Swelling and Pain After Hemorrhoidectomy Surgery

I have have recently had this same surgery. I'm going on 19 days and on my 3rd day back to work. First off I would like to say this is by far the worse pain i have ever experienced in my short life of 27 yrs old. 10 to 14 days off is no where near enough time to be healed and head back to work. I expected the worse, but god it was 10x  more painful then i imagined. I'm still dealing with swelling of the skin and a painful lump that my doctor explains is swelled tissue from surgery and will eventually go away. For the first week and 1/2 i probably took about 10-15 showers and soaks a day, just to ease the pain and tightness. Along with the oozing of brown/tan fluid that I was told is part of the post surgery, your body getting rid of the bad stuff so its pushing it out of the wound.

I guess all i really hope and pray for is for all of this pain to eventually go away and feel like my normal self again. It's pretty bad when  you are afraid to venture out of your home or go out to dinner in fear of what may come after that. Iv'e lost about 15lbs due to the surgery and I still can't manage to keep food down. My guess....living on jello and crackers has really took my stomach for a ride. Anyways good luck to all!

Oh and I almost forgot...these doctors should def tell you to take stool softner prior to surgery!! I went through hell and back 7 days no BM finally after days of crying the Milk of Magnesia kicked in and i was in the bathroom for hrs on end. I couldn't even stand up without an accident. So again do your self a favor and prep..before surgery!

Tomorrow marks 1 month post surgery for me and I just returned to work today. I can relate about the fear of leaving home..I actually went out and bought "adult diapers" which I didn't need but wore them for a few days when I left the house "just in case". The drs should tell you to take stool softeners one week prior to the surgery because even though I started taking them right after, the first BM was very hard and difficult and painful and dreadful. So I agree with you on that part. I was drinking orange juice and prune juice and lots of fibre to keep me from getting constipated so I was bloated and felt miserable about it. I am going to try and lose weight while staying regular. I don't know how you lost weight! So now I carry baby wipes and witch hazel in my purse. The oozing fluid seems to be subsiding now. I go for my post op . dr's visit in 3 days and I have questions as to why my butt is itchy and there are "pieces" of ?? skin still hanging around. BM's are still painful and not everyday, so I am going to try to add psylium husk to my protein shakes in the morning. Looking forward to feeling normal again too.

I can't get over how long the actual recovery time seems to be. I get these random sharp shooting pains and itching fits still and forget about trying to get up from a chair or toilet! I rather roll off at this point! At this point in recovery the thing that bothers me most is this lump. It's so flipping painful its Starting to make me think its more then just "swelling of tissue" nothing relieves the pain. Have you experienced this? I totally hear you on carrying baby wipes everywhere with you, I won't leave the house with out them. My work day involves standing all day in a pit of 100s of screaming people and everyday I'm finding it more difficult to survive the day with all the burning, oozing and itching. Anyways hope youre doing better then I. ;)

I was wondering if anyone has experienced light bleeding after a BM when it has been months since surgery? I went back to my general surgeon about a month and a half ago to see what she thought. My surgery was at the very end of September. I turned out to also have a skin tag at the surgery site as a result of the surgery. She said that she still saw a small cut down there and that it would just take time to heal. Just wondering if anyone else has had "full recovery" take this long?

Hi I had 2 banded , one internal removed and a skin tag on Monday . It's now 2am Friday morning and I'm awake because of the pain and swelling but more because I'm dreading the 2nd BM ! Had my first one this morning but only managed to pass the sponge packing that was in there and some blood ,went again around 7pm and thought I would die with the pain ! Felt like things where ripping down there and only managed a little blob , mixed with lots of blood . I also have developed 2swellngs since the BM and they are sore . I'm on codeine , paracetamol and diclofenac as well as normacol and senacot . I can't believe the pain and I have had 3kids so thought I had had the worst pain then ! Will the next BM be as bad as the first ? I'm in and out the bath all day trying to keep clean and ease the pain ? Thanks Margaret from UK

Feels like ripping....totally agree. Helps to go in warm or as hot of water you can handle. Also drink tons of water...maybe some milk of magnesia to ease the BM. I've been applying ointment to this mystery lump and taking fiber tablets to even things out. Goodluck!

