Hemorrhoidectomy - Life and Death! I am dealing with hemorrhoids for the past 3 years

Hey.  I can completely sympathize with what you're going through.  At one point before surgery, I had a bunch of books stuffed under one end of my mattress to so that I could decrease swelling in my anus by elevating it above my heart, and I would just lay in bed all day in hopes it would make the hemorrhoids go away so I wouldn't have to have the surgery.

Here's something I just wrote on another site:

"I was hospitalized for anxiety over surgery a few months ago. Most people have no idea how bad anxiety has to be in order to be hospitalized for it. Hospitals will turn away people who aren't a serious danger to themselves or others, and most people do not become suicidally anxious. There were people in my therapy group who were suicidal who were turned away from the hospital because they weren't quite suicidal enough. Anxiety like this is way outside the normal realm of human experiences. It's so unpleasant that you start contemplating suicide just to make it right then, like you don't want to experience another second of it. Imagine the amount of physical pain that you'd have to be in in order to want to die in order to escape it. That's how bad it is. On the morning of the day I was admitted into the hospital I gave my mom a talk that was something like "Mom, I'm not going to be around anymore. Thanks for everything. I want you to know I love you. I'm sorry, but I just can't see any way out of this." That's how afraid of the surgery I was. It's like going completely insane, only it's only your emotions that go insane. It's not like I believed anything that wasn't true. Two weeks earlier, I thought my anxiety was 10/10, and it was nothing compared to that day, and that estimate of 10/10 was based on having had crippling anxiety in the past.

Anyway, they put me on meds in the hospital, nothing fancy, just Effexor, an SNRI antidepressant. I had the surgery last Wednesday. I was hardly even nervous being wheeled into the operating room. And it's not like Effexor is hardcore or deadens you to the world. I can barely tell I'm on it. It just makes my brain act like a normal person's."

So, you can see that I was as terrified as a person could possibly be over this surgery, but I had it.  It wasn't that bad.  Your imagination is making it way worse than it could ever be.  The funny thing is that I can sort of see how everything that is said about it is true, but at the same time nothing like what I felt when I read it.  People just like to share their experiences online in a way that will make people empathize with them.  Can I imagine crying over what I've experienced - yeah, maybe, but it's still nowhere near as bad as that sounds when you read it.  Have you ever cried?  Was it that bad or something to be terrified of?  Probably not.

Your imagination is making it seem like the recovery is going to take place in some hellish nightmare world.  Nope - just plain old reality that you've already known with some pain thrown in. 

The pain meds work really really well, not just the opiates, but the ibuprofen and acetaminophen.  Stay on top of your meds.  Stay off your ass.  Lay on your side.  Don't move around more than you need to.  On the ride home from surgery, lay down in the car, don't sit.  Go straight to bed and start your meds immediately, even if you aren't in pain.  Use Colace (docusate) stool softeners starting four days before surgery and during recovery.  Eat lots of fruits and vegetables during recovery, but don't overdo soluble fiber because it adds bulk to your stool.

Here's my thread:

https://www.steadyhealth.com/topics/i-had-hemorrhoidectomy-yesterday-so-far-so-good-my-banding-procedures-were-more-painful

It's actually been getting more and more painful since I stopped taking as many meds and have been pooping more, but it's still not worse than the bandings, which weren't even that bad.  It's not like they were torture.  Yeah, it's getting annoying and I wish I weren't in pain.

Believe me, the time before I went into the hospital was a thousand times worse than the surgical recovery.  This is the best I've felt in a while.  I might have to have another one.  If so, I'm going to have it as soon as possible, and probably won't even think twice about it until the day before.

Also, the first time you poop and feel your anus without some giant mass bulging out of it, is better than any of the pain is bad.

Thank you so much for this. I can definitely relate to the "It's so unpleasant that you start contemplating suicide just to make it right then, like you don't want to experience another second of it." portion you wrote. Like I park on a tall structure for work and sometimes just think "what if I just jumped"... It'd be all over... Then I snap myself back to reality... I'm just so sick of living life like this. I feel absolutely robbed of so many experiences at my young age the past couple years. It's time to take action and be the true person these hemorrhoids are holding back. I did it... I scheduled surgery for December 7th, 2017 I heard that preparing about a week before the surgery can help tremendously. I know you mentioned start taking stool softeners four days before surgery. I would also like to start my soft/liquid food diet about a week from surgery. This is where I sort of get lost. Do you have any suggestions for the proper type of foods to eat? I'm sure vegetables are a big one for sure. Obviously the goal is to keep the stool as soft as possible. Pain meds can cause constipation. People mentioned to take the pain meds every 4 hours, even in the middle of the night. How was your experience with your meds regiment? The doctor said he will put me on Vicodin. I am still scared but am nearing the acceptance stage in this whole ordeal. I sometimes think about how happy I would be and all the things I could do in life if I get this surgery done and it literally brings me to tears. I want that so bad.

Personally, I don't think eating soft foods matters. By the time it gets to your color, everything should be soft, except for stuff that doesn't get digested. I tried to eat only things with lots of insoluble fiber, mostly fruits and vegetables. You don't want to eat too much soluble fiber because that can bulk your stool up. I'm also skeptical of going on an all liquid diet because if you aren't eating enough solid food it could cause your digestion to slow down and you might get backed up. I would just try to eat normally, maybe a little less than usual, mainly fruits and vegetables. Colace 3 x per day. If I could do it over again, I'd probably take more Miralax, to make sure I didn't become constipated at all. Drink tons of water because those things need water in order to work. I'd keep a big jug by your bedside to make sure you're drinking enough. I also ate a lot of prunes.

My medication regimen was to take as much medication as possible as often as possible. Luckily, they gave me 5mg oxycodone, without anything additional, so that I could take Tylenol separately. Vicodin has acetaminophen added to it, so you shouldn't take it separately. For the first two days, I took 1000mg of Tylenol, 500mg of Ibuprofen, and 10mg oxycodone every six hours (which was probably too much), but I staggered them so I wasn't taking it all at once. I started the meds as soon as I got home, even though I wasn't in any pain. I did wake myself up during the first day and night in order to take them. For the first two or three days, I wasn't in any pain whatsoever because of this. In fact, I was in so little pain that I stopped taking the meds altogether. I also started doing work and sitting, which I probably should have held off on because on the third or fourth day the pain started to emerge. But, it never got that bad. Yes, there were moments where it was very sharp, but it didn't last long enough to really matter. I found that the Tylenol and Ibuprofen were very effective. I might have already said this, but if the Ibuprofen hadn't irritated my stomach, and I had stayed on it the entire time, I doubt the pain would have ever even bothered me. It was mostly burning/stinging pain, which I don't mind as much. It's been 2.5 weeks since my surgery, and if I could get my second one right now, I definitely would.