Hemorrhoidectomy Recovery Tips I've Learned

I just purchsed this. Mine arrives on april 2nd tho. I seriously CANT wait for it to get here. Thankyou for sharing this.

I had my op ( scaple) hemorroidectomy to remove three hemorroidectomy 3 days ago. After reading some of the horrific experiences people have gone thorough I was very close to cancelling my procedure - thank goodness I didn't cancel. My experience (and I understand and respect that each person has a different level of pain threshold and recovery period) for what it counts was totally different. I spent a total of 3 days in hospital - I recall when I woke after the operation feeling a slight stinging sensation, but no strong pain, I kept saying to myself it's only a matter of time before the anesthesic wears off and then you're in for great pain buddy- guess what totally the opposite, my pain level on a range 1-10 ( 10 being extreme) always sat around a 4 only once did it reach 6. However I credit the great nurses who were active and terrific with pain management ( endone, diazepam - to stop/ease discomfort/pain from spasms and macaron for nausea as endone made me nauseous). I was encouraged by my surgeon to eat up (balanced meal, and it wasn't all vegetables), I also drank lots of prune juice and water. My first BM was on the second day - what a relief more discomfort than pain but a warm shower straight after felt great. I took great comfort and advice from B2TheO157697 post - thank you so much!. In short, if I had to do it again would I? ABSOLUTELY. I had a great surgeon, nurses, medical team and family/friends support. Looking back I think what helped me mentally was going in fearing the worse experience but hoping the best. This is only my story and I appreciate everyone has their own. I hope this helps in some way and wish you a speedy recovery.

This forum has been the best help, in addition to what I learned after having two natural births. Surgeons don't really seem to prepare you for this.
My recipe for success ( now that I'm
At day 6 and actually able to leave the house after an external procedure with multiple roids, a polyp and sutures):
Avoid the opiates and just do tailing doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. 400 mg ibu then 1000 mg acet 4 hours later, then ibu again, the acet 4 hours or so later. That way you are never without some relief and you don't hit your max dose of either . The tramodol didn't do anything for me.
- 3 to 4 hot baths with Epsom salt. One right after any BM.
- squirt bottle w warm water or tucks witch hazel pads of both for cleansing
- half dose polyethylene glycol stool softener mid day, and one teaspoon of Metamucil later in day. Both w lots of water.
- Lots of liquids and soft food for first days, with fibre. Bran buds are your friend.
- ice packs or frozen pads ( in Canada anyway they tell you this trick postpartum - wet and freeze thin maxi pads and keep a stash)
- lidocaine cream
- Netflix
- sense of humour and hope or else you'll go mad.

Thanks everyone. This forum provides the best info I've read about the realities of recovery

Yes, it is very painfull. I'm on day 7 and still using Tylinol, ice packs, sitz baths, witch hazel and wondering why the heck I dI'd this. So, my advice..... Groceries, errand running, home cleaning....etc...get it all done before your proceedure. Purchase the following: Metamucil for fiber, prunes, grapes, broth based soups, witch hazel, extra soft toilet paper, extra strength Tylenol, zip locks for ice or the diapers and long lines/pads....loose pants and maybe jello and peas...anything to keep stools soft and to help withe wiping, ithe rrally hurts if yours were external. Take the time off work. I didn't and thankfully I have a cushion on my office chair with a cut out for tailbone injuries, it helped. The in-office numbing proceedure was hell and I do mean hell. Drink lots of water. Rest and heal your body!! No lifting. Do sit in the warm bath water, it helps a lot, do not add soaps or salts. God speed!

I just had colonoscopy and hemorroidectomy. I am not completely sure what they did but it looks like one medium-sized anal h and one large anal h was cut out and I know the large one was stitched. The kind that used to come out with a bm then go back in.

They gave me oxycodone/Tylenol 5/325...take one every 6 hours. Also taking 2 stool softners per day and gas ex.

I got home at 11am on day 1, pee'd at 5pm. I only was able to pass just a little gas first day. Meds didn't help much at all. Bigtime pain.

I didn't really sleep much first night. Drank Gatorade, a few crackers, and some chicken noodle soup, and apple sauce. Tea really helped me pee but bladder was mostly gatorade. I soaked my hand in running water and made sure my bladder was full in order to pee. I had my mom to support me and help as much as she could.

Day 2 I pee'd at 10am and trust me it was hard to do cuz my bladder had to be full to go pee. Extreme pain all night and morning. Walking around helped me pass all my gas at 10am day 2.