The swelling takes about 3-4 weeks to go down feels as if you still have hemarroids at this point. feels like the surgeon has sewn your butt shut. i know that feeling well. The best thing for the bowel movements is to go in the hot hot water, sounds gross, but it helps with "trying" to relax. i was a mess trying to go, practically in a total panic not wanting to have to feel the pain. it does get better after about a week. lived in the bath all day long, like a mermaid. hot water bottle super hot helped, sitting on it all day. Good luck.

I can relate about how you are feeling. The first BM is the most painful. Much worse than child labour. The pain radiated to the front of my pelvis and I thought I was being split in two. After that I had a total fear of going to the bathroom along with a fear of leaving the home. I remember joking with my sister that I not only had agoraphopia but poopaphobia. Each BM gets better. Trying to keep the BM regular and soft helps. I was trying to time them with my pain killers. But it isn't an exact science. Definately sitting in hot/warm water was helpful and then I would spray warm water in the shower. Today marks one month and 3 days post surgery. If I don't have a BM for three days, it can still be painful...but not like before. I still have slight bleeding and yesterday the surgeon told me in my appt. with him that I am still healing and that was normal. It is probably the scar tissue causing the bleeding. I told him about my leftover bits and he looked at them and said they were skin tags. About 4 in all. He removed two smaller ones there in his office (felt like a little pinch) and said the 2 thicker ones he could remove in about a year if I wanted with a freezing injection as they would be more painful than a little snip. I find sitting on my magic bean bag heated in the microwave helpful too. It does feel like your butt has been sewn up. I also am still on stool softeners and I think that is the key. I forgot to ask about the itching but I am sure that is the scar tissue too. I am just wondering Margaret why they didn't remove all of them and banded two of them. Hang in there. And try to relax...it does get better with time. Drink a lot of water! Good luck!

Margaret from uk Update ... Rang the ward I ad my op on to get advice re the lumps , nurse said its not normal so go to A&E ...surgeon told me its thrombosed hemorroids ! He said they will last about a week. So painful. I also have instillagel which is a numbing gel ...not working as much as I'd like but does help . Had a bm this morning it was more than the first one , didn't ave time to take my painkillers as it was coming as I got out of bed . It was agony but not as bad as the first , straight in bath after and it's still throbbing a bit . I'm now also on antibiotics just in case it's infection Fingers crossed for the next one !

They said the one the couldn't band was to big , it came out after each bm and was about an inch and a half long

Thanks for the advice everyone ...light at the end of the tunnel ?

I am 4 days in to my recovery from my hemorroidectomy (SP). I really have to share, first of all, that one of the most distressing parts of my summary experience has been reading some of the posts on this board and the enhanced anxiety I have experienced as a result. I so do not want to diminish or minimize the experiences of other posters but, rather, would like to share mine.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Upon discharge from the hospital (out-patient) I arrived home and was HUNGRY. My first mistake was not immediately honoring a disciplined high-fiber intake of food instead opting to consume some left over pasta that was sitting around. Constipation is your enemy and you are "pre-disastered" in this regard as a result of the general anesthesia, the saline drip, and the prescription pain killers prescribed. All of these factors are constipating. K... my pasta binge was a really bad idea but I'll cut myself some slack because I was still emerging from the GA and wasn't really lucid. Once I had gathered my wits and assessed my predicament I consumed gallons of water and home made juice (carrot, celery, pineapple, apple, kale) from my juicing machine. These were all good things although this level of fluid consumption lead to its own problems which I will discuss in a bit. I made the mistake of reading a post where the individual described his posturing for his first bowel movement with some prep which included popping some vicodin just before the movement to "allow it time to kick in". I did this and this was a bad idea; as I felt a BM developing, I took a vicodin and the whole process came to a grinding halt- remember, vicodin is constipating. After this mis-fire, I was scampering to reinitiate the "firing sequence" resorting to stool softeners and milk of magnesia all to no avail. I began to back up, this was putting pressure on my bowel and I was just uncomfortable, not in pain, but uncomfy. My apprehension about my first BM only amped up my discomfort. One thing, and one thing only, got my bowel in motion; prune juice. No sh*t (well, actually... quite the contrary...) Prune juice had fairly immediate effects. I strongly suggest it. The wrap on this paragraph is simply this- Don't let yourself get backed up and certainly do not do so for fear of the pain of the inevitable bowel movement. THE thing which will make that inevitable movement painful is if you allow yourself to become constipated and your feces become compacted.

