My Hemorrhoids Story



When I was in my teens and twenties I occasionally got small lumps on my anus which went away after a couple of days. It wasn't until I was in my late thirties that I started to get more serious cases of hemorrhoids. I know that I inherited the condition from my dad who often spoke about it to me when I was younger. He would say things like "don't force yourself to fart, you'll get hemorrhoids" or "don't push or strain too hard on the toilet, you'll get hemorrhoids". I often saw suppositories and Vaseline next to the toilet and wondered what they were for. Throughout my twenties I hardly heeded his advice, and it seemed to be of no concern that I occasionally pushed too hard on the toilet or had hard stools. Then when I reached 37 I noticed that I wasn't as lucky any more.

The first time I knew something was wrong was when I saw small traces of blood on the tissue paper after wiping. At the time it was most probably due to straining too hard. I immediately remember my dad's advice. The blood went away after several days but several months later I noticed that I started to get swellings on my anus after I passed a stool which I could sense when I stood up after pooing. The swellings went away after half an hour or so, so I assumed it was nothing serious. Then one day as I was passing a very hard stool and straining very hard I noticed a lot of blood in the toilet bowl. I checked online for causes of blood in the stool and various results came up including hemorrhoids, anal fissures, and anal cancer. The next several stools also had blood in them, and quite a lot. I panicked and immediately believed I had some form of cancer, due to the volume of blood. I knew it was blood from the rectum because it was bright red and not dark. I consulted a doctor, who recommended a colonoscopy. Luckily the bleeding stopped, and after consulting a second doctor I was advised that I didn't need a colonoscopy and that it was hemorrhoids, given the fact that there were swellings on my anus. The doctor performed a rectal examination which confirmed that I had a medium sized internal prolapsed hemorrhoid. I felt relief at hearing this news.

I decided that I had to change my diet and drink more water. I bought every kind of cereal under the sun and for a while I had wonderful soft poops regularly at 8am. But constipation set in again and in fear that I was going to have more bleeding stools I decided that the only way to avoid straining was by taking suppositories. The problem with suppositories is that once the rectum gets used to the powerful effects of the laxative, it becomes difficult to the return to normal passing of the stools. So I was forced to take suppositories for a month. The hemorrhoid continued to grow until it got very large and very painful and it was hard to insert the suppository. Eventually it receded however, and I dared to try straining a little bit. Fortunately this worked, and I haven't needed suppositories since, although I do have to strain a little bit when I pass my stools.

Here is a brief overview of hemorrhoids:

Hemorrhoids are swollen veins in your lower rectum or around your anus. There are two type of hemorrhoids:

-external hemorrhoids which form under the skin of the lower anus
-internal hemorrhoids which form in the anus and the lower rectum

Hemorrhoids can have various causes such as:

-chronic constipation
-straining during bowel movements
-you are older than 50
-you are pregnant
-you do a lot of heavy lifting.

Hemorrhoids can be avoided by adjusting your diet. This includes:

-eating food with plenty of fiber such as oats, wheat bran, vegetables
-drinking a lot of water

Changes can be made to your lifestyle such as exercising regularly or taking walks, cutting down on alcohol or coffee to avoid constipation.

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