This is where I am right now - day 2. I am 46 yrs old. All I really wanted to say is colonoscopy prep kept me from having to deal with the bm issue. I feel this one thing has made this process easier...no need to have a bm because there is nothing in my colon really. I can not even imagine doing this without emptying my colon day before.

Don't. I had banding which caused a fissure. Then when they went in to fix that decided to remove 2 hemorrhoids and fix the fissure which was not there before the banding procedure. Ok - in wk 3 after surgery and all i can say is Don't. No real complications - but don't expect to be back to normal in a couple of weeks. When my surgeon did the banding, she said you don't need hemmoroid surgery; trust me you don't want hemmoroid surgery.

I'm 3 months post surgery. 3 internal hemorrhoids removed with a scalpel. I still have pain and leakage. I use gauze pads 24/7 and change them every 2 hours. My surgeon said not to worry and give it time. I went for a second opinion and was told the same thing. I don't believe all is ok after 3 months. Major surgery doesn't take this long to heal.

This post was very helpful for me and I'd like to share my experience as well. Sufferers unite!! I had thrombosed hemorrhoids about 3-4 times in the past few years. I ended up having one internal and one external hemorrhoid when I met with the surgeon for consultation so a hemorrhoidectomy was recommended. I thought I'd be great to get rid of my reoccurring thrombosed devil beast. Before you have the surgery buy/do these things:
1. Request off work 2 weeks min. There is no way you'll be able to go back sooner.
2. Cut your nails short. Trust me there will be lots of nastiness going on and you don't want to mess with dirty nails. Andddd you'll probably want to feel around down there after the first few days.
3. Stock up on IB Profen, STOOL SOFTENER, epsom salt, tucks wipes, baneol lotion, gauze pads, high fiber foods, squirt bottle (I bought the old ketchup/mustard bottles from dollar store), water wipes (the natural baby wipes that are 99% water), bleach spray cleaner, paper towels and dial antibacterial bar soap.
4. As soon as you get home from surgery take 5 stool softener and drink 32oz of water. Only eat high fiber foods (basically fruit, veggies and whole grain). Then take 3-5 stool softener twice a day until your first poo. Stool softeners don't work unless you drink a ton of water too.
5. The first poo. Run a hot bath with epsom salt and sit on your knees. In my case I smacked the tub, strangled the faucet, sweat, shivered, screamed and cried. The tub makes it less painful and with less blood. I pooped in the tub until day 9 post op. Lots of bleach...oh, and hop out as soon as you can so you don't get a UTI or other issues. Hot epsom baths are also the only way I found relief from the throbbing/burning down there. I basically lived in the bathtub my first week.
6. Try to not take the pain meds that cause constipation. If you can switch to IB Profen and be ok then do so. Continue high fiber ONLY and take a few stool softeners a few times a day. I did this from about day 6-10 post op.
7. Usd tucks pads or baby wipes to wipe clean then instantly put some baneol lotion on a gauze pad and wipe a soothing cleanse wipe. Baneol feels so good. I alternated drying down there with a blow dryer after baths and using the lotion on gauze.
8. One day the best thing ever was putting a single ice cube in gauze then squirting antibiotic ointment on the gauze and placed the gauze wrapped cube directly on my anus. The cold was intense but after just a few minutes I found relief from the constant burning and throbbing.

I am 2 weeks post op and a few days ago I had no idea how I'd go back to work mostly because if I poop on the toilet I have to get right in a hot bath or the pain is overwhelming...or I poop in the bath. My work doesn't offer a bathtub so I had to figure it out. That's when I got the squirt bottles- I filled it up with warm/hot water and a little witch hazel and squirted it down there while pooping. Then use baneol right away and it's getting better. The hardest thing for me was figuring out how to keep my stool soft/runny without it being so loose that I c**p my pants. For me this is what's working: I eat high fiber and only drink water. I have a Nalgene that's 32oz and I drink 3 a day at least. I take one stool softener with dinner then set my alarm for 5am, take 2 stool softeners and chug 32oz of water, maybe half a banana and I'm pooping within 30 min. SO I can poop, clean up and be on with my day. I just make sure I poop every morning.
If you've just had the surgery I'll tell you that as soon as it doesn't pinch, burn, throb to walk try to go outside. As soon as you can stand the pain do something you enjoy. This recovery wore on me mentally because the pain was so intense and so constant that I was drained. But it's amazing that after 2 weeks I can see the light. Hang in there, it gets better.

I had a good experience with my hemorrhoidectomy. I had stage 4 hemorrhoids. My recovery was fast and reasonably comfortable.