I can't speak for the why or whether the following is applicable to ladies or not since they are absent a prostate gland. The first 12 hours after discharge I could not urinate while simultaneously consuming huge quantities of liquid. This was bad. It felt like a swollen prostate but, understanding that when I get my prostate checked, it is checked via my rectum, all of these things are close neighbors and if my rectum was swollen, it could have impacted my prostate. If I have any nugget of intellectual gold to share from whole ordeal it was this; stand in a bath tub, turn on the water and let it run. I dunno, maybe I'm weird but the sound of the running water immediate popped my cork and I could held my own against two twenty ounce bottles of Miller High Life poured simultaneously at my feet.

So, four days in to it, I can genuinely report that ANY pain I have experienced has paled in comparison to the burning I routinely experienced over the past 9 months after a bowel movement. Today, I still hurt a bit, but I'm already better off. Don't let yourself get constipated, consume gobs of water, and don't get in a tizzy over the first BM; it is so not a big deal. Allow yourself plenty of sleep since when we're exhausted our ability to manage anxiety is compromised. When awake, move around; body movement assists the intestines with the movement of waste. Manage pain as sparingly as possible. The ointment I received from the hospital proved highly effective. I was prescribed 800mg ibuprophen and some high octane vicodin. K... I get it; the vicodin is a nice ride but it just messes you up and I haven't touched it since the first day simply because it is so constipating. I have resorted to the ibuprophen because it reduces swelling and effectively manages pain and is sedative so it helps me sleep but it, too, is constipating. If you take all the vicodin the dosage allows, you will ultimately be in a world of hurt.

 

Great pieces of advice. Fear does enhance ones anxiety and it was a good thing that I found this forum after my surgery or I don't know if I would have gone through with it. I no longer have the roids coming out after each BM. So I guess that is a good thing. Prune juice was great too but i found all the extra sugar was making me bloated and so was the codeine. I am starting to go for walks and hope to get back in shape this Spring. Like I said earlier, I think that drs should tell patients to be on stool softeners prior to the surgery. It does make a difference. But now i'm wondering? Will I need to take stool softeners for a long time? | also discovered that black licorice works as a stool softener too. Hmm?

I had an external hemorrhoidectomy on 4/9/12.  I know a few people who have had hemorrhoidectomies and I was fearing the worst.  The procedure itself with just numbing via needles was slightly painful, but OK.  I do have to say that once the numbing wore off and I tried to remove the gauze, I endured one of the most painful experiences I could imagine - like torture.  Soaking in a bathtub in warm water until it becomes loose is my best advice with this.  A family member gave me a piece of advice after the 3rd horrific BM that I wish we had thought of (or the doctor had mentioned) prior.  Use Neosporin on the entire affected and sensitive area PRIOR to the first BM.  If you can, begin applying the night before.  I can tell you that it will unfortunately be an ungodly painful experience, BUT I'm hoping that if someone tries using the Neosporin prior, that they can have better luck than I did.  Once I began using it, it created a "slide" for the BM, making it smoother and also keeping the area cleaner during BMs which reduces the need to wipe so much and aggravate the area.  I am now 8 days after my procedure and though I still have some draining and slight swelling after BMs, I am considering beginning some light exercise after work today.  I do still have to take large amounts of pain medicine after BMs, but that is to help reduce swelling and irritation.  I hope my post has helped someone and good luck!  Even with all of the pain, I am so happy I had the procedure and that I will return to normal without my butt dictating my life.

I'm only 7 days out but but my bm's are just as you describe. Right now on percocet with plenty of water and softeners, so post bm pain is bearable. I see your post is now 8 months old, so hopefully you did not end up with any permanent nerve damage.