What this experience covers
This experience describes what happens when the fissure heals but the spasms continue — the confusing, frustrating period where tests come back clear, doctors say the tissue looks fine, but the body has not got the message. It is drawn from many anonymised accounts and represents common patterns, not any single person’s story.
This is one of the most distressing patterns people describe. The fissure was the problem. It healed. So why does it still hurt?
The pattern
The confirmation: healed but still hurting
People describe a moment of confusion at a follow-up appointment. The doctor examines them and says the fissure has healed. The tissue looks good. But the spasms — the clenching, the tightening, the waves of discomfort — are still happening. Some people experience this for weeks after healing. Others describe it going on for months or longer.
The gap between what the doctor sees and what the person feels is deeply unsettling. People describe wondering if they are imagining it, or if something has been missed.
What the spasms feel like
People describe the ongoing spasms in remarkably consistent terms:
- A sudden tightening or clenching that comes without warning
- Episodes lasting seconds to minutes, sometimes longer
- A deep ache that builds during or after bowel movements
- Spasms triggered by sitting, stress, or sometimes nothing identifiable
- A pulling or cramping sensation in the rectal area
- Night-time episodes that wake them from sleep
The spasms are not constant. They come and go. But their unpredictability is part of what makes them so draining.
The search for answers
People describe a journey through multiple explanations. Some are told the sphincter muscle has been in spasm for so long that it has become a learned pattern — the muscle keeps doing what it was doing even after the reason for it is gone. Others are pointed toward pelvic floor dysfunction, where the broader muscles of the pelvic floor have tightened in response to the months or years of guarding against pain.
Some find that the spasms are a sign of a fissure that is not as fully healed as it appeared. Others are told that scar tissue from the healed fissure can cause ongoing sensitivity.
The uncertainty is hard. People describe feeling stuck between “it is healed” and “it still hurts” with no clear next step.
What people try
The approaches people describe most commonly include pelvic floor physiotherapy, continued warm sitz baths, breathing and relaxation techniques aimed at releasing muscle tension, and sometimes prescribed muscle relaxants or topical treatments. Some describe a gradual improvement over months. Others find targeted pelvic floor work to be the thing that finally shifts the pattern.
The emotional weight
Persistent spasms after healing carry a particular emotional burden. People describe the dread of relapse — every spasm feels like the fissure might be coming back. There is frustration at having done everything right and still dealing with pain. And there is isolation, because the problem feels too specific and too embarrassing to explain to anyone.
Many people describe reaching a turning point when they found others experiencing the same thing. The realisation that this is a recognised pattern, not a personal failing, is often the beginning of progress.