Hemorrhoidectomy Recovery - how long will it take?

GJPJC · Newbie Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 15

Tryingtobebrave,

Thanks for the post.

I cannot believe you went without the pain meds. There's no way my wife could have done that. Our doctor said that the Percocet was pretty constipating, but the she shouldn't have a problem with the Vicodin. We really haven't noticed a problem.

We are at four weeks yesterday.

The improvement is definitely two steps forward, one step back. She goes from feeling almost 100% better to "get me my Vicodin" in a matter of minutes.

I'm interested in the fact that Aleve worked better for you. Aleve is a miracle drug when I hurt due to some kind of inflammation, and I thought it might be better for her. A resident told us to stick with ibuprofen, though. Maybe we should try the Aleve thing once.

She said this morning, "I don't know what I would ever tell people who are thinking of having this surgery. I still don't know if this was worth it."

I reminded her of all the reasons we decided to go through with it, and she agreed. I said that she should tell people to only go through with it if it is causing another medical problem (such as anemia) or if it is really affecting your quality of life.

I like your analogy about childbirth. That's probably right on. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure my wife would value our kids higher than not having hemmorhoid problems! Laughing

Anyway, there is no doubt about this being a 6-8 week recovery. I don't know how some people who have posted on this thread say they went back to work in two weeks.

tryingtobebrave · Newbie Joined: 18 Jan 2007 Posts: 7

I was back to work on day 10 but went home after 3 hours. Day 11 I lasted 5 hours. I, too, was shocked that each day was not a leap forward. I kept waiting, but would tell my husband that it was another bad or so-so day.

The one thing that really helped me was Reiki. My sister told me to try it and I was so skeptical and suspicious as the Reiki master was breathing and waving her hands in the air like hocus-pocus. It was day 8 and I could barely get out of bed, so she brought a massage table and did it here at my house. The next day, I got up, came downstairs, which I had not done, cleaned the kitchen, cooked, did laundry and felt grand. The next day, I was limping around again. I thought I had turned the corner, but no. I still did not believe it was Reiki that made me feel better, so I had another session on day 11. I was able to drive there but could barely stand to lie on the table for 55 minutes. Again, each passing hour made me feel stronger and better. Day 12 was terrrific. Then downhill again.

I had 3 veins operated on. There are only 3 veins in that area, so mine were the worst and the max. I knew it would be a horrendous, painful recovery, but all my friends said that they would do it again. So, I hung in there. This is day 34 and there is no pain, but there is still discomfort.
My doctor said that I would not be happy until the 6 week check up. At my 3 week check up, she said that I was miserably swollen and "clamped up".

Life is resuming back to normal. I have rejoined the marital bed, cautiously, but successfully. If only I could lose the dumb warm sitz-bath.
Now I know what it is like when a pacifier is taken away.

Time to have my fiber drink. I have so much in common now with the nursing home set.

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I had my hemorrhoidectomy on 2/13/07. Had all 3 external/internal veins removed, plus a little one that the surgeon saw developing. The first 5 days were definitely the hardest part of it all. I never experienced that type of pain before. The first night I had to be taken to the ER because I could not urinate. I also did not have a BM until day 5, which was definitely worse than childbirth.
The start of the second week was definitely better for me. I got off the pain meds after my first BM, and just went with regular Tylenol. The Vicodin was making me feel really sick, so I decided to just make do with the pain. I returned to work yesterday, which was my two week mark. I sit all day, but with my handy doughnut pillow, I was pretty comfortable. Don't get me wrong, the area is still pretty tender to the touch and still swells here and there, but the pain has definitely decreased. I saw the surgeon on 2/26 and he said all was healing well.
I still have some bleeding during BM's, but it the pain definitely decreases with each one. The key is to have the soft bulky stool. I take two stool softeners (morning and night), and drink metamucil 3 times a day. So far, this has been the best recipe for me. I've also cut back on foods that cause constipation and eat foods high in fiber.
I definitely feel very fortunate to have the progress that I have. For the two weeks that I was off work, I pretty much laid on my side the whole time to avoid putting pressure down there. I don't know if that's what has helped me heal faster than normal. I also still do my sitz bath about 3-4 times a day.
Looking forward to the day when all my external scars heal up and I can finally slide around the sofa and bed.

