THD Post Procedure Recovery

I am still no better at all, I have yellow discharge now which Dr told me was normal healing, but put me on a course of antibiotics, course finished now, no change, I feel like I have an infection

I had this procedure 7 days ago. I was not prepared for the duration and amount of pain involved. I have had broken bones and two c-section deliveries and those were a piece of cake compared to this. I don't see how anyone could be back to regular activities within 4 days. I will be off work for 10 days, but really could have used 2 weeks to recover. Possibly I'm having a difficult time because I had a severe case of internal hemhorroids and prolapsed rectum. Good luck to anyone contemplating this procedure. I hope no one experiences the level of pain I have.

I just had this procedure done 12 hours ago. I had grade 3 prolapsed hemorrhoids that did not respond to banding, and became worse when I recently started an exercise program. I am a 58 year old woman who has had these for 10 years.

I am afraid I am going to jinx this by saying that I have experienced absolutely no pain. I was given Exparel during the surgery which is supposed to last for 72 hours. I can only attribute this to the drug. I have taken no pain medication yet because I have not needed it. I am sure I am in the "honeymoon" period, and will report on how I feel tomorrow, and as time goes on.

Fingers crossed.

I'm 51/2?weeks out still external hemmies, my dr says it just skin may not get any better. To me looks exactly the same as before surgery. Still itches a little. So disappointed :(. How r u now

I am now 13 days post THD. I should have known it was too good to be true. I had no real pain for 3 days, so the Exparel really does work. Pain then started, but I managed with high doses of Advil. Started to have multiple bm's up to 6 per day. Again, not painful, but concerning. I was worried about disturbing the stitches. I tried cutting back on the fiber and laxatives, but got stopped up immediately, so I resumed. That has been slowing down a bit. I've followed all directions by the book.

Around day 7 I noticed a bit of protrusion/swelling. It has not gotten any better. I had my first check up yesterday, and now have an external hemmy. Dr. says THD does nothing for that, but I never had it before. The only way to get rid of an external hemmy is to cut it off.  He has no answer for the protrusion, even did a digital exam which freaked me out since I didnt want to disturb the stitches. Says give it 6 weeks, then come back for a possible re-do if it isn't any better. Fat chance.

Ugh....this is so disappointing. I have a real phobia about surgeries and everything related. I agonized over having this done, it took me 6 months to work up the courage, but I decided to bite the bullet for the promise of no more hemmies. I keep reading that people get better as time goes on, but it doesn't sound like it for you, Stephanie. And my Dr. seemed to think I should be where I needed to be by the check-up. 

I guess at this point it is live with it, or if and when it gets so bad I can't live with it anymore, I'll do the traditional surgery. I was really trying to avoid that at all costs. 

I am wondering how you are doing the second time? I had the surgery about a year ago.
I am feeling pain and pressure again and am wondering if I have had a reoccurence. UGH.
Will go to doc in a week or so if this doesn't subside. I am glad to read having it done a second time "might" be an option. Has the procedure helped this time? Thank you.

I agree... there is no way I could have gone back to work after 4 days. The literature about THD is a complete lie. I was in absolutely agonizing pain for about 5 days, then it was just extreme pain for the next 5 days. The pain during bowel movements from day 3 through day 19 felt like someone was sticking a burning hot knife in my rectum. UNBELIEVABLE. I am now 22 days out from my THD procedure and have terrible pain, discomfort, swelling and itching after bowel movements. I am still taking stool softeners twice daily and 600 to 800 mg Ibuprofen after BMs. I have also found some relief using lidocaine jelly 2%, hemorrhoid cream and hemorrhoid suppositories to reduce the post op swelling. I have had broken bones, neck surgery and tendon repair surgery and all were a breeze compared to the horrible nightmare of pain after having a THD procedure. I literally wanted to die during day 2 through day 4... because the pain was intolerable. I sure wish the surgeon had been honest with me... I only took 1 week off work, but had to take an extra week off... I couldn't return until after 2 weeks. I still don't like to sit for very long because it causes rectal pain... even after 22 days.

