White, Red And Rrrrs... (My Experience of Haemorrhoids/Piles)

Member Name: SlyClone2k

Product:	My Experience of Haemorrhoids/Piles
Date:	22/07/02 (5872 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Painful, Itching and uncomfortable

Haemorroids. Well, we don’t talk about them do we? We don’t really talk our ailments ever do we? That’s not macho, that’s not the male way. We can joke about it, laugh at people having to sit on cushions, watch stand ups talk about it. Normally though very little is actually said about the condition itself. But I’m going to rivet you with a read regarding the raging throb that comes with an oft’ misunderstood illness.

I first encountered piles at the age of about 19. As far as I can tell this is a quite a young age to get this particular problem, no one I know actually admits to suffering from them, and to date I’ve only spoken to someone who knows someone and, well, my dear old mama.

The condition of Haemorroids comically known as @rse grapes and piles come in two forms, internal and external. The difference being a blood vessel swelling either before the anus or just outside it. I’ve been fortunate to only encounter the second form. For me I suspect the cause was sitting on cold marble blocks, which combined with a poor diet (at the time I was 19. Eating very little, I mean very little even compared to students. Every other day I’d buy a packet of spaghetti and eat it, with a little salt and pepper, I was poor) caused me to first notice some of the first signs. Early on I noticed a few small blots of red on my toilet paper – post wipe, occasionally an itching around the anus would drive me to distraction. I knew that there must be something wrong and successfully diagnosed myself using a copy of Dr. Schumans medical dictionary.

Now I’d seen a tube of Germaloids lying around my parents bathroom (when I visited) and applied a small dollop by hand. When I was applying the cream I noticed a small swelling that was a barely discernable bump. Wow this is more disturbing to write about than I thought, but you needn’t suffer alone! The product actually comes with a long th
in tube that I guess allows you to apply the cream more directly, however my method was sufficient and for a short time the problem went away.

I’ve experienced similar problems over the years, and occasionally after a night out, particularly after a night clubbing (we’re talking super clubs here, with all that commonly entails (if you catch my drift) (and getting cold and sweaty)). The problem would increase to give me some discomfort; pain and a small inspection would reveal a small bump just outside the anus. This worried me somewhat, I mean a little blood and itching is fine, but when bits of you start coming out in bumps and are painful it becomes disturbing.

Further reading advised that a blood vessel was swollen; the blood vessels are pretty much just veins. Technically it includes arteries, veins and capillaries. Which ones get sore in your bottom I don’t know but I’m guessing it’s the later. Anyway, generally these problems would also be alleviated by a few applications of Germaloids (Germoloids from the makers of Germolene, a most reputable antiseptic cream is very similar in smell and consistency to its cousin) occasionally over the course of a few days. I also tried Anusol, but found it very greasy which didn’t make walking very pleasant, and since you have to apply it three times a day and after a stool (try explaining that to a non-English speaker, “yeah stool.. no not one you sit on.. one you ummm pass from the bottom.. no it doesn’t have three legs.. I don’t know why!) it can become quite disconcerting and uncomfortable.

Finally though a few weeks ago I succumbed to a vicious attack. What started as a slight pain, soon became a raging throbbing in my bottom area that left me sidling from foot to foot and it was extremely difficult to sit or even lie comfortably. It was soon very apparent the over the counter remedy I usually rely on was not going to help, I was applyin
g it but the pain was not going away (as it usually would within a few moments), the swelling was much more severe than anything I’d <ahem> felt before. My wife was away for a few days and had taken our only car with her. Over a three day period the pain became so intense that I walked to the doctors, buttocks clenched, in a kind of buck kneed fashion not once but twice in order to get an emergency appointment. I described the symptoms to the doc, and he confirmed what I already knew. I guess he could see my pain and dispensed with the need for an actual examination (The examination generally involves an internal “look” with the doctors gloved and lubricated finger doing the looking) which I’m grateful for and instead advised me to sit in a bath of warm water that was heavily salted, and wrote me a prescription for the things I’d been wanting to avoid. Suppositories.

I went to the chemist and picked up 21 days worth of Proctosedyl. The suppositories contain two active ingredients, Cinchocaine hydrocloride a local anaesthetic and Hydrocortisone a steroid that helps to reduce the swelling. The ingredients permeate a small piece of hard fat roughly half the radius of your little finger and about 2 or 3 cms long. I can’t saying putting them in is fun, in as much pain as I was they caused further discomfort that for quite sometime was difficult to bare. The pain nearly bought me to tears, not least because it was so persistent. Even after the worst of the pain had abated, inserting a small finger of fat (and not fudge, although the warning of not to eat the suppositories left me wondering) into the back passage leaves you feeling uncomfortable, not dislike the feeling you get before you need to go to the toilet. But I grinned and bared it and the problem has, by and large, gone away again. Though it took another 8 days for complete relief and a few days after that for the swelling to go down.

That pretty much sum
s up my experiences to date, I thought sharing this would be useful to people that don’t often share their problems and might be suffering. The whole buying of over the counter drugs for this condition has a similar stigmata attached as say that of buying condoms, I’m guessing because it is often part of the stand up comics act. This also in some part pushed me in to buying Germaloids, the fact it has such a similar name and packaging to its cousin left me feeling a little easier about it.

About half of us are likely to experience them by the age of 50, and the condition is most common in pregnant women, but don’t let the idea that age or pregnancy are going to be the only things that cause it. Sitting and resting in conditions that are too hot or cold, this can include the bath or cold benches or a poor diet, chiefly lacking in fibre, could cause a condition that can be abated, but actual surgery is the only complete cure. There are four main forms of treatment, none of which sound very pleasant to me.

For Internal
Rubber band ligation: a rubber band is placed around the base of the haemorrhoid inside the rectum. The band cuts off circulation, and the haemorrhoid withers away within a few days.
Sclerotherapy: a chemical solution is injected around the blood vessel to shrink the haemorrhoid.
For External
Electrical or laser heat (laser coagulation) or infrared light (infrared photo coagulation): both techniques use special devices to block the circulation of haemorrhoidal tissue.
Haemorroidectomy: occasionally, extensive or severe internal or external haemorrhoids may require removal by surgery known as haemorrhoidectomy, a procedure performed under general anaesthetic in hospital.

Prevention is easy, work on ensuring pleasant soft stools and don’t strain to hard when you are trying to pass them. Keep extreme temperatures away from your bottom.

Most of the over counter remedies come
in a variety of forms including creams, gel and you can also buy suppositories. Look out for Anusol, Germaloids and Preperation H.

WARNING.

I’ve explained a bunch of symptoms that can also be indicative of more serious and life threatening issues including colorectal cancer, so if you are in doubt visit your GP.

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