anal tears

Hello Eddiel

A warm welcome to the forum although I am sorry you have the need to find us.  I am assuming that you have had the standard chemo/radiotherapy treatment which although very effective, can unfortunately leave those treated with some problems, not least of which is extremely fragile sensitive skin in and around the anus.  I suffer from that and have to be extremely careful that I never become constipated or have to strain and have at least one Laxido (a stool softener, not a laxative) a day.  But if I have a hard stool, I bleed very easily.  Do you think this is what is happening to you and has gone further and caused tears?  I know my back passage has never felt the same after treatment and keeping things moving and soft is the order of the day.

But I haven't actually had a tear as such, that sounds extremely painful, how are they treating you?  I am hoping others will come a long and perhaps be able to share how they overcame similar problems.

Irene x

Hi eddiel I have just read your blog and seen Irene has said treatment can affect the anal skin making it less flexible. Radiotherapy can damage your anal skin and early post treatment days for me I suffered a couple of fissures which are anal tears. I remember it was extremely uncomfortable and like razor blades. As said you must keep your stools soft. Have you a bidet or portable sitz bath. Every time you pass a stool I was advised to clean and sit in the sitz bath with warm water and sea salt to help clean and soothe. My doctor prescribed an ointment called ditzepan or something which actually gave me massive headaches so just used Vaseline. These do take a while to heal. After healing I would massage the area with tamanu oil in a barrier oil and touch wood I have not had any since. 

Hi Eddiel,

Yeah, I've had a few and they're no fun. I'm a little over a year and a half out, and still get 'em occasionally if I'm not drinking enough water or doing what I need to keep my stool soft.

Laxatives are almost all too harsh for me, so it's water and psyllium and the terrific hint I got here to take molasses in warm water before bed if I'm worried. Are you using a good kind ointment or oil on your skin?

I keep hoping it will toughen up more, but so far the skin there is still pretty fragile.

Suz

Hi Suz, the black strap molasses is also full of calcium and magnesium which helps to promote a good nights sleep too . 

Hello and thank you all for responding. my anal tears were diagnosed by GP, who is wonderful, and every time she prescribed a hydrocortisone cream and trinmethoprim which i can adjust as required to loosen, which work well,  i could just do without them. ridetbred the only cream i use is pro-shied plus. My bowl movements are ok, feel a little weird and uncomfortable, bleeding comes and goes but fine except for the stabbing pain caused by the fissures. I also wash  my anus and bun regularly, thenapply ointments and always after a bowl movement, I am also careful with what i eat, and have five small healthy meals a day, and drink plenty of water or decaf tea" ,and have a pressure relieving cushion, jaycee12 my first cream was glyceryl trinitrate which gave me a pounding headache and heart ,and the idiot that i am took it for four days before coming to the realisation maybe i should try something else.. I will certainly try the molasses thank you. Irene75359, i did HT + RT, cardiologist really not keen for me to have chemo, although that could change soon thanks to new treatments. thank you again. take care, Eddie

Hi again, forgot to mention  as well as HT + RT, 20," radical treatments", maybe having 42 scans, mostly CT and 6 MRI has contributed to the tears. PS blacktar molasses contains acrylamide which is carcinogenic. please take care, Eddie

Hi eddiel ,

The answer from me is yes! I’ve had a few minor tears, non needing treatment though, I had a suspected fissure early on in my recovery & have had a few minor external tears mainly due to difficult bowel movements, these have healed on their own in a couple of days. I’m a little over 5 years out of treatment now, I went away for the weekend with friends last week, I drank & ate differently than normal & it’s upskittled my bowel movements a bit & left me a bit sore, I feel as though I may have an internal tear again. Hopefully things will return to normal soon! 

Nicola 

Hi Nikki65 and thank you for answering, Everyone needs a break, "drank differently", i wont ask, just come back from Scotland and off to Aus, "hopefully", in January, although i would prefer to let my tears heal themselves I think i will stick with the treatment that has been successful before as i need a couple of operations soon, and cant afford any delays. take car, Eddie

Eddiel hi There is a good article from health line which gives you all the potential benefits from consuming black strap molasses and also at the very end of the article states that there are possible risks from the chemical acrylamide which they said may be carcinogenic. Certain foods subjected to high heat can develop acrylamide like chips/fries from frying and roasting potatoes, crisps, breakfast cereals and cookies. The article doesn’t recommend you stop having molasses but just limit it. I did read an article that said if you do have this was to make sure it’s organic molasses. I will try and find that article as that’s why I went for organic black strap molasses. If I have any it is one teaspoon in hot water at an evening before bed. It’s swings and roundabouts I suppose and if you have a diet of chips, crisps and fried foods that in my opinion are low/no  nutrient based foods I look at all the benefits the molasses give you which it given in the healthline article.  Hope this helps

Morning Jaycee12, thank you for helping make my mind up, organic it is, and as you say you have to balance risk and reward and in my situation as the risk is irrelevant anyway, and if it helps me sleep as well it's a win win I can remember using tamanu oil in my healthcare days, but could never remember the name so thank you again, take care, Eddie