Hemorrhoidectomy PPH surgery and opinions needed

i had it done 6 weeks ago and have been left faecaly incont, i dont recomend it

i just had the surgery today ( May 31st 2012) and let me tell you i woke up from surgery and wow i had so much pain. once i told the nurse she gave me medicine for the pain. all the pain went away. now i'm at my house and i keep taking my vicodin and i feel fine. i do feel a bit of soreness but besides that everything went well. 

I had the PPH surgery nine days ago.  I had been dealing with hemorrhoids for about eighteen years and now, I wish that I had had the surgery at least five years ago as the prolapsing had been getting worse.  I didn't know about PPH versus traditional hemorrhoid surgical approaches and I had only heard horror stories that were related to the traditional procedure.

My surgeon said that I had quite a lot of excess tissue and he had to take a few extra stitches in addition to the staples, so I might have more pain.  The pain was significant for about five days and then moderated somewhat.  I managed on two narcotic pain pills the day of the surgery then one narcotic pain pill per day plus several (about 3 or 4) Ibuprofen tablets for the next three days.  Now I'm taking 2 or 3 Ibuprofen tablets in 24 hours.

I think that the pain level in the rectum/anus area affects one's ability to relax enough to urinate.  That has gotten much better.  I was able to urinate readily within about 48 hours.  Although, it still isn't as easy or as natural as it would be normally.

I'd do this surgery again in a heartbeat.  I had an additional consideration in that I've had two strokes in the past (thirteen years ago) and I'm on Plavix and aspirin for blood thinning.  I had to go off these drugs for five full days prior to the surgery.  My surgeon wanted me off of them for seven days, but my regular physician didn't want me off the blood thinners for that long.

Hi,



I went to this procedure like 20 days back but still having discomfort and bleeding stool. Sometime i feel i m recovering and sometime i feel it is getting worts. Having BM scare me like death. I feel so frustated, i want to get back to my routine life.



How r u u feeling now, how long it will take to get relieaved.? Can you suggest me some do and donts, my doc always says worst has gone but i want to get back to my normal life.



Please help.

Gupvis wrote:

Guest wrote:

I had my PPH in june 30th. It was by far THE single most trying experience Ive ever been through. I am thinking it may have been compounded by the fact that I required a traditional hemorrhoidectomy in the same procedure as the PPH. Dont know how often that happens, but no one told me it was much out of the ordinary before the procedure.

Anyway, the doc told me i would be back on my feet and to work within two weeks maximum... possibly one week. I wasnt able to leave the house for two months due to the fact that at I really couldnt differentiate a BM from gas and either sent me walking at as fast as i could (without putting my pain into the psychotic level). That and the excruciating pain i was in.

I had a broad range of complications during this time. After the initial stay of 24-36 hours (dont ask me, i was waylaid on opiates) post op i ended up back in the ER within hours because I was in pain i could have never imagined before this experience. Spent a day there for pain control IV. Discharged. Became impacted and back to the ER at a different hospital (by then I had lost any trust I had in my original MD). At this hospital for 3 days if memory serves. The first night I passed an impaction that sent my entire body into profuse sweating... the nurse had to stand next to me to keep nudging me back onto the toilet... i wasnt sure if i was going to maintain consciousness. There for a minute I honestly thought to myself, "is this how im going to die, in some seedy looking hospital bathroom with an id**t nurse who doesnt want to call a doctor?" Death by pooping. I know, Im an RN myself but at the time I was wondering what my BP could be and if i was having a vagal response from the impaction. The sweating was pretty scary and as a telemetry nurse the only time id ever seen anyone sweat like that was when they were having a heart attack or going into septic shock. When the initial BM passed I was convinced that I had torn loose every staple that resided within my from the PPH. Over the next 24 hours I had i dont know how many huge BM's that all smelled like a dead animal was inside of me.

After I finally got home I suffered from rectal spasms that wouldnt let me have a BM. I tried going while sitting on the sitz bath. I was forced to go while laying in a hot bath twice. I came to the point i had to lay an large rectangular incontinence pad under me on the bathroom floor to have BM's because it was the only way the spasms didnt win out over the need to have a BM. I feared food and was completely vegetarian for a month. I lost 22 lbs which is a lot for me since i was very physically fit all of my life. I took all the fiber they recommended religiously. I took gas-x for all the gas it caused because gas was so uncomfortable. I lived on the couch with a the large rectangular incontinence pad under me at all times in case i didnt make it to the bathroom... or in case i was at the point where if I actually had a BM that didnt have me calling out I didnt care WHERE i had it.

