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Good info to know. I had the surgery last week and still hurting and the stitches.....like cactus in the rectum. I've been on Oxycodone every 6 hours for the past 3 days and just making it through. Diazapam helps with the pulsating pain. If you don't have a tub to sit in, a nice shower with the hand held nozzle works great and thanks to my new solar water heater, hot water is not an issue. Miralax every morning helps with the BM process and drinking loads of water is a no brainer. The softer it flows out, the less you feel like losing your mind from the pain. This is the 2nd time in 5 years I've had this operation -- first one nearly killed me without any exageration from the bleeding prior to surgery. Sanitary napkins like the ladies use are your friend so get over the hang ups at the checkout counter. It beats ruining your clothes and embarassing moments should you have to go out in public. Most of all, keep a good report with your doctor and don't forget the fiber. No matter how much chocolate repairs your mood, it kills your tail pipe so just say NO to chocolate sweets and candy. Easier said than done during Halloween time of the year.
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Guest wrote:
Just thought I'd share my history of Hemorrhoids with you as I love any chance to talk about them!
I'm a 33 year old male, healthy enough and have sufferred from hemorrhoids for the passed 10 years. I started getting them early on in my life thanks mostly to a poor diet and heriditary hemorroids (if such things exist?). My father suffered from them when he was young too. I only hope my son doesn't have to endure the same sufferring.
About 6 years ago I started to notice blood spotting when wiping my bottom after a BM. Horrified, I went to my local GP who said it was from my hemorroids. 2 years agao the bleeding was becoming more apparent. I'd have a bowel motion and immediately afterwards came the drip drip dripping sound of blood. And after wiping away I started to notice clots were being deposited. All this obviously went hand in hand with the weekly typical pain associated with hemorroids.....pain around the anus immediately after a BM and that other pain that just lasts for days. And the triggers were numerous too, it seemed that any activity that was prolonged aggravated it. Too much walking or too much sitting.
Mind you my employment didn't help, being in the armed forces for 9 years, where I would stand on a parade ground for hours on end or sit at a computer for hours. Impacted severley when you think how impossible it is to go to the toilet in the middle of a ceremonial parade? Or during a military operation where every second counts.
My next choice of employment hasn't made the situation any better. Now a policeman I can spend almost 6 hours a day just sitting in a car with infrequent moments of getting out (must be getting lazy!). Earlier on in this career I'd be on footpatrol walking around all day. Again not ideal situations in which to go to the toilet thus enhancing constipation and ultimately making 'our little friends' very angry. You can imagine being in a car chase and in the middle of it just saying, 'hang on, I need to go to the toilet." If only there were a pause button!
Anyway, after noticing the increased bleeding I decided to get something done about it. I underwent a Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy (Pig on the spit) and nothing much was found, except for hemorroids which we already knew were there. I was told if I'm still bleeding to come back in 10 years for a repeat procedure.....go figure.
I'm not a surgeon so i procrastinated on this advice for about a year before seeking a second opinion. Before seeing the surgeon I had bloods taken (which for some funny reason I never bothered with before), the results were frightening. My iron and hemoglobin were at levels bordering on anemia. (IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND YOU ARE BLEEDING FROM HEMORROIDS GET A BLOOD TEST DONE NOW!)
So I started a course of intramuscular iron injections into the buttocks. Hmmm, fun. I noticed the difference immediately. No longer felt tired or lethargic.
Anyway, I visited the surgeon who asked me to get up onto the examination table and assume the position. Believe me, by now, I'm over rectal examinations. So i assumed the position and began my bracing technique, the surgeon spread my cheeks, and as soon as he began to see he said 'we'll book you in for surgery right away.' Couldn't believe my luck, not a finger inserted and I was booked in to get the $#*(^Q things removed.
PAIN PAIN PAIN
4 days ago was H day. I thought I'd prepare the night before by taking a few fibre tablets, however, due to not being able to have my trigger the next morning.....coffee.....I didn't have a BM.
Surgery went well, three x hemorroids, gone gone gooooooone, for good I hope.
I began to wake up and recalled the posts on hemorroids I had read the night before and thought to myself, Pain? what pain? this feels great. I was aware that something had been done down there but couldn't feel any pain. a couple of hours later and a visit to pass some urine and a cigarette (See me in a couple of years on the Lung Cancer Forums!) I thought this is just fantastic. More feel good stuff please. I didn't want to go home but thought the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be so I organised to be picked up 5 hours post op. Somehow convinced the nurses and myself that I was fine.
