Complications after hemorrhoid surgery

You sound like you're having a much tougher time. I think my doctor (a general surgeon) removed too much tissue with the surgery (2 large internals and 1 external), so like you I had to use stool softener and laxatives to get it to come out and that allowed scar tissue to form making the opening even narrower. I knew for sure that was it when I tried to use a glycerine suppository but couldn't get it in. It was too painful for an exam even when the doctor tried using his little finger.

I switched to a colon/rectal surgeon to try to correct the stenosis. I'm fortunate in that I'm not working so my schedule is a little more flexible. If I was still working in an office and had to deal with my toilet problems there it would be that much more stress.

I worry about getting hemorrhoids again because of the stenosis. My doctor still thinks there's a chance this can be corrected without the anoplasty and I hope that proves to be true. Till then, I'll keep up with the Miralax and try to to keep my BMs as firm as possible without getting stopped up. I do hate waking up every morning and my first thought is about whether or not I'll have a good BM.

You should probably talk to your doctor about how best to handle things. Maybe a stool softener or Miralax would be better since it won't be as liquid as the enema makes it. That's what I do. I resort to an enema maybe once every week or week and a half. Another thing that someone in this forum recommended and seems to help me, is to gulp a liter of water first thing in the morning. You have to drink it as fast as you can and it should go straight through and help push out the BM.

Good luck and let me know of your progress. You can see some of my other posts in a thread about scar tissue after hemorrhoid surgery.

Thanks for you story.

When you say scar tissue, do you have your wounds epithelized?
You are saying he removed too much tissue, had you open wounds left or you had them sutured?

Every morning I open eyes with so much depression, I am waiting a kid with my wife, first one and was about to prepare to his birth, did this stupid surgery on 07.02.2013 hoping to get rid of this problem and never return to it, and put all my efforts and power to take care of him. Now I need to take care about myself, not about my wife and kid!!! This makes me so pissed. I wanted a better, and this hemorhhoids were not disturbing me so much, I just wanted to do everything before birth. That was stupid mistake and I got complications and never believe I can grab a beer and eat some Mcdonalds ever!!

But I accepted this limitation, and I am ready to drink Miralax till end of my life, I just don't want to feel discomfort going to bath and during the day due to stupid open wound. That are my wishes at the moment.

Surgery is not a joke, this is not easy, but I trusted doctor saying I will be ok after 1 week.

My surgeon used a scalpel that also cauterized. I don't think I had any stitches, at least it was supposed to be stitch-free. I've read that sometimes when the internal hemorrhoids are large, the surgeon might cut away too much tissue and the result is a smaller anus. My current doctor said he couldn't find anything that was done wrong in the previous surgery, so it's just a guess on my part (not considered "wrong", but not done in the best way maybe?). When you have surgery or even an external cut, some people are prone to developing scar tissue. I had a lot of scar tissue from endometriosis, so maybe I'm one of those that is more likely to get it. Either way, both doctors said there is scar tissue. I don't know about "epithelized". The doctors just called it scar tissue. It formed a rigid ring so it's not elastic there like the rest of that area.

I wonder if you have an anal fissure? On that other thread I told you about (https://www.steadyhealth.com/Scar_tissue_after_hemorrhoid_surgery_t309565.html), a woman named sassycat had hemorrhoids removed right after she had a baby and ended up with both stenosis and a fissure. It was her fissure causing pain but the stenosis put more pressure on it. She was having good luck using coconut oil to help with the fissure.

Have you been back to the doctor to get a diagnosis of stenosis or fissure?

I'm 55 and took early retirement (well, I was laid off from my last job and didn't get another one). I help a lot with my mother, whose health started to decline when I had the surgery, but that's not every day. I can't imagine going through this and having a kid to take care of -- or in your case having a pregnant wife to help.

 

hey COOL & NEED NOT TO WORRY AT ALL !

NO MATTER HOW SERIOUS IS UR HEMORRHOIDS/FISTULA PROBLEM  CLASSICAL AYURVEDIC KSHAR SUTRA THERAPY IS HERE WITHOUT ANY MAJOR HAZARDS.

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Hi I hope this helps anyone after a hemroidectomy. I had surgery 5 weeks ago and my surgeon said id be off work for one week and I have been of for 5 weeks now. Firstly the key is before the operation I feel my surgeon should have advised I take laxatives 3 days before the operation ie 2 x Movicol am, aftertoon and pm before bed. Also 2 x Dulcoease am and pm before bed to soften the stools along with the Movicol.