I had blood in every BM for two months. I had serious to severe pain for two months. I lived on my couch for two months. I still have blood in BM's (once every couple days in a good week) but it seems to be a thicker sort for the most part as if maybe BMs are dislodging a clot. BM's are at least tolerable enough to have without making a lot of noise... im not complaining much since I can go on the toilet like a human being and i can leave the house again and work. I still feel uncomfortable about a half an hour afterwards from sweeling I would assume. There seems to be some sort of unexplained nerve involvement because i tend to have a fair amount of left lower back pain. The left was the side they did the traditional open hemorrhoidectomy on... no stitches at all were placed to close it.

I have to admit it is nice not to have anything being displaced or bulging anywhere after I have a BM now. I cant lift weights or exercise like i would like to or things seem to get irritated.

Would I do it again? Well I never had a choice in the first place because of the pain from the internal thrombosed hemorrhoid really.

Im just lucky i had a few thousand in the bank to get my by while my wife was the sole bread winner and i couldnt work. I lost a job in surgery that I had just landed in the process.

I would recommend senna for the best laxative from my experience. I took two at a time most times... alternating between one and two depending. MOM was too harsh and burned pretty bad. I did some internet research and suggested diazepam for my rectal spasms to the doctor which did help them some.

This is a pretty long story and i doubt I even covered half of it. I can answer any questions anyone has but I better get back to some things i need to do. I read these posts a lot during my recovery so i felt compelled to write at some point. I do have some good tips from experience if anyone has specific questions.

Hi,

I went to this procedure like 20 days back but still having discomfort and bleeding stool. Sometime i feel i m recovering and sometime i feel it is getting worts. Having BM scare me like death. I feel so frustated, i want to get back to my routine life.

How r u u feeling now, how long it will take to get relieaved.? Can you suggest me some do and donts, my doc always says worst has gone but i want to get back to my normal life.

Please help.

Hi ,first time on a forum site like this

I had surgery 1 week ago stapled hemorroidecem

Have a horrible smell of rotten blood every time I pass wind our have a b/m

And sweet so much of a nighti wake up in a puddle


Is this normal


Really appreciate any advice on this


Thank you all


Bx

I had suffered from hemmorhoids for 4 years. The symptoms proceeded to get worse. I finally went to a general practioneer to be examined. We adjusted my diet and he dismissed me. Three months later I was back in his office. This time we scheduled a colonoscopy and surgery if needed. He ended up banding the hemorhoids. This was ineffective. I asked him if he could perform a hemorhoidectomy and he was not interested because of the time off work and pain of recovery involved. He suggested suppositories and dismissed. I proceeded (with the help of my wife) to look into other alternatives. I read about PPH surgery and found a credible DR. Next the exam and he said I was a candidate. The surgery went fine and he said I was in bad shape. Stage 4 hemorrhoids and a large mass of them. The pain was manageable. The DR. put me on Hydrocodone and vaiium. Off work for 7 days and slowly eased myself back into working out. In all I had the surgery 10 months ago and feel 99% recovered. I recommend this procedure to anyone suffering from the swelling and bleeding involved with this problem. Adjust your diet to keep your bowel movements soft and moving. Best of luck

I am 1 week out post op this 8th day has been the worst so far, And I got A D@*^% Hemorrhoid hang out! WTH ? does that mean they missed one or what? man I don t want to eat because well I don t want to go, Blood in BM. 50 baths,stool softener, Pecocet, Midol, Azo, hot water bottle has been a blessing. and Metimucil Fiber. Please am I missing anthing? And some terrible Head Aches too, I ve ran out cuss words, I m starting to doubt what I can t undo...

I had a similar problem... But like half of mine were left. It hurt like hell and blood clots all the time. Pain was unbearable for 5 months and no one was listening. And i am on my feet all day long and was in tears on the way home every day. I went to a different surgeon and he looked and said i still had external ones left. He removed them with a harmonic scapel and sphincterotomy as well because i was so tight i couldnt pass a bm even with the hemmorhoids gone. I have left alot out of my story just because it exhausts me to even think about it all. But I am very happy now with the end result and just have to be careful of constipation. They can ALWAYS come back.  Good luck to all who deal with this. I dealt with it for 17 years...

I am in week 6 of recovery and I am experiencing everything u are. I have to stay on softners or my bms would be excurciating. Doctor said I was healing ok and was baffled by my pain. Glad to know i'm not the only one. Will be glad when there is no more pain. If ever.