Suggestions: lower your food intake BEFORE the operation. Get active immediately after the surgery. Use mineral oil and stool softeners.

You should be fine...ignore the exaggerated language on the web.

Hello I am 46, male.
Had my hemorroidectomy 3 days ago. 2 hemorrhoids were removed. Had my first BM today. I did it squatting on top of the toilet bowl. I have to report that I had no pain during the BM. However, the pain came after the fact, and I am still in pain after 4 hrs. The pain after the BM was about a 6 out of 10 (0 being no pain, 10 being excruciating pain). Right now it's a 4, and I hope it keeps going down. My surgeon used the method where the wound is left opened, not sutured. I believe the pain I experienced was due to the internal bleeding of the wound.
It is now 7 hours later, and the pain is gone, and I just feel a little, blunt pain while walking. Also, I red up a little on what kinds of foods to eat to heal faster, and it says lean meat among other things. I will start eating some boiled white fish tomorrow and report.
I had a sweet potato tonight, jell-o, broth with little carrots and lima beans, with a little angel hair pasta. I`m taking Ketoprofen 100mg 3 times a day for the pain and immflamation, sucralose for stool softening, and applying policresulen ointment twice a day on the heiny.
My doctor recommended not taking bath sitz but instead just seat on the steam of hot water. So I rigged a strainer with a plastic bag where I pour boiling water and carefully sit on the vapors that come up. It helps but I wish I could just sit on warm water with salt instead.
I`m hoping that the pain goes down tomorrow. I`m not afraid of BMing anymore because of the secret power of squatting, but I`m afraid of the bleeding that comes afterwards, which really hurts.
So, I`m doing this :
1. Drinking enormous quantities of water
2. Eating tangerines, prunes and pears
3. Eating jell-0 with fiber.
4. Having some vegetable broth with cellery, carrots, lima beans, angel hair pasta
5. Had a sweet potato tonight.
6. Important: Squatting when BMing is key. I will never BM the old way ever again.

Tomorrow I`m going to try and have more protein, since protein is needed for repairing wounds and making collagen. I`m thinking about boil white fish.

Also, I am walking around my apartment. When the pain was too much, I laid down on my side until it went away. Then got up, and started walking slowly around again. I also read that you need to move for blood to flow and help with healing. So even with pain, I try to walk while reading a book to distract my brain from the pain.

Also, my doctor sent me home telling me that I could eat anything I wanted, and just to have the stool softener. Although I did not follow his indications because of being afraid of 1st BM, I believe it is important to start eating some solid food like quacker oats because the pain killers can wreck havoc in your stomach if it is empty or nearly empty.

Anyway, that`s been my experience these past 3 days, and I´m hoping the pain diminishes with the passing days. I will report some more tomorrow ; hoping it will help someone reduce their anxiety about their operation. In my case, it is I expected. Still scared, but hopeful this will be over soon, and never have painful thrombosed hemorroids again.
Thank you to everyone for sharing their experiences. It has helped me a lot.

Thank you for your for this post ordering my cream today having my surgery next month been dealing with Hem. for over 20yrs.

I think a lot of kids in rehab need to know this phantom side effect of opiate abuse.

I've been elated to have gotten through my doctors excessively opiate prescrition issue.


But as someone mentioned above, opiates bind you up sometimes to the point of impaction

On to of that, giving birth generally results in hemmroirds.


I had multiple external plus 2 prolapsed large internal.


13 years later I finally decided to bite the bullet and get the surgery done.


It's my far been the most painful Experienced of my life.

Because if my prior issue with substances, I was given only a light non narcotic.

It was the equivalent of taking Skittles for a gunshot wound

I ended up 48 h after surgery in the hospital in hysterical tears. They gave me two shots. One adavan
Which did nothing.

Second was Demerol. That one hit hard and fast and took the pain away. For about 6 hours.

Ive been knocking myself out with prescription Valium in between and it's been a fearful and painful struggle.

I've only been eating soup and carbonated drinks. And stool softener (non stimulant is key!)

This has helped a lot. Though the pain is so great I can barely stand up for more than five minutes.

The spray shower nozzle technique had been bet helpful. The water helps ease the pain and is a nice distraction.


I can only recommend this and pressing to God for peace and healing.


I recommend you all do the same.

And yes it may be unattractive, unsightly even, but if you don't mind these sexy little hemms, I highly recommend you don't get this surgery unless it absolutely necessary.

It freaking is torture.


Again what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

72 hours accomplished this far. I'll keep you all posted moving forward if I don't pass out from pain first

How are you now?