Pain in the Butt. How to Deal with Hemorrhoids?


This is very sensitive area of your body. Too private. Nobody likes when something is wrong over there. However it happens.

Hemorrhoids occur practically in everyone. Though hemorrhoids cause problems in 1 out of 25 people. Mostly those are people between 45 and 65 years of age.

You find a blood on toilet tissue. Bright red blood. Ok, now what? You do not know why you bleed. It could be rectal cancer by the way. It could be hemorrhoids.

So? What are the hemorrhoids?

They look like cushions. They contain blood vessels, some muscle and elastic fibers. People often call them piles.

Not everything over there is a hemorrhoid. There could be other problems. Fissure, abscess, fistula, pruritus (itching), condylomata (sort of hanging skin caused by viral infection), viral and bacterial skin infections can happen in that, so sensitive area.

It is worth to talk to your doctor.

How would a scenario of hemorrhoids look?

A 46-year-old female presents with complaints on rectal discomfort, occasional bright red blood on toilet tissue and prolapsing tissue in of anal area. This is probably internal hemorrhoid.

Another scenario brings a patient who complains on severe rectal pain and prolapsed tissue. The severe pain happens in external hemorrhoids. The pain follows thrombosis (thrombosis is the blood clot in your blood vessels).

There are four degrees of internal hemorrhoids.

It may be interesting for you to know because first, second and sometime third degree can be treated by banding only. Fourth degree and sometime third degree requires surgery.

Do not forget non-hemorrhoid causes of symptoms. To check with your doctor is worthwhile because there could be other problems, including cancer or anal fissure. (By the way for anal fissure medical treatment alone may heal it in 90% of cases).

How are hemorrhoids treated?

Well first you need to understand how do hemorrhoids happen. Several reasons lead to hemorrhoids:

Constipation and extra straining
Chronic Diarrhea and loose stools
Long sitting or standing
Weight lifting
Obesity
Pregnancy and childbirth
Inherited tendency to hemorrhoids.

So, avoid all this and you are free.

Obviously this list of reasons is too wide.

The list of measures is wide too.

Increase the fiber in your diet.

Eat more cereals, fruits, vegetables, grains, etc

Psyllium and methylcellulose are supplemental types of fiber.

Exercise, avoid long standing or sitting, don't strain, keep the anal area clean.

Increase liquids in your diet.

Use stool softeners, stool-bulking agents (not a tasty ones, but what can you do).

Treat diarrhea with anti-motility drugs and fiber.

Not every of these methods are proved scientifically. Nonetheless they are included in the standard recommendations for hemorrhoids treatment.

To treat itching or discomfort you may use suppositories, ointments, creams, and gels. You may find that all in your local pharmacy.

These products contain protectant and anesthetics (pain relievers). Local anesthetics numb the area and decrease burning and itching.

Remember that local anesthetics may cause allergy.

Analgesics (menthol, camphor) relieve pain and itching as well

Vasoconstrictors reduce swelling in the perianal area. Though they may have side effects. Better discuss with your doctor.

Protectants (kaolin, cocoa butter, lanolin, mineral oil, starch, zinc oxide or calamine, glycerin, etc) create a physical barrier to prevent contact of stool and the skin. This reduces irritation, itching, and burning.

Similarly, some agents - astringents - dry the skin. That helps to relieve burning, itching, and pain as well.

To kill or at least suppress bacteria and other organisms use antiseptics. Boric acid, phenol, resorcinol and many others can be used. Again better to discuss with your doctor or at least pharmacist. Many of these drugs are sold over-the-counter.

Corticosteroids. Corticosteroids decrease inflammation and relieve itching, but may cause skin damage. They should be used for few days only.

Sitz bath may also help in relieving the symptoms.

When those methods fail your doctor may perform one of the following:

Sclerotherapy (causes scarring of the hemorrhoid).

Rubber band ligation. The rubber band cut off blood supply and hemorrhoid heals with scarring.

Side effects of any of the treatment may be infection of fat and other tissues surrounding the anal canal, especially if patient has diabetes cancer, AIDS.

Another option - electrotherapy and infrared photocoagulation. Works the same way, cause scarring of the tissue. Cryotherapy uses cold to cause inflammation and scarring. Practically the same, though more time consuming.

Let say your medical treatment fails. What do you do then? Well, you go to surgeon and treat it surgically.

Operations are done in less than 10% of patients. Though it depends.

Surgical procedures include Dilation. It is when surgeon stretches your anal sphincter.

Ligation. Often a Doppler probe helps to measures blood flow and finds the individual artery.

The doctor ties off the artery.

Sphincterotomy. It is when sphincter is partially cut. Whole idea is to reduce the pressure.