It must've been as I was sitting down in the car trying to get comfortable in the seat when I recalled what the surgeon who operated on me said about the local. ''I put loads and loads of local into your anus, so you should feel fine for the afternoon till it wears off.""
And thus began my descent into the abyss of pain. .........brief pause as I need to sit in the bath as a write this......where was I....pain.
Well the ride home was just excruciating, with every moment that the local began to wear off, my pain and expectation of it was increasing.
I got home an hour later and began preparing a sitz bath. Followed by 2 panadeine forte. Weary of constipation, i ensured that everything I ate was full of fibre and each pain killer was followed by fibre tablets.
An hour after the pain killers and nothing had changed, so I took another. 2 hours later still no change so I took another. My body was loaded up with codeine and all I could feel was my anus pulsating with every heart beat. Another hour passed and I began to call the hospital where I was treated. They gave great advice i think (told me take another panadeine forte ....we're up to 5 now!) but couldn't take me back in as I had discharged from there as a surgical patient earlier. I then decided to go to a closer larger hospital and visited the emergency ward.
I had all my discharge papers in hand so that I didn't have to explain the situation over and over again. By now the pain was so bad that my legs were hurting, a dull all over kind of hurt.
Fortunately I didn't have to wait long but what followed made the whole trip a waste of time.
I was seen to by a large Indian doctor. His opinion was that he couldn't localise the area with an injection due to possibility of infection. Instead he applied some local anaesthetic cream in and around my anus, and advised me that that was the best he could do. Hang on a minute, I AM SUFFERING FROM PAIN AND I LIVE IN A DEVELOPED COUNTRY!!!!!!!!. Then told me how silly I was for taking 5 panadeine forte and then gave me one fibre table (laughable as I had already had about 10) and some laxative liquid and an injection of god knows what (glucose) because it did absolutely nothing. And with some Lignocaine gel sent me on my merry way with the advice that I should put up with the pain and there is nothing that will ease it. The nurse, on the other hand, advised me to go to my doctor the next morning and get some Tramador to help relieve my suffering.
So began night 1 of no sleep and continuous sitz baths...and pain. It doesn't matter how your body is positioned, laying down, sitting up, on its side, upside down. The pain just doesn't go away, except when you're in the bath. The only problem is, is that after 45mins the pain creeps back in and then the bath becomes unbearable, so you hop out to remind yourself of how painful it really is and ten minutes later you're back in the bath again.
Day 2 blended in from night one. I got no sleep at all and my doubled from 15 to 30 smokes. I assured my sister that I would be okay and would recommence taking my panadeine forte and that if I needed a lift to the doctor I would summons my father. However, here was my dilemma. As the pain worsened during the morning I started to call my doctor to see if I could get onto her before she started and get an early appointment. My dad lives 45mins away, so 45mins plus 25mins equalled over an hour before I could get some relief. And because my doctor is so busy I had no guarantee I could see her as soon as I wanted or whether she would prescribe me Tramador. (although my relationship with her is pretty good I'm sure she would have.) I then called the hospital again and sought advice from them, they said to ask for Oxycontin and that a doctor should prescribe it to me in my circumstances.
Still plagued with the dilemma of how long it would take to get some relief, I took the chance of calling a clinic that was closer and they said they could see me straight away.
Now against all advice I got into my car and began my journey to relief. A short 2 min trip later and I had arrived. Fortunately for me, the doctor I saw was unsuspicious of my request of Oxycontin. I found out that Tramador was the same as Tramil which I have had previously and didn't work well with my grey matter. Also, the doctor explained that his brother, who he thought to be a strong man (arabic origin) had cried like a baby for days after having his hemorroids removed. So script in hand I hobbled to the chemist, I looked like something between a geriatric and the hunchback of Notre Dame. Whilst in my state of delirium I bought a donut cushion in the chemist when I picked up my Oxycontin.
I then returned home, took 2 Oxycontins and returned to my bath. An hour later I felt great, floating, warm. Those Oxys were great. But you know what....MY ARSE STILL HURTS!!!!!!! The lignocaine was absolutely useless, felt fine for the first 2 seconds and then began to sting.
By this stage I had a system set up where I had a plastic laundry tub filled with warm water sitting beside the bath tub which was also filled with warm water. The plastic tub was for immediate relief and the bath tub for extended relief.