I be considering PPH and how are the results as of today
TKS Ben

dear all,

it's been great reading your guys' comments about the surgery. i had it done about 4 weeks ago. very painfull. lots of swelling. i had an external blood clot, my docor said that i had some internal ones as well, however they never bothered me. he suggested that i have the surgery to clear everyhting up. a week after the surgery i developed what i thought was an external, but my doctor told me it was thrombosis stage 1 and would go away in a few weeks. has anyone had this problem? does it go away or will i end up having to get another surgery? i take two 30 minutes baths a day and have a topical ointment. some days everyhting seems fine, others im in a lot of pain. and i still have bleeding with BM's that are very painful, causing more swelling (i assume) and more pressure.

After 4 years of constant pain and bleeding i had the stapled op done on Tuesday. Woke up a wee bit sore but already i could see the results! No bulging lumps! :)!

Got home at 5.30pm, little pain, ibuprofen and paracetamol did the trick tho! 7pm i had first bowel movement. Only a lot of blood and clots came out, this continued every 2 hrs thru the night every time i went to the toilet. 4am i was feeling dizzy. 5.45am i decided to check it was just blood. filled a carton of blood and clots (over half a pint). Next thing i woke up as id fallen back in the shower cubicle unconscious. Pot of blood all over the bathroom (like a horror film)!

I called nhs24, they said a nurse would call back in up to 2hrs!!

By this time i was to weak to cry. I called my daughter in the next room and the took me to A&E. Once there i passed more blood and collapsed unconsious agai. They admitted me straight away and sent me to theatre. 

When i woke up again it was nippy but not sore (id been dreading the op after reading all the posts on here).

Bleeding had stopped! :) they found the source. I was just on the border of getting a blood transfusion. Luckily i didnt  but im extremely weak now. But no pain! Bowels are working perfect and so far everything has been ok. 

Back to a normal diet although lighter than usual as I'm off the bike and gym for 2 weeks. Went shopping today was all good apart from being light headed. Thats the blood loss tho.

I know there are so many horror stories on here, my auntie and my friend had it done and said it was the worst possible op imaginable. But everyone is different. I know I've been exceptionally lucky and had an excellent surgeon. 

I just wanted to post to say there are positive stories. Also if you have a lot of bleeding go straight to A&E.. Don't call NHS24... They eventually called me back when i was of to theatre!! 

They never told me what to look out for when i was discharged. But now i know it should only be tiny amounts of blood... Not half pints!! 

Im so happy with the results and im only 3 days in! No more pain, bleeding or painful nights out... And best off no worrying i will bleed thru my clothes :)!!

Although this thread is old, I hope my post helps newbies going in, or considering, having the PPH surgery done.

I am a 46 year old female.  Physically fit, runner and cyclist.  I have a mild case of IBS which led to grade 3 hemms.  After my last half marathon, I suffered from a thrombosed hem, had it drained and was sent to a colorectal specialist here in NYC to discuss my options.  Basically, at that point, I had had enough as it was impacting my life.

Again, note, I went to a specialist who is well known in this area.  After the exam he said I was a good candidate for PPH and we scheduled it for the following week - by that time the thrombosed hemm and prolapsed would be a bit down (he had me on bed rest until the surgery so I would go in feeling ok).

Surgery was 7:30 AM Thursday morning.  I am writing this on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM.  Here is a recap of my experience so far, and I will update as needed:

Two days before the procedure I limited my intake of solid foods, sticking with fruit smoothies, drinking lots of water and gatoraide.  I was not instructed to do this and was also not instructed to do a fleet prep the day before.  I was "cleaned out" in the OR while I was out.

I was under both local and a very light form of general anasthesia - I don't remember a thing about the procedure, I walked into the OR and woke up in the OR, was put on a stretcher and sent to recovery.  In recovery I did feel sore so was given some morphine and after about an hour was sent to the second stage of Recovery where I was given crackers and gingerale and more fluids.  The Nurses encouraged me to stick around until I urinated and after about 45 minutes and walking around I did.  I went home, my husband picked up my pain meds (percocet) and I fell asleep.  This has been my experience over the past 48 hours:

- First 24 hours: Passing gas is painful.  No lying with that.  I tried to lay on my side and not push, very hard to do but the gas will make it's way out - holding a pillow over my stomach helped so I would not bear down.  Take the colace and drink as much water as possible.  I purchased a sitz bath with a bag that held hot water, do that, the sitz will help you pass gas and even urinate.  No BM during the first 24.