2nd After the operation my pain releif was not under control which I might add was worse than having a baby. I was in agony and had to be admitted back to hospital twice as I could not pass a stool which was lodged then I could not pee and went into urine retention so catheter fitted, which I was so thankfull for at the time as could not deal with that and the pain. So if you can take it ask for 30/500mg of codeine/paracetamol together with phosphate in as this  also helps move your bowels. Once the pain is controlled and you will feel sleepy, also take the above laxative regime if your not allergic or have kidney problems etc ask your GP first. Now pain under control and stools soft but you should have diorehha to start with as dont forget you will be swollen down there.

3rd Get your pack of frozen peas out of the freezer and wrap in a tea towel and pop on your bottom for 5/10 minutes at a time.

4th by the second week you should ask GP for Anusol suppositories and cream, it will be difficult at first putting your suppositories in but remember make sure your pain under control first. I have also found Sudocrem to be very soothing on the outside of the bottom and it helps with the itching which will come when your body is starting to heal.

5th Drink up to 5 glasses of water / squash a day not all at once stagger it. Breakfast try to have Porridge or Oatiflakes with chopped banana and bluberries with skimmed milk or soya milk and a slice of brown bread with butter and jam cup of tea.     Eat 5 fruit and veg a day ie one portion of veg = say the size of your hand filled with chopped carrots = 1 portion or  1 apple = 1 portion. Lunch omelette with salad and ham you get the idea eat healthy. 

6th You can ask the Gp for 8/500mg codeine / paracetamol for in the day time when you start if at all to feel less pain but still have your 30/500mg tablets before bed as you will sleep better and when we sleep we heal that is why the diet is important. You should be able to cut back on laxatives by 3rd to 4th week also ie just have 2 dulcoease at nite. You will find that your stool will start to become wider and when you sit on the toilet and you are ready to go I found that rocking front to back side to side and then lean right back on toilet when you are ready to push, this helps to evacuate it quicker and dont forget to take deep breaths in and out.

Im coming up to 6 weeks next week which I am going back to work I am still not 100 percent but feel it will take another month or so for a full recovery.  Sending everyone healing thoughts and remember pain must be under control first as a priority : ) hope this helps

 

Hi tb1,

I is already 3 months from my surgery. Wounds are still not healed. 

I had several visits to my surgeon, but he keeps telling "give it a time". 

Also I went for second opinion and one of the doctors created a fissure during his exam, pushing on spasmed canal.

Another wanted to make rectoscopy, which I don't want at this stage, as even digital exam is shitty painful.

 

I don't know what to do, my BM is still narrow, not like it was before op. I think I should give it even more time, probably 4-5 months. 

 

At least I don't have so much burning and pain during BM. Seems it will be better, I just am afraid of stenosis.

What is normal size of BM? I mean diameter?

 

 

It's been over 6 months since my surgery and my last normal BM. And it's not like I ever thought about how big they were. I know sometimes they were bigger and hurt when they came out. I believe my normal BMs used to be 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. Since my surgery, they were at first about the size of a straw or pencil. Now they're the size of a finger. But if it gets too firm it doesn't want to come out and it feels like the area behind the stricture just balloons with the stuff backing up there. Frustrating! But I'm still hoping it will get better. I guess that's better than just giving up.

Hi,

What kind of hemmorhoidectomy you had?
What does doctor say all about this? Is there any way to fix the things down there now?

He didn't give a name to my surgery. He just said he used a knife that cauterized while it cut. I had one external and two large internals removed. I've had dilation under anesthesia 3 times to get it to the size it is. Now I'm taking a few months to see if the scar tissue will soften up just through bowel movements and stretch on its own. The only other solution is a surgery called anoplasty, but I'm so worried about complications from ANY surgery now and am afraid I could end up even worse than I am now.

My original surgery was done by a general surgeon. I've been going to a colon/rectal surgeon for treatment of the stenosis. I wish I had done that for the hemorrhoids. Maybe I wouldn't be so bad off now.

Hi tb1,

I wish to help you. And was reading one woman story about anal stenosis and anoplasty she underwent last month.

Basically there are 2 women, one did this 5 years ago, and she is happy. Second one suffered from hemmie surgery 25 years, and now she passed surgery with double flap.

Please let me know, I can share their contacts.

I heard, there are higher scar tissue rates for different human race. I am negro, and seems our race has more probability to get scar tissue and following stenosis.

Also answering about your question in regards of fissure.

Yes I do have small some 3mm fissure. Which was created during one of my "second" opinion visits by one of the doctor. She pushed finger while I was in spasm, and caused bleeding and fissure.

Now I am trying to heal it already 1month. It is only place causing pain for me during BM. It is small but painful.

Not sure what else I can do at this moment.

