Hemorrhoid Surgery Recovery Time

Billy · Site Admin Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 306

Has hemorrhoidectomy helped you get rid of your troubles? How long did it take to heal?

This post is an extension of the What is the recovery time for hemorrhoid surgery thread.

Please continue posting within this thread.

god_help_me · Newbie Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

OK. It will be 8 weeks tomorrow and I am getting better. I can bike again and I work full days with no worries.

Here is my advice:

1) Find a good doctor and have traditional surgery. All the research I have done since my surgery indicates that a scalpel and stitches has the fewest complications, highest success rate, etc. Ask lots of questions and only go to a surgeon who you trust and is honest about recovery time: 2 weeks to be back on your feet getting stuff done and 6 - 8 weeks for the spot bleeding and minor pain/itching to stop.

2) Change you diet and BM habits BEFORE surgery. If you eat a high fiber low fat diet and drink plenty of water for a few weeks before surgery your recovery will be SO MUCH easier. You will not need stool softeners or enemas or laxatives. I wish I had done this. If your are used to quick, soft (not watery) BMs and a good diet you will not have to adjust to a whole new routine while recovering from surgery. I simply add psyllium to my favorite pureed fruit drink (Bolthouse Berry Boost or Blue Goodness) each night before bed and I am all set for the next morning. Also, I eat high fiber cereal every morning with non-fat lactose free milk. I usually have lentil or black bean soup for lunch.

I cannot stress how much better you will feel if you just have a nice smooth BM every morning (it will be painful but you can do it). Also, if you just eat the same things on a schedule you will have the energy and nutrients you need to get healthy. After I decided to suffer the pain and just eat right I got better very quickly. You need to eat real food and avoid chemical stool softeners and laxatives that are depleting your body of nutrients.

There is a difference between soluble and insoluble fiber! Benefiber will not help you that much with your BMs - raw Psyllium fiber will. Getting more soluble fiber is good too but I used Benefiber for a week and felt no better. I switched to insoluble fiber and it was like a miracle.

3) Exercise!! Go for a walk everyday. Do not stay in bed all day! I would make myself walk, even if only for 5 minutes, 3 times a day. Most importantly in the morning to help my body get started. You really do not need more than short walk a few times per day and you will really help recovery. And again, start before your surgery. Getting into good habits before you are recovering from surgery will help you get better faster. I actually find standing to be easier than sitting pretty much right away so if you cannot walk maybe just stand for 5 minutes every hour. Walk around your house or apartment if that is all you can do, but do something.

4) Take the pain pills. I would take them early in the morning so they would be at peak effectiveness for my morning BM - alarm at 6 AM to take pill, alarm at 8 AM to get up, drink a glass of water, go for a walk, have BM, warm soak or whatever makes you feel better. It took me a week to figure this out. Start right away.

5) Take a full 2 weeks off. Relax and focus on yourself. You will be able to get around the house to get beverages and food but not much else for a few days so plan accordingly. Movies, video games, Internet, whatever makes you happy and keeps your mind occupied. Take naps, do hot compresses, write a novel. There will be pain but it will be tolerable. This will give you some time to recover at your own pace. Also, tell work if it is at all possible. This surgery is fairly common and known to be difficult so they will be more understanding than you might think. Also, they will make bad jokes which might make you feel a little better.

I have lost 23 lbs and I am still losing weight. I hope to lose 15 to 17 more pounds and maintain my healthy diet and exercise for life.

There is no denying the recovery sucks, but with good planning and a good attitude I think you can improve your life. And if I had to do it again I would, but I will follow my own advice and hopefully I will not need another surgery.

If I think of anything else I will post it and I will give another update in a few weeks.

biscuit · Newbie Joined: 17 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

Wow, what a thread. Just read all of it.

I've been living with frequently prolapsed 'rhoids for ten years now. Had painful externals twenty years ago, but I had them cut and blod clots with veins removed - which was very easy for me - I was only twenty then.

I've never had thrombosed 'rhoids, but my butt hurts me enough to have changed me as a person, I think. When I have a flare-up, I get irritable, and I snap at my kids, and wife. I'm a mean person, sometimes. That is the worst thing about this. I act sometimes like a total asshole. My temper just pops, and I don't realize why, until I notice that my butt feels like there's a screwdriver in it. Anyone else do this? Does this account for road rage and the like we see in our society?

I don't think my pain has gotten so bad that I'd risk what I've read about in the above pages. My heart goes out to all of you - and I feel blessed by having read your stories. Patch - especially - I'm rooting for you, buddy.

I found this page because I'm sick of living with pain, and I was considering going in for the knife, but now, I doubt it.

