It’s hard to believe that hemorrhoids are nothing more than veins that are swollen somewhere along the anal canal. Whether they swell internally or externally, the symptoms can be frightening, painful, annoying and embarrassing. Bright red blood might be apparent after having a bowel movement. Pain and pressure can make sitting down very uncomfortable. It’s maddening to have an itch that’s impossible to scratch. There can also be a burning sensation.
They are very common because they have such simple causes. When pressure builds up around the veins, they swell. It can happen if you strain too hard when having a bowel movement. It can occur when obesity puts added pressure on the veins. Pregnancies and hemorrhoids tend to go together. It’s possible to have them inside and outside simultaneously, making it doubly challenging to deal with. Yes, it does happen.
If they swell enough, they can pop out of the anus and be put under even more pressure from the anal muscles. This is extremely painful, especially if the circulation becomes cut off. When they’re on the outside, they can easily become irritated and form clots that harden and cause a lot of discomfort.
Unfortunately, there are no cures for hemorrhoids, regardless of what causes them or where they appear. There are treatments for the symptoms. There are medical procedures that don’t always work to remove them. Even when removed, there’s never any guarantee that there won’t be a recurrence.
Some simple remedies for getting relief from burning and itching include sitz baths, hydrocortisone creams and lidocaine-based ointments. When they’re painful, use moist baby wipes instead of toilet paper. There are medicated pads that can be tucked into place externally to provide some relief. They contain witch hazel which can shrink them considerably. They won’t make them disappear.
Hemorrhoids are graded on a scale from I to IV, with IV being severe enough to require surgical intervention. For the three lower grades, there are in-office treatments and procedures that can be done without any anesthesia. For small internal ones that are bleeding, there’s an attempt to shrink them through injections of special solutions. This is known as injection sclerotherapy and it often fails.
When the injections don’t work, or when the hemorrhoids are large, rubber band ligation is performed. In this common internal treatment, a rubber band is put around the base to cut off the blood supply. The starved portion of vein dies and falls away, leaving scar tissue to hold the surrounding veins in place. This is a painful procedure.
When the pain factor keeps someone with low pain tolerance from having rubber band ligation, or when the ligation doesn’t work, the final non-surgical procedure to consider is infrared photocoagulation. Infrared radiation is directed through an anal probe, targets the tissue and burns it away. This procedure has to be repeated several times and carries a great chance for recurrence.
A hemorrhoidectomy is performed when nothing else works. The tissue is surgically removed. Even after surgical removal, there’s a chance that the condition will recur. Knowing that there is no cure and that no treatments or procedures are guaranteed to have lasting results, it would be wise to make an effort to prevent them from forming in the first place. Developing and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle can greatly reduce your chances of getting hemorrhoids. For more information visit http://www.hemorrhoidanswer.com