I didn't get notified of this post and just found it. Please send me the contact information for the women who had the anoplasty. I would like to hear about the problems they had before it and how they feel after this surgery, since it's still a possibility for me.

Igor,

From your posts, you and I have similar issues. I am 18 months past 1st surgery. 3 months after the original hemorhoidectomy, they went in to check for a fistula and "reset" the wounds at that time. How long healing takes is an individual thing, for the incisions, that is. My understanding of what "reset" meant is that they scraped the wounds to try to get them to heal in a fresh way.

My situation is very irregular. Mornings are "hell!". I often go to bed feeling super bloated. At dinner, I mix 2 heaping tablespoons of Konsyl psyllium fiber with 8 ounces of liquid, then follow with 10 + ounces of liquid. By around 11 PM, I can pass a descent sized bowel movement. Sometimes this is slow to happen, other times it goes OK. Occasionally, I sleep till morning, but more often, I get up again in the middle of the night and slowly pass up to 1 lb of c**p.

In the mornings, I tough out about 4 sessions on the pot. Some times the stools can be over 1" in diameter, other times it feels like I can only get up to 1/2" diameter. Late afternoons, I often have the urge to go, but at that time, it feels like my ass is clamped down so tight, I squeeze out only 1/4 inch strings of c**p. This experience feels like there is a fistula inside that the fecal matter is passing through. Painful, lots of friction and restricted.

Doctors have done little to help. They acted like it was in my head. I am now back with my GI doc and working on some different approaches. I have tried Miralax, Fiber, mixing the two, stool softeners combined with daily fiber, dilation. I went to a practice in Portland and had electric current applied to the (new hemorrhoids - they cam back after surgery) over a 3 day period (some success, but short term with that), I tried a pill called Linzess that my GI doc thought might help as some of my symptoms look like I have IBS. You are supposed to ramp up with this for 2 weeks. For me, I could not last more than a few days. Each day I took it, I would have bad diarhea for a couple hours an hour or two after taking it. I could not go to work or anything and take it in the morning with that going on. We tried on time late in the day on an empty stomach (1/2 hour before dinner), but the results were even worse there. I gave up quickly. No idea if the trots would go away after 2 weeks, but I am unwilling to try.

So, I wish I had answers. Perspective and knowing that we are not alone is a good thing. The way they address these treatments is IMHO barbaric. Like you, I so wish I had never tried the surgery. I was fine prior, I had just had 1 episode of hemorrhoids bleeding and had no idea of the possible complications from this surgery. The doctors are both in denial and are clueless about what works and how to fix issues.

I am going to try some more dilation, but am not convinced that it will help. I occasionally feel my spincter relax (when the fecal matter is the correct balance of firmness and shape) to pass stools normal size (between 1 and 1.5 " diameter), so I know my canal is big enough to handle this. It just feels like the muscles sometimes get restrictive in some weird way that blocks normal passage. I do know that my canal is somewhat warped (zig and zags) from the scar tissue from the 3 internal piles that were large and removed in the original surgery.

One more note. I was using nitro glycerin ointment to 3 times a day. It is .2% variety. You put a pea sized drop on your anus. I had a couple episodes of feeling faint while pushing during bowel movements. I almost passed out 2 times, even had to get off the pot, stopped pushing, breathed and was able to stay conscious. Nitro can slow your heart rate no matter where it is applied. I had upped my perception of how big a pea was and likely was doing more than I should have. Regardless, this was too scary, so I stopped trying it. It did seem to help a little with pain during bowel movements, but the trade off and scare of nearly passing out was too much for me.

I am working on all of the above with my GI doc. I was supposed to get a fresh colonoscopy 2 weeks ago, but this was cancelled just prior because of the near fainting. At the time, I did not connect that with the Nitro. I have a friend that is an ER doctor and she knows about my issues. She put the Nitro together with the fainting and that is when I quit that (1.5 weeks ago). We are going to reschedule the colonoscopy (The GI doc is going to look around in there for anything she might find as well while doing the colonoscopy). She also said she might do an MRI of that area to go further to see if she can find anything.

Hope is not gone that I can at least reduce the issues I have. At times I have had thoughts that life is almost not worth living with the burden of this. But, most of the time I can tuck it away. Days are not so bad, most of my issues come and go with the night and mornings. I few can bounce off each other with any ideas, I am all for it.

Hoping that we both get some progress going.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for information, could you enable possibility to send you private message via forum? I would like to chit chat with you regarding dilation you performed.

Hi Igor,

Not sure if this is private or not.   There is no button that shows for respond in private, even in the friend view.  Can anyone tell me how to  message in private.   I would be happy to communicate privately, but the style of this site does not make that clear.

 

Jeff