Sorry to bump an old thread but i am serisouly considering taking this operation.

I have 3 grade 3 haemroids that always bleed and its a struggle pushing them up back in.

I want to avoid the traditional haemroid surgery and this procedure sounded too good to be true e.g. can return to work in 48 hours, much less pain then the traditional haemroid surgery etc

All these horror stories are scarying me. I dont know what to do

I am 48 years old ...had the surgery 6 days ago and so far I couldn't be happier. I had so much bleeding from my hemorrhoids before surgery that it would sometimes go through my clothes and on to the chair I was sitting on. They were sticking out and making cleaning difficult. It was awful. It was influencing my life in awful ways. I decided to go through with the surgery because it could only get better in my mind. There was some discomfort that warm baths, pain meds, muscle relaxer, and heating pad took care of. No horrible pain like is mentioned in some of these previous posts. I had an outside bandage on my rear that I took off as soon as I got home. I slept a lot the 1st two days ...I think it was the muscle relaxers....so I then stopped taking those. I was told to keep a low residue diet for 7 days....no fiber....which I am doing. Had no bowel movement for 2 days...3rd day a watery one after milk of magnesia....4th day more runny bowel movements which are still continuing I think because of the antibiotics I am taking...today will be my last day for those....so hopefully bowel movements will be more solid then. I now wipe and feel no hemorrhoids. I was so impressed I looked with a mirror and couldn't believe they had disappeared immediately. With the runny and numerous bowel movement before surgery I would have been bleeding all over the place. Now nothing.....I saw some pinkness once... that is it. I have gone out to eat, walked my dogs, went shopping. I think today I am even going to try to do a low impact workout. I would not feel comfortable going back to work yet. I am a teacher and can't use the restroom on demand so with the runny bowel movements I need to be able to use the restroom. I feel good and am very very happy with my procedure. I notice some of these beginning posts were from 2010....it is now 2015.....maybe lots of improvements have been made in the procedure....because I would do again in a heartbeat. I am actually sorry I didn't do it sooner.

You're 100% right on the money, had this done 6 days ago, a friday @ 4:30pm, even after reading all the forum's posts, and nearly running away from it right at the OR doors, literally, I went thru with it, these stories turned out not only more informative, but accurately describe the hell the recovery is, THD's claim of 48hrs resume activities my ass, a total misrepresentation of the facts, wished they'd be forced to undergo their no pain alternative, they'd learn a thing or two about truth in marketing. Anyway, woke up from surgery in lot of pain, immediately attended to by the nurse, not long after, 9pm, I went home with valium and Percocet, which never managed to make pain tolerable, and spent the night in and out of bathtub, sleeping no more than 1hr stretches, same story better part of saturday, then, all of sudden pain seemed to ease, and stopped the percacet, and actually slept an almost normal night, waking only couple times, visiting bathtub, waking up Sunday was a whole different story, the pain wasn't as severe, but the hemostatic gauze stuck in my rectum was unbearable, and gave awful sesation of fullness and drive you to want to relieve yourself constantly, making anus painfully raw, attempts to manually remove it didn't work, it finally came off on Monday with pitiful BM, but felt suc immediate relief, that upon jumping in bathtub, i broke into tears, such was the emotional release, dare I say I thought worst may now be over, boy was I wrong, serious Tenesmus, as they call it, set in, and the otherwise normal act of defecating soft pencil wide stools, couldn't have been mor excruciating if it came with thorns, now multiply it by 5 times a day I have the need, and it gets you to the verge of passing out on the toilet, and hasn't improved much by 6th day, now I'm sweating bullets at the thought I need to be back at work in 4. days from today, either this takes a sudden turn for the better, or God help me come Monday, and can only hope when all it's over, it better had been worth it, otherwise, I'll rather endure them to the end of days than to experience this living hell ever again.
Good luck to anyone considering THD, as ultimately everyone responds differently, and outcomes vary, but don't be fooled by thd labs claims that this is a walk in the park.