Can anyone tell me if waiting will make the inevitable surgery in my future worse? I don't have thrombosis, and I don't fear my daily morning BM. It's not at all painful.

But frequently, I have increasing pain and irritation through the afternoon and evening. The build-up of feces resting on my hemmorhoids is irritating. Like having something stuck in my butt all day. Oh, yeah. I always have brown seepage after a BM. I usually try to wipe about 15 mins. after, and again in an hour. It's sort of like Patch's butt pea syndrome, but I haven't had the surgery yet. It's very irritating.

So how much worse will it be if i wait? If I get "fixed" now, will my risk of complications and relapse be better than if i wait ten years? I'm 45 now.

Thanks for all your advice!

saratogaterri · Newbie Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 3

I would recommend doing whatever you can to avoid the surgery. I did it only because i had no choice after the treatment of my thrombosis.
See a doctor because there are other options to treatment that may help you avoid surgery yet get you relief.
Let us know how you do.
T

patch · Newbie Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 21

Well here's my latest update. I said a few weeks ago that I was going to do the "male thing" and ignore the pain etc......hhhhmmmmm.

I went on a business trip to Thailand and Singapore for 10 days. The natural enemy of the post operation butt is an airplane seat for 10 hours. To be honest I guess it was ok but I was VERY relieved to get off the plane.

The reality is that as much as I say I am ignoring this and it is going away it really is not the case. I have a few good days and then a few shockers. I dont know what is normal anymore. I have 2 new (or missed) internal rhoids which the specialist wants to band in the surgery (yeah right) but I am in no hurry to go there at the moment.

We develop new technologies, mostly in renewable energy or energy effecient technologies and we are in the middle of negotiations for the 3 biggest deals of my life so I keep telling myself to forget my butt. The pity is that I was sitting in a meeting with the Singapore Government last week and I was in enough pain that I lost concentration. I am not being a wussy boy here, .......this hurts......

SO what should I or anyone else do? I really dont know. I had no choice but to have the operation. I was lying on a gurney in my doctors surgery and I could not get up. She rang a specialist and 2 hours later I was in an operating theater so I had very little choice.

I guess that if the situation is managable then I would put up with it. If an operation is really needed I would RESEARCH every doctor in the area and find who was getting good results and outcomes. Unfortunately I did not have that opportunity. I am not saying my specialist did anything wrong. He seems to be a good guy and very caring, I just dont know why I have had this outcome.

So for the time being I am going to put up with the bad days, love the good days and hope that I have more of the later then the former. I can still ride my motorbike on all but the very worst days and for the most part it is just this background "annoying" pain in the butt.

I will keep you all posted over the next little while and see if my situation improves. In the meantime I am going to look back through the posts and follow up on the natural remedies that have been listed. I have a deal of faith in alternative health treatments so I will try that.

Keep well all

Patch
PS want to see me patchmusic.net
This is me in another part of my life (not the corporate life)

Grendel · Newbie Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: USA

oldman2007 · Newbie Joined: 18 Jun 2007 Posts: 7

6 months of complaining!!!
6 months since surgery and you still have problems with farting?
Let me get this straight - you cant fart if the barometric pressure isn't quite right?
My advise: go see a shrink

patch · Newbie Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 21

Oldman,
I hope you are joking here and if so we all see the funny side. If not you are insensitive at best but probably what we Aussies call a wanker.

The different outcomes that people have with this operation would fill a book so be careful not to judge.

I have just returned from a business trip to Asia and there is a hospital I was told about (Singapore I think) that runs classes for post op hemm patients to tech them how to poo again so go figure. these people are not wimps, they just have different outcomes. My mother had this operation 30 years ago and it ruined her life. She is now 85 and is in pain every day.

If you had a great outcome power to you buddy but dont dare to be so smug regarding others.

Patch

Grendel · Newbie Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: USA

mtl_guy · Newbie Joined: 08 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

Most of these posts are scaring the heck outta me

OK so I've been told by my doctor that I have hemorrhoids. It only took him about half a second to know exactly what I had, so I'm guessing they're easily noticable. I can definitely feel one big one hanging there if I feel around back there. I haven't had any pain (yet), but I have had blood turn up on the toilet paper maybe 3 times in the last 8 months, which is why I got checked out in the first place. Sitting down isn't painful for now either, but my job requires me to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day. I'm 28 and expecting the next few years to be pretty busy, any advice on what I should do? My doctor told me that they would probably use the rubber band technique to get rid of them, and I have an appointment scheduled at the hospital for August 8th, which is when I was going to take my 2 week vacation. Should I do it just to get it over with ASAP? Have it removed using other methods? Postpone it? How long should I wait if I choose to? Any advice it appreciated.

Hemorrhoid Surgery Recovery Time

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