Tryingtosurvive · Newbie Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 1

I had the surgery one week ago and am trying to cope with the exhausting recovery period. i've read lots of posts but haven't had anyone mention fecal leakage. this is somewhat gross but let's face it we are all having problems with our bottoms.... does anyone have fecal leakage in addition to bleeding? this has to be the worst part for me. also when should the bleeding and leakage end? this surgery was worse than delivering any of my children (which i did without an epidural). is there light at the end of the tunnel? any advice would be great. thx.

alshash · Newbie Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

I must say, I've been reading this board for the past couple weeks and it has both terrified and comforted me! I'm a male in my upper 20's and noticed most who did the surgery are female mothers so I'm not sure if my experience relates, but I just finished week 2 of the recovery process.

Wow. Obviously, the first week was pure hell. I learned what kind of pain thresholds we have as humans and also tested the patience in my wife who was taking care of me that week. It was awful and i regretted the surgery every day. The doctor said he removed two golf-ball sized 'roids from me so i'm not sure if that's extreme or normal.

At first the Vicodin was useless and I was upped to Percocet which worked fine for 4 or 5 days...actually, it seemed worthless but it screwed with my mental state so much probably that it made the days go by faster. I also was prescribed sleeping medication (Ambien CR) to help with sleeping through the pain. The bathtub was my best friend many many times a day, whether or not it helped it at least gave me something to do besides focus on the pain. I then switched back to Vicodin because it seemed to work better than the Percocet. I used up the entire prescription (2 pills every 3-4 hours) and now I am proud to say that the pain has subsided and I'm off pain medication!

Life seems great right now because I don't have the normal daily pain. I went back to work after about day 11 or 12...all in all, my days are fine and great, no problems - Iwork about 6 hours or so a day. But the night time is a different story. For some reason I am in pain only at night, the tags kill, and I have fecal drainage that burns. I bathe all night and lie in bed unable to sleep (the ambien seems to no longer work). And of course the worst part is the bowel movements...i am definitely constipated and feel lucky when even a quarter-size bm occurs. I am on the citrucel twice a day and the stool softners 2-3 a day so I dont know whats wrong? I can't seem to think of anything good to eat except for salads and apples/fruits...but I starve at night after eating just that stuff - anyone have any good tips for fiberous but filling meals? Whenever I have those constipated BM's, it feels like hell and makes me feel like I'm returning to week 1...I'm scared of milk of mag. after reading all the scary posts. Sounds like that is bad stuff? maybe i just should just double my citrucel?

In any case, it seems like some people recover faster than others and I'm really hoping to be a 4-week case because I have an extremely important business trip after week 4 that I shouldn't miss.

So if the BM issue was better than I would love life right now, but at leasting half a normal day is better than nothing!

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wow. this is a painful procdure. i had this done 2 weeks ago. bm's are terrifying. my doctor told me to do a milk and molassis enimma when i was having trouble with my bm's,this absollutly saved my life.

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week 6 - I cant believe I'm here. Time is truly the factor!
This was my 4th hemect. None of the previous were like this,yet bad enuf that I swore I'd never do it again. I felt I didnt have a choice. At the 3week check I asked the doc if I would ever be like a normal person - "Maybe"...
Still having trouble w/ some bms. Still on 3 stool softners a day and Miralax (1tsp) at nite. Its hard to find a balance w/ soft but not too soft so youre going urgently all day.
My surgeon warned me to control it or I cold end up back in surgery w/ a fissure. This scares the crap out of me (ha sorry), but what a balancing act.
I'm eating prunes and salad and beans and sweet potatoes etc. but because of meds for other issues its hard to keep up w/ enuf water. I hope I dont have to take softners and eat like this forever. (anyone?)
As an encouragement to all in early stages - I can walk 20 min. - I can sit more than just 1 hour! Hang in...it gets better!

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I had a hemorrhoidectomy 3 days ago. Wow. I have never experienced so much pain in my life. I've had kidney stones, four children and knee surgery...nothing even comes close to this. I can't even think sometimes the pain is so bad. I've been taking Vicodin every 4 hours around the clock and I'm almost out of the prescription. Should I call for a refill or just try to tough it out? I don't want to have to take the pain meds, but I can't seem to function even a little bit without it. Is it O.K to take ibrofuen? I'm not sure if it will make me bleed. I'm bleeding during b/m quite a bit..it goes through my pants afterwards and is very uncomfortable and becomes irritating. Any info would be helpful...this is worse than I ever imagined. Thanks for the help.

Hemorrhoidectomy Recovery - how long will it take?

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