Hi

I had the THD 3 days ago, my plug fell out on the same day, I have a hemmie on the outside which is very painful, It stops me from trying to go to the toilet, my waterworks aren't functioning as normal and I have a constant feeling like I need to make a BM, but can't. How long will it take for this hemmie to shrink, this is my only issue at the moment, once I push it up all is ok ...

I had the THD in 2012 for grade 3 prolapse. I was fortunate to have a very easy, less painful recovery than some. I was doing very well for the first year or two but eventually they prolapsed again even worse than when I initially started. I contacted THD America and its representatives several times to see if they had any information or statistics on re-do success and of course, no response. You would think they would give me a courtesy call back since I volunteered to do a marketing recording for them because of the success I had at the time. I just recently underwent a stapled hemorrhoidectomy which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be in a much better alternative to the standard hemorrhoidectomy. It's only been 3 weeks and I'm still within the 6-8 week recovery period. Everybody has a different experience. I had a great recovery experience with the THD and the stapled hemrrhoidectomy while others have had a horror stories. I was really scared at first, especially after reading some experiences, but you have to decide how your current situation is affecting your quality-of-life and whether or not its worth taking a chance. Good luck!

I've not long had this procedure done in the UK and thought I'd share my experiences with you all.

I was scheduled for THD and mucopexy surgery on 16/11/2015 as a day care patient. This was to get rid of both the internal and external hemmies. I was in theatre for 17:30 and was ready to go home by 22:00.

On day 1 post op, I was feeling okay, a little sore, I mainly slept off the anaesthetic, the real pain came around 20;00 that evening. I was sent home from the hospital with ibuprofen, paracetamol and lactulose, according to the surgeon I would feel 'mild discomfort' over the next few days, but he gave me a sick note to cover me for 2 weeks. The pain that evening was pretty bad, ibuprofen and paracetamol sort of kept it at bay so I could get a few hours sleep, but the pain kept getting worse.

On day 2, I called my GP to get an appointment, he prescribed me co-codamol and anugesic h cream, I used both of these as prescribed and they still didn't do much for the pain. The vomiting then started, I couldn't keep anything down. That night was spent sleepless and with me not being able to do anything as the pain was so severe by this time, I was convinced that I had a thrombosed hemmie because of the pain I was in.

On day 3, I called the private hospital where I'd had the procedure done to explain how much pain I was in, they asked me to come in so that a doctor could have a look at me and see what they could do. I went down there, and the on call doctor took a peek at my poor bum, he said there is no thrombosed hemmie, but, he decided to prescribe me some tramadol and lidocaine gel and also some senna since I hadn't had a BM by this point. I was sent to the waiting area to wait for my meds. I couldnt sit (even in my hemmie donut) or get comfortable at all. Whilst in the waiting room I bumped into my surgeon who invited me into his office for a quick chat. I explained the situation whilst crying to him, he looked at my rear and stated that I should be hospitalised in an NHS hospital, where they could give me stronger pain meds, he instructed me to go to the A&E dept of the hospital he also worked at and get them to admit me under his care. He called the hospital and told them to have a bed ready for me. 

So off to Whiston Hospital I went and got myself admitted, I had been unable to urinate for the past 14 hours due to pain and swelling from my behind, I had my bladder drained, was given 2 morphine injections, was placed on IV fluids, and also IV paracetamol. That night I slept for most of the night and had a relatively pain free night.

Day 4 - Still in hospital, but feeling loads better, my surgeon came for a visit, he said I was looking better than the day before, but wasn't willing to let me go home until I was off morphine. I rested well that day in the hospital and my boyfriend came to visit, I was feeling up to a walk downstairs to go get a quick coffee. I made it to the coffee shop, but the pain quickly started to come back, I