I would like to know if anybody can help me. I have been suffering from anal/rectal itching since 1997. I am currently 32 years old. My symptom first appeared when in 1997 when I was a teenager. I abused heroin and went through withdraw for several days. The withdraw gave me chronic diarrhea, which in turn left me with the rectal itch. I went to doctors at that time and they couldn't really find anything wrong with me. I also used heroin again after this and noticed that the when I used the drug, my rectum would inflame and itch. The itching eventually subsided but it would still flare up sometimes and I stopped using drugs altogether. It irritated me still sometimes after that and I realized if I watched my diet I could control it somewhat (i.e. caffeine, chocolate). However, about a year ago it took a turn for the worse. I am getting discomfort inside my rectum that hasn't appeared in a long time. It can be described as an itch, but not in the traditional sense. It is more of a pinching feeling that I feel on either the left or right side and it happens almost everyday. So I made an appointment to see a Colo-rectal surgeon and he told me I had 3 hemorrhoids (though I never had any bleeding). He removed them over the course of 3 appointments via banding and during the last appointment he told me to come back because the might be some more work that needed to be done. I did not feel any relief at all after these hemorrhoids were removed and was not able to go back because I haven't had insurance. That was 9 months ago. I've come to the conclusion that whatever problem I do have is coming from inside me. I do some times get itching on the skin outside of my rectum so I don't think it is topical. I also think I damaged something inside of me from drug use, but these physicians don't seem to want to hear that. Does anybody have any ideas? Does it still sound like I have hemorrhoids?