- Second day:  Passing gas still painful, again, use the sitz as much as possible and practice deep breathing, it is so much easier that way.  You will be in and out of the bathroom but it is worth it.  Walk around as much as you can.  I had my first BM around 1:00 PM, and I will say, it was painful - some muccus but no blood.  Stools were a bit hard which was a result of the pain killers to I upped the fluids and colace (taking 4x a day).  Also tracking my fiber intake via MyFitness Pal and staying on soft foods (blueberry smoothies, edamame, fiber one cookie soaked in almond milk).

- This morning, had another BM around 7:30AM.  ON scale of 1-10 pain was about a 5 - immediately got into sitz after and felt good.  Can finally pass gas standing and although minor pain, nothing like it was the first 24 hours.  Still no blood and the site is not swollen at all.

Planning on relaxing again today - maybe take a walk outside.

So far, it was everything I expected, and getting better every hour.  

It is now 4:15 PM, day 3. I took my last percocet at 7:30 this morning, took two motrin about three hours ago. Just a little sore. Still quite gassy but most likely from the amount of fiber I've been taking in!! I was able to get out and go for a 30 minute walk around my neighborhood, a little slow but feel really good. I finally ate "solid" food, one eggplant rollatini about an hour ago - very full but again, most likely because I haven't had solid food in > 72 hours now and I am fiber woman! That will be my food intake for the day, focus back on water and gatoraide. One thing to note also, get yourself a "squatty potty" - things move much smoother with your knees elevated above your waist. I have realized over the past 48 hours between the squatty potty and the sitz bath I purchased, they were key to helping me out. I have to say, I am quite shocked, especially after reading all of these horror stories at how I feel right now. Not going to go out for a run, still sore and will listen to my surgeon who said no strenuous exercise for a week. Key things to make sure you do - do NOT push, again, get a stool or something and let gravity do the job, it may take a few trips the first two days but worth it. I still see a little of my external hemmie, the one that "got me" after the half marathon, but it is nothing near what it was. The surgeon said that now the blood flow is cut off from it, I will see it shrink naturally. Another key thing to note. GO TO A COLORECTAL SURGEON! In reading through these posts, I see one commonality with those having nightmare issues, they allowed a general surgeon to do this procedure. I saw the staple gun folks, trust me, you want someone who uses that thing regularly and if you are a female, make sure he knows how to perform it on a female - it is not the same as how they use it on men. So, heading into hour 60 post surgery and feeling pretty darn good (but still planning to rest, maybe a longer walk outside tomorrow). I'll check back tomorrow morning. I truly hopes this helps, all that is posted are these nightmare stories, I could only hope that there are others our there having experiences like me - yes, the first 48 was horrible but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, folks! Hang in there.

It's me again. Posting an update, now on day 10 post surgery. Had some ups and downs, lesson I learned, read the surgeons instructions. I took Motrin without asking, caused me to pass clots (keep in mind, until that point I had tiny, minimal blood). Scared me as it was 3AM, day 6. Called the Surgeons office the next day and they told me to stop the motrin immediately, it is a blood thinner - the sitzing and icing will naturally help with the swelling. Did that, within 24 hours and only taking extra strength tylenol a few times during the day, no more blood. The past two days (9 and 10) I have had the healthiest and smoothest BMs of my life! Again, squatty potty, folks, gravity just let's it flow out. I went for a 2 mile walk yesterday, felt that there was something up there, swollen so did sitz and ice when I got home and caved and took two percocets just so I wouldn't feel it and run to the bathroom and try to push out whatever it was. Trick worked, after the first full nights sleep I've had in 10 days, woke up at 8AM and had a painless BM :) Success!!! I am still taking the Colace (4x a day) eating about 28grams of fiber a day, more water than you can imagine, no alcohol and if I take the percocet do a 2 tablespoon Milk of Magnesia chaser (note ONLY TWO Tablespoons, no MORE otherwise it will be awful diarrhea). I am going to work from home this week (week two post operation) and am really hoping that my progress continues so that I am at least 90% by next weekend. Going to see the surgeon on Wednesday (13 days post op) so I'll let you all know how that goes. Again, this is an "up and down" journey - one minute I feel awesome and the next, not so awesome and do have that "pulling" and "fullness" pain. Oh! and to control the gas from all of the fiber I have been drinking a lot of warm peppermint tea - worked like a charm. Now on day 10, would I do this again? Yes, just by looking and not seeing anything hanging out of my butt and having no external pain, it is worth it.