Anal Warts and Pain?

Is it normal to have a good amount of pain w/ an anal wart, especially if you have more than one and the others are not painful?  I had thought I was suffering from hemorrhoids, but my GP looked at it this week and said they were warts.  Is there anything out there I could take to lessen the discomfort or even the size of the large, painful wart (the others are much smaller)?  I'm stuck waiting until Aug to meet w/ the CRS he recommended, and it's getting pretty uncomfortable.
Also, is it possible I would have developed the warts as some complication from an anal fissure?  I have suffered from a fissure that's directly behind the large, painful wart for a little over 2 years.  I've got the fissure to the point where it's usually not uncomfortable, but I wasn't sure if there was a possibility that it could've somehow harbored the virus that causes the warts.
Do you know of any "natural" remedies that have been successful for healing, lessening of pain, decreasing size?  I.e. the things advertised all over the internet.  I'm pretty frightened of the approved medical methods, especially in light of the previous problems w/ the fissure and the face that I can't afford to miss a lot of work recovering from a painful surgery.  Or have you ever heard of surgery creating fissures or reopening ones that were already present?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

As you seem to know, warts themselves usually are painless.  But pain can result if they get infected or if trauma or other factors get involved; and of course anal fissures can be very painful.  Whatever the cause of an anal fissure, once they are established for a substantial period of time, chronic infection and other factors often work against healing and professional care is needed.  But I cannot say what is causing the pain in your case.

And I can't recommend any "natural" remedies for warts.  That terminology is more or less meaningless for warts anyway.  One of the most common treatments used by STD clinics over the years is podophyllin, which is a very simple plant extract; Condylox, one of the two main prescription drugs for genital and anal warts, is simply a purified version of the same thing.  You can't get more "natural" than that, yet podophyllin and condylox are among the more irritating therapies.  And except for direct physical ablation (surgery, laser, freezing), all effective wart therapies are irritating to surrounding tissues.  That's how they work, by causing inflammation.

The bottom line--no pun intended--is that notwithstanding your fears, the only logical approach is to see a health care provider.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD