my suggestions.
• 27 Sep 98, Added Botulinum Toxin treatment to Medical Pages section and updated my suggestions.
• 27 Sep 98, Added Fan 10 to fan mail section.
• 27 Sep 98, Added Nitroglycerin Clinical Trials information for Nitroglycerin ointment.
• 25 Aug 98, Added Patient 19.
• 25 Aug 98, Added Patient 18.
• 21 Aug 98, Added mail to at the end of Patient 16.
• 21 Aug 98, Fixed link to MedicineNet POWER POINTS about ANAL FISSURE page.
• 21 Aug 98, Added Patient 17.
• 19 Aug 98, Moved pages to www.boardsailor.com. Many thanks to the friend that made this possible.
• 01 Dec 97, Added Patient 16.
• 04 Dec 97, Updated Contacting Me section.
• 02 Dec 97, Updated Patient 14 and Patient 11 accounts.
• 01 Dec 97, Updated Patient 10 and Patient 11.
• 01 Dec 97, Added Patient 14 and added Patient 15 and updated Contacting Me section.
• 01 Dec 97, Removed Patient 9 at her request.
• 23 Jul 97, Updated Contacting Me section to reflect my vacation from these pages.
• 30 Apr 97, Updated Contacting Me section.
• 23 Apr 97, Added Patient 13
• 19 Apr 97, Added Patient 12 and updated Why Do This section.
• 16 Apr 97, Updated Patient 8 and Patient 9.
• 16 Apr 97, Added Fan 9, Patient 10 and Patient 11.
• 08 Apr 97, Added Colon and Rectal Surgery Database to Medical Pages.
• 21 Mar 97, Added Patient 9 and broke up patients into surgery and non-surgery groups.
• 21 Mar 97, Updated Patient 8.
• 20 Mar 97, Added MD Digest reference.
• 04 Mar 97, Added Patient 8.
• 02 Feb 97, Added "Ask the Doctor" link.
• 27 Jan 97, Added counters to all of the pages. Please let me know if any of them do not work.
• 27 Jan 97, Updated and reorganized Topical Nitroglycerin ointment 0.2% page. Added proper dosage instructions.
• 24 Jan 97, Updated Patient 4.
• 17 Jan 97, Updated Patient 6.
• 13 Jan 97, Updated Patient 1.
• 12 Jan 97, Updated Topical Nitroglycerin ointment 0.2% page. Added Dr. Gorfine messages and paper.
• 07 Jan 97, Updated Fan 1.
• 07 Jan 97, Added Fan 7 to fan mail section.
• 07 Jan 97, Updated Patient 5.
• 23 Dec 96, Updated "What would I do now at the first sign of trouble?" section.
• 18 Dec 96, Updated Patient 6.
• 03 Dec 96, Added Patient 7.
• 30 Nov 96, Changed contact name to Jack from Jill.
• 30 Nov 96, Updated Patient 6.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Patient 6.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Patient 5.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Patient 4.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Fan 6 to fan mail section.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Fan 5 to fan mail section.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Fan 4 to fan mail section.
• 29 Nov 96, Added Fan 3 to fan mail section.
• 11 Nov 96, Added link to sitz baths.
• 25 Sep 96, Added Patient 3.
• 29 Aug 96, Updated Topical Nitroglycerin ointment 0.2% page
• 23 Aug 96, Added follow up pages on Joe and new pointer for Dr. Kinzinger's pages
• 20 Apr 96, Birth of site.