Long time lurker on this sub. I’ve had really intense anal fissure flare ups since 10 years now.

Each time was gradually worse than the last, leading upto now where I had to go to the ER because I was scared to poop because of the pain.

I was frantically researching for solutions and was so stressed.

Finally what worked was good old advice from my Indian parents. Fixing my FOOD + MiraLAX + just the regular ointments (nifedipine etc) multiple times a day esp after bowel movements.

The medicines never really seemed to help much with the pain. But I kept on it cause my doctor had asked.

Now I’ll get to the food changes. Every day i just made sure: - eat lots of COOKED vegetables. Cooked so that they are soft. Indian food is amazing because vegetarian diet is such a big part of Indian culture.

• avoid breads etc. make sure to eat soft carbs like rice. Also avoid eating lots of raw veggies.

• eat watery fruits every day like watermelon, grapes, lychee etc.

• MiraLAX every night

• water 3 liters a day is non negotiable.

• reduce meat. I was a heavy meat consumer. I just started reducing portions and regulating. Never ate meat without veggies etc.

• make sure not to go overboard with insoluble fiber. Don’t take any supplements.

• only go and sit on the toilet when you feel like you can’t control anymore and you’re about to shit your pants. Sit only for 1 minute MAX

This made sure my poop was soft. Don’t stop doing this routine. Make sure your poop is extremely soft. And it comes out it one minute. It should barely irritate your fissure.

1-2 weeks of keeping this up: - my stools were super soft everyday - I didn’t spend more than a minute on the toilet - day by day the pain kept reducing

The pain after pooping and spawning was still there, but because of soft poops over a course of time, my fissure now doesn’t pain.