Hi all,

So I thought my fissure was calming down for a while, but lately it's been acting up again -- some pain and bright red bleeding during BMs (relatively minor but consistent and noticeable) has returned. I'm not sure if it's acting up due to recent dietary changes (more junk foods) or drug regimen changes (I stopped all nitro/nifedipine ointments for a week and have been reducing my Valium dosage because I noticed that I'm becoming dependent on it), but whatever the reason, it's got something to do with the sphincter muscle, which is noticeably tighter to the touch than it was weeks ago.

Anyhow this has got me to thinking about more aggressive therapies, and all that's really left on the table is Botox and LIS. I've been seeing two colorectal surgeons, and one suggests Botox and the other suggests LIS. So I can choose either.

I've been looking through the archives and can see that Botox hasn't been terribly successful for folks who have tried it. Looks like maybe 1 or 2 success stories out of all the people here. My question is this: has anyone ever ended up WORSE off after trying Botox? Right now my symptoms are relatively tolerable, so if the worst case is that I end up getting nothing from Botox, then I think I'll give it a try first. But if there's some risk then I think I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to stop screwing around and just get LIS.

Thanks for any feedback. I've got a suspicion that the Valium was keeping my sphincter loose for a while, and the reduced dosage is causing the spasm to come back. Reason I'm so positive is that I've definitely noticed other systemic withdrawal symptoms after reducing my dosage. This stuff is about as addictive as anything I've ever encountered so if I don't give it the boot now, I think I'm going to end up with a Valium problem on top of everything else