So day 2 migrated into night 2. I managed to pass a very small stool in the morning. In the afternoon my sister came home and presented me with my Post op Hemorroid Treat Prize. A block of Nu-Lax, Anusol and Proctosedyl (as recommend by the chemist for being the best hemorroid treatment cream). So I took the Nu-Lax and returned to my bath. I had been drinking loads of water so I was well prepared for the Nu-Lax.
I think it was about 3 hours later. I could feel the pressure building on my anus and the pain oh the pain how can one small area produce so much of it and be ammune to pain killers. I tried to sit on the toilet but the pain was excruciating. I thought the bath would be a bit messy so I decided to concentrate on the tub. I had the temperature set right and then BANG night turned into day as my bowels emptied. The strain and pain of this action was exhausting but it was finally freed. Sitting in a tub of water with your own faecies is not an enjoyable experience, doing ten times in a row and you get used to it. I then picked up the tub, hobbled over to the toilet emptied the contents and refilled the tub with warm water and salt and began the cleansing process. about 10 minutes later and my anus had returned to a more comfortable state and I was ready to walk around.
About half an hour later I had returned to the bath again. And so it went on. At about 4 in the morning I had a double bowel motion, one straight after the other. Day 3 was the day of excruciating bowel motions even with all the fibre, and still no sleep.
No relief from the pain either.
Night 3 was the worst ever, by now I was in pain killer heaven (with no pain relief) and was extremely exhausted. I couldn't sleep on my bed because of the pain and sitting in the bath only made me fall a sleep.....not a good thing. I be woken up by the kettle boiling, which ran continuosly, or by my breathing which became raspy because my head had fallen over and my airway was obstructed.
Finally I had what I believe was my last bowel motion to really clear things up this morning. And afterwards there was no more pressure on my anus and minimal pain. Sleep......2 hours, then up for 1, 3 hours then up for 2 and finally 2 hours this afternoon and I've been up since.
Bottom still hurting. I ran out of Panadeine Forte last night and started taking 1 Oxycontin every 12 hours this morning and feel, well, kind of ok.
My body has been battered all over. Apart from where my Hemorrhoids were removed, I have bruising to the left and right outer thighs and left and right rear hips from sitting/straining in the laundry tub. My right elbow is bruised from getting in and out of the bath so many times. I have an unexplained bruise on my back from where I was leaning against the bath tub during one of my bowel movement moments. And I had a lump on the back of my neck near my skull where I was resting my head on the bath tub during one of my soaks.....Fortunately that useless inflattable donut came in handy and I now use it as a head rest.
RECOMMENDATIONS
We all know that a Hemmorhoidectomy is going to be painful, but we have spent days on end putting up with Hemmorhoid pain, surely one last bout of pain, however excruciating, is worth the relief in the end. (Excuse the pun.)
PAIN RELIEF
I'd take the pain killers that are prescribed, obviously don't abuse them, and don't get addicted. If you find that you are exceeding the prescribed dose or have quickly reached the 24 hour maximum, seek medical advice.
Make sure you have plenty of towels available in your bathroom because you will need them.
Get an inflattable donut, you'll need a head rest in the bathtub.
Have lots and lots of sitz baths, loads of warm water and salt.
If you live in a big household and your hot water system won't take the punishment of providing enough water for your pain relief make sure you have a hot water kettle in your bathroom. I would even recommend investing in 2 more so your supply is readily available.
Get a laundry tub or similar for quick soaks and bowel movements. As undignified as it may sound, your bowel movements in the tub will be less painful than sitting on the toilet seat. It isn't as messy as you think it may be, infact it is hardly messy at all. And if the messiness is concerning you, remember you can always wash it off.
Make sure that after a bowel movement you have immediate access to another sitz bath. (from tub to bath tub). it will provide you with immediate relief and clean the area.
Drink plenty of water and stay away from Carbonated drink during the first to second days. I found that passing wind due to these drinks was painful, however, now that it's not pain I find it relieves pressure which relieves the pain.
Stay positive and keep your insane thoughts (pain does weird things to us) to yourself.
Jump on a forum like this and let it all flow out. The passed 2 hours and a bit has taken my mind off the pain.
For those of you considering the surgery or about to undergo it, remember, It's not painful until you experience it yourself.
