After Hemorrhoidectomy Surgery - Recovery time, Swelling, Pain

use tucks pads for swelling....

alarm wrote:

Just had hemorrhoidectomy surgery 4 days ago (on a Wednesday). Asked the Dr. prior to surgery when I would be able to go back to work, and he said Monday. It is now Sunday morning, and there is no way I would be able to sit down at my office for a full days work. Not feeling much pain. The pain is actually bearable compared to what others have posted. Am currently on Vicodin, but only take as needed. Pain was prevalent immediatelly after the surgery and I received a dose of Morphine while still in the hospital, but no extreme pain after that. Have not had a BM yet either. Seems that I will be in extreme pain based on other people's posts, so I'm just hoping for the best. Recommendations on lessening the pain? The only concern is the swelling. I was not aware that so much swelling would occur after surgery. It looks like a huge external hemorrhoid outside of the anus. Called my Dr. since I was concerned that he didn't remove the hemorrhoid completely, but he said what I was seeing was normal and the mass was actually swelling due to the surgery. Has anyone encountered this before? How do I reduce the swelling? Nothing seems to work. Tried to ice it and also tried the sitz bath, but it doesn't seem to reduce the swelling. Because of the swelling, I am unable to walk or sit. I am still lying in bed. The pain is very minimal so therefore once the uncomfortable "mass" is less swelled, I would be able to return to work. Help with swelling!

I had major pain after the surgery. Worst thing i ever experienced. Horrible pain trying to have BM and when finally having BM (comes a point where you can't hold off any longer -- talk about fear). I can't say that I'm glad I did it, but i was having a lot of bleeding for several years prior to the surgery. However, every time I went for a checkup the doctor extended the length of time when I'd start looking and feeling normal. I'm not in pain now, but I still have external swelling. He said that would go down 'within a year' (originally I believe it was a month or slightly longer). But they also could come back. How will I know, if they don't go away to begin with? He cut out the internal rhoids, and that's great, but my butt still looks awful.

Hi everybody!
I've been reading all the coments about the hemorrhoidectomy... it sounds so bad. I even started to have second thoughts if I should do it or not, after reading how bad it is...but I did it and I'm probably among the lucky ones. It's been one week and 3 days since the surgery, I have no pain at all, I drive, play with my daughter, do everything that I used to do. I had my surgery on a Tuesday morning and I drove for the first time on Saturday, I stopped taking Vicodin on Friday morning...and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was painfull, indeed, but just for the first few days and, especially, with the first BMs. I guess for me it helped the sitz baths, I don't even remember how many times I've jumped in the bath tub every day ... what a relief!!! And then, eating fruits, vegetables, drinking a lot of water, prune juice, eating dried prunes, a lot of fiber intake helped also.
I was worried a little about the swelling, but that seems to go away little by little and the doctor said that if it doesn't all go away, he could just numb the area and do a small incision to cut the rest that might be bothering me. It feels so nice to be free of hemorrhoids, I even feel better about myself.
I would say the surgery it's worth it, but you have to embrace yourself, because it is painfull and I know it's different for everybody!
Good luck and have little pain to whoever chooses to go for it

I had my hemorrhoidectomy 19 days ago to have some external hemorrhoids removed. I was able to return to work a few days after the surgery. The pain during BMs has decreased dramatically in the past few days (thank goodness!), but I still have extensive swelling (and it looks like new external hemorrhoids but I see from the posts on here that it is probably just normal swelling). I feel much better most of the time, and I have even gone back to light exercise at the gym, but I am curious about how much longer I should expect this swelling to last. The biggest problem is that it is hard to get clean after a BM (because the swelling is actually worse than the skin tags from the original hemorrhoids) and it is so frustrating because I am afraid to use the bathroom at work to make a BM and I hold it until I get home (so I can bathe right afterward to get clean). I would love to ask my surgeon this, but it seems that he just left for a 4 week vacation (must be nice). Although I am back to work and I am doing most normal things again, it is hard to plan trips and such for work because I am fearful I will be unable to have a place to make a BM where I can bathe right afterward. The surgeon said the wounds should be pretty much healed at the 6-week mark. Will I have to wait to the 6-week mark for the swelling to stop? Can anyone give me an idea of the timeframe in which I can expect the swelling to be gone??? Thanks so much!

I'm relieved to hear that others have the same type of swelling down there after the hemorrhoidectomy. I am a little freaked out because whatever is coming out of my butt is worse than the hemorrhoid was. I am 17 days post op and feel pretty good. BMs are still a bit of a challenge but not bad at all. It's just the swelling - it feels like a big roid.

Those of you who have experienced it... has it gone away? How long did it take? My doctor said it is skin tags that are swollen. He says if the swelling doesn't go down and the tags don't go away, that he can just do a procedure in the office to snip it off (sounds easy enough but he also said the hemorrhoidectomy would be easy! hello?!!!).

Any response would be helpful and appreciated.

Glad to have read the last few posts, I have been all morning readinf posts from this forum and it was starting to get scary. I have external ones and my surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday. I have an idea it woud be painful but reading all the other posts I was getting worried. My doctor told me that the recovery period was 1 week to 10 days and all the previous posts were saying that it was their 3rd week and they were still in pain. I was thinking OMG, I'm going to die.

My roids are external and they do not bother me, they don'r bleed, itch or hurt. Do you strongly recommend I have the surgery, I woud actually be having it for cosmetic purposes.

All your input would be great.

Thanks

External hemorrhoids don't bleed. And if they are
not causing you any pain or discomfort when having
standing and walking, why remove them ?

Why have it done for cosmetic reasons ? Your anus
is hidden from view most of the time.

As with any form of surgery, there are risks,
and with the general anesthesia as well.

Although very rare, there have been fatalities
with hemorrhoidectomies, even with banding
and sclerotherapy injection. Sepsis is the main risk.
Go check it up on Medline, since I can't post
links here.

There was a case not too long ago in one of the
private hospitals in Malaysia here. The guy went
to to develop septicemia from the wound, and died.

This is a rare event again, but the risks are there.
The GA can cause thromboses (clots) to form in the
blood stream. In one case here a couple of years ago
in Kuala Lumpur, one young lady who had plastic surgery
for her nose in a private clinic was fine. On walking out
of the clinic, she dropped dead. Although never disclosed,
it was very likely she developed a blood clot from the
anesthesia, which went to her brain and caused a stroke.

there is nothing wrong with doing it for cosmetic purposes -- especially if you are someone who enjoys anal sex. it will be a lot of pain, but probably worth it in the long run.

Just wondering about the results of hemorrhoidectomy. I read about swelling after surgery that appears the hemorrhoidectomy was not complete. I too was beginning to wonder what my dr. removed since there remains a swollen mass that looks like a kidney bean. Will swelling go down and become smooth area??? Just had my surgery 10 days ago and can finally sit almost completely normally now, but not for extended periods of time yet. Please reply!!

just had hemmorhoid surgury 10/12/07 and want to know how lone it took the swelling to go down. was told it was the mass and would go away and know developed rash. don't know what to do.

**edited by moderator**