I have been suffering from chronic constipation for about 4 and a half years. I am an 18 year old male college freshman. When I go to the bathroom, I strain hard and a large mass protrudes from my rectum. I usually don't let it stay out very long and push it back up. A few days ago, I read up on it and I thought it was a rectal prolapse, maybe an incomplete rectal prolapse. I can't remember how long my intestines, or whatever it is, have been protruding from my anus when I try to pass stool, but it seems like it has been quite a while. I am not sure if this has been the case since the beginning, because I have been living with this for so long that it is all kind of a blur. The mass coming out of my anus may be fairly recent, but I am rather certain that this has been present for at least a year, and very likely the full 4 and a half years for which I have been dealing with constipation and inevacuation. About 2 days ago I talked to a doctor on here and he said that it was probably a chronic anal fissure because I could not have had a prolapse for that long, but I read up on anal fissures, and I experience many of the symptoms of an anal fissure, but they don't really mention a mass protruding from the anus while trying to pass stool. I thought maybe it was an anal fissure that progressed to a prolapse, but I am not sure about that either. Lately I have become scared that I may be dying, and I am extremely afraid of death. I have also read that the only way to treat an anal prolapse is through surgery, and I am scared of that, and I am not confident that my health insurance would cover surgery. Please consider what I have said seriously, and I am extremely grateful of any advice, comfort, or counselling that you can provide.