OMG i had H surgery 7 days ago and still have pain having a bowel movement, its mazing how the as****e is so connect to all of our daily movments. your post is dead on. ive done the bath tub BMs also, but i agree there is so much pain , and only time will heal , i hope it goes away soon, i cant wait to take a c**p and not scream !!!!!!! its good to know im not alone steve
All that and more. I started bleeding again on day 16....small amounts but will have to have stitch in the same location as the last worthless piece of thread. Also try not to strain while all stitched up as this can cause a small hole in the skin (fistula) and that too requires another repair job under anesthesia and a night in the hospital. So 16 days out....still having some pain but donut as related earlier is a great head rest and that is about all. Almost forgot, developed fluid retention from the initial surgical anesthesia so spent three days immediately following the surgery in hospital with a catheter. I don't care how much morphine they give you; plan on two nurses and an orderly to hold you down while they insert an oversized pipe into an undersized peepee tube. Freakin awful. Unless you absolutely are sure you need the surgery, be prepared for a couple weeks of insanity. Fiber is good, water is good, soda and chocolate are NOT your friends.
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This thread really helped me after my surgery so I thought I'd add to it in hopes that it may help others. I am a 33 year old female and had the surgery done 10 days ago to remove internal and external hemorrhoids. I did not have severe hemorrhoids, according to my doc, but had tried just about everything to get them to go away for 10 years and this was my last resort. I would say I'm 80% back to normal already :) I am going to share my experience and some advice that I feel is important if you are having this surgery. If you choose not to read my entire experience please make sure you read the last paragraph as it is the most important.
The pain.....it was horrifying for the first 48 hours post surgery. I read about the pain and even asked my doctor if it was really as bad as everyone says. His response was "people only write about bad experiences....it is painful but not as bad as you are reading about." I'd say that is half way true. Anyway, when I left the surgery center I was fine but a few hours later when the meds wore off I was in pure agony. The pain pills did not really take the edge off the pain for the first 24 hours post surgery but after that the meds helped me and I started to feel better. I'd say the pain is most brutal for the first 4 to 5 days but not as bad as the first 24 hours. I started to feel much better at 1 week post surgery.
Bowel movements (BM's)........holy c**p the first one was awful! I had my first one about 48 hours after my surgery and as many other posters have stated, it was HORRIBLE!!!!! My advice to anyone having this surgery is to start stool softeners (1 pill at bedtime) a few days prior to surgery. I started the stool softeners the day of surgery and my first BM was not soft at all and it was the worst pain I've ever been in, ever! Once the stools were soft the BM's were not as bad. I would say the first 4 BM's are the worst. Now at day 10 post surgery I have minimal discomfort during a BM and it's very tolerable as long as they are soft. At this point I experience very very minimal discomfort throughout the day and have been off the pain meds for 2 days.
I went back to work 1 week post surgery and was fine as long as I did not have a bowel movement. Fortunately, my BM's are early in the morning or during the evening. One question I had for my doc was how long did I need to take off work. My doctor said 5 days and I agree.....5 BUSINESS days at least. You truly need an entire week post surgery before you can go back to work....well in my case anyway. I'm sure others will need more time as their surgery may be more complicated.
As many of the other posters have discussed, a warm sitz bath is a must for after a BM. It really helps with the pain and I also use them to help clean myself off after a BM because toilet paper was out of the question (and still is). Taking warm/hot regular baths in a tub also really helped to ease the pain during the first 48 hours after surgery. At day 10 I am no longer taking regular baths for pain but am still using a warm sitz bath to clean myself after a BM. Another thing that really helped with the pain was using a heat pad. I used a heat pad for about 5 days post surgery and it really helped to ease the pain throughout the day.