Hemorrhoidectomy. Hemorrhoidectomy makes sense for patients with third- or fourth-degree hemorrhoids. The hemorrhoids are cut out.

Stapled hemorrhoidectomy. Stapler cuts off the ring of expanded hemorrhoidal tissue.

There are different considerations why to do this and not that type of treatment. And vice versa.

There are complications (pain, difficulty urinating, bleeding several days after surgery, scarring, infection, stool incontinence). Complications happen relatively rare, but they are still there. Better talk to you surgeon.

I hope you be OK.

You were not alone.

It looks like Napoleon Bonaparte, Carter, Hemingway, Tennyson, Lewis Carroll also were suffering from hemorrhoids.

Aleksandr Kavokin, MD1994 Russia,PhD1997 Russia - Immunology and Allergy, postdoc at Cancer Center at Med U of South Carolina, postdoc at Yale - Cardiology, Molecular Medicine. http://www.geocities.com/hemorrhoids_disease/ http://www.kavokin.com http://www.kavokin.uni.cc http://www.geocities.com/aging_rejuvenation/ http://www.geocities.com/appendicitis_disease/ http://www.geocities.com/melanoma_disease/







Related News



Effort in Senegal to Join Traditional & Conventional Medicine - Voice of America

Voice of America

Effort in Senegal to Join Traditional & Conventional Medicine
Voice of America -9 hours ago
By Scott Bobb Traditional medicine was once thought of as sorcery or quackery. But the craft is slowly gaining the respect of conventional medical ...
Modern West African Market Offers Traditional Remedies for IllnessVoice of America
all 2 news articles

Pediatricians and the Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding - Archives of Pediatrics

Pediatricians and the Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding
Archives of Pediatrics -5 hours ago
Author Affiliations: Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Cooper University Hospital, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New ...
Adult medicine enters the medical homeAAP News (subscription)
all 2 news articles

Cardiologists Debate Expensive Heart Scans - New York Times

Cardiologists Debate Expensive Heart Scans
New York Times, United States -7 hours ago
In the latest study, published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers assessed the accuracy of CT angiography in identifying ...
Heading off heart attacks in womenChicago Daily Herald
all 3 news articles

Three FAAPs elected to Institute of Medicine - AAP News (subscription)

Three FAAPs elected to Institute of Medicine
AAP News (subscription) -8 hours ago
Three AAP Fellows were among 65 new members elected to the Institute of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine that ...
FELLOWS IN THE NEWSAAP News (subscription)
Lake Tahoe hosts Practical Pediatrics, offers range of seminarsAAP News (subscription)
all 3 news articles

China Medicine Corporation Awarded GSP Certification - MarketWatch

China Medicine Corporation Awarded GSP Certification
MarketWatch -10 hours ago
("China Medicine" or "the Company"), a leading developer and distributor of prescription and over the counter pharmaceuticals, traditional Chinese medicines...

Spirituality, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Alcoholics Anonymous - Am J Psychiatry (subscription)

Spirituality, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Alcoholics Anonymous
Am J Psychiatry (subscription) -8 hours ago
For example, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a self-designated "spiritual fellowship," is a useful adjunct to the practice of evidence-based addiction medicine. ...

New Marketing Coaching and Consulting Firm for Physicians ... - MarketWatch

New Marketing Coaching and Consulting Firm for Physicians ...
MarketWatch -10 hours ago
"There are a growing number of physicians making the switch to concierge medicine, but they either don't know how to effectively convert their existing ...

Most Patients Should Be Screened for HIV, Physicians’ Group Says - New York Times

WAVY-TV

Most Patients Should Be Screened for HIV, Physicians’ Group Says
New York Times, United States -3 hours ago
Just 50 to 100 of the nation’s 5000 emergency rooms routinely test for HIV, said Dr. Richard Rothman, associate professor of emergency medicine at Johns ...
World AIDS Day Calls For HIV TestingeMaxHealth.com
Doctors: Test All Patients Over 13 for HIVWebMD
Guideline Urges HIV Tests for All Patients 13 and OlderWashington Post
MedPage Today - MarketWatch
all 56 news articles


Organogenesis Receives Two Prestigious Awards for Economic Impact ... - MarketWatch

Organogenesis Receives Two Prestigious Awards for Economic Impact ...
MarketWatch -8 hours ago
Organogenesis was the first company to successfully mass produce living regenerative medicine products -- reaching hundreds of thousands of patients in the ...

FDA continues gathering information on cough medicine use in children - AAP News (subscription)

FDA continues gathering information on cough medicine use in children
AAP News (subscription) -8 hours ago
Cough and cold products are among the most widely used medicines in children. These drugs, which treat symptoms not the underlying disease, fall into four ...