I did bring up how the area would look post surgery with my surgeon because that was important to me. He told me he was giving me "the mommy makeover" and not to worry, that it would look great. After reading some horror stories online of people looking butchered post surgery I was very worried about this. I am pleased to share that the area looks as it did before I had the hemorrhoids :) There is a little swelling still in the area but it already looks 90% better :)
In short, my advice (that the nurses/doctors did not share with me) if you are getting this surgery is to buy a sitz bath and a heat pad before your surgery. Also, start your stool softeners a few days before your surgery to ensure your first BM is soft. Also, continue taking the stool softener EVERY DAY post surgery until you are 100% healed. I cannot stress enough that your stools MUST be soft if you are having this surgery to ease the pain during BM's. Also, take the pain meds as directed (I had Norco).....they may not feel as if they help too much during the first 24 hours but they will put you to sleep and that is a blessing. Eat lots of fruits/veggies (my doc told me this) as it truly helps digestion and DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS. Having someone with you post surgery for the first 3 days at least is ideal as you will not want to be getting up very much. One last but VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF ADVICE.....make sure you go to a colorectal surgeon or to someone that does this surgery on a VERY regular basis. I did my research and carefully chose my surgeon. I would not have a general surgeon do this surgery. I asked doctors (my OBGYN and the doc that performed my colonoscopy) who they thought was the best and of course did LOTS of online research and I know I picked the right guy :) The pain is intense but for me it was only at it's worst for ~4 - 5 days and that is a small price to pay to be free of the hemorrhoids. I'm only at day 10 and I am very happy I had this surgery already. I hope this helps all of you out there going through this and good luck with your surgery!!!
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I enjoyed your post. I am at almost 2 weeks and have experienced most of your fun. Didn't go in a tub but got real panicky a few times til I talked to a nurse that had it done and understood. Sure hope it's all worth it and don't let anyone near your butt with a sharp tool.
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I just had 3 extra large internal hemorrhoids removed on Tuesday January 22, 2013, at the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor MI. After an hour of prep I taken to operating room and given a local. Next thing I remember is waking up laughing and having to urinate really bad. I was scared I was going to be in a lot of pain but I got up got dressed and checked out and went home. 3 sitz bath with 3 oxycodn and 3 ibprofin I really don't have much pain and discomfort. A lot less then I expected. I am eating kinda light and chewing food really good. Also taking a stool softeners 3x a day after each meal. The 2nd days pain was not to bad. January 24, 2013, the third day the first bm was a bit tough but not to bad, bleeding less, pain is less. Friday January 25th, woke up with lots of pain and quickly took the medinines. An hour later no pain. I am 46 year old male and have been trying to stay a bit active and not sit down to much and it seems with the right medicines and diet will minimize the pain.
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Hi is the clinic that you went to " Tonyo Medical Hall" for treatment is it good. I just want your feedback. Is the doctor proffessional? Does it totally solve your problem? Thanks
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I was looking for a positive post and i finally found one, thank you so much as i am having major rectal surgery in a couple of days and am scared out of my wits from reading all the horror stories. I have had a coccygectomy and got through that surgery ok buy this surgery sounds bad, even the surgeon said to prepare for the worst surgery ever. Thanks again for giving me some hope. Regards Mary.
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Hi, I had the Surgery on Tuesday March 5, 2013 and when I say OMG!!!! I mean OMG I have children five of them but I would have a baby any day before this surgery. I'm at day 4 and I can't stand up stright at least not for a long time my ass still hurts. I didn't have a problem with the BM it was very soft with the Phillips Milk of Magnesia and the CVS brand mineral oil that made it very easy. But what I want to know is when is the pain going to stop so I can seat down on my butt?
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I have been reading these posts both pre and post surgery. Some of these stories are so horrific, so I'd thought I'd give my story. I live in Canada, so not sure how health care varies country to country. But I have to say the care I got was 2nd to none. I had the procedure done early morning, with a spinal. When I "thawed" out, I was given morphine every 4 hours to get me through the first 24 hours as well as Colase. The nurses I had checked on me continuously about my urine flow, how I was feeling, if I needed ice or heat, and so on. The next morning, I was sent home with teva-ketorolac which is an amazing drug: anti-inflammatory and pain reliever all in one. I was actually doing pretty well for the first couple of days. It's uncomfortable, but I wasn't in pain due to the wonder drug. 3 days later, I had my first BM on a sitz bath (on advice from this board). I can't get over how much that thing helps! It really is amazing. Yes, it sounds gross, but you gotta do what you gotta do. When I was getting the signs to go, I would pour hot water into the sitz bath, and sit down. I would fill up a jug with water while I was doing my duty. The second I passed the BM, I would pour it all into the toilet, refill, sit down and cleanse up. Pour that into the toiler, then I would head to the shower and use my shower head to wash up. I was worried about being bunged up by the morphine, but I wasn't at all. I take the Colase with the teva-ketorolac. The BM was really painful, but only for a couple of minutes. Today, I had 3 BM's and every time, it got easier and less painful. I have lost a couple of sutures already, but don't have any blood today at all.
It will all be worth it - some of the pain I have with the BM's was similar to what I had before the surgery, but I know it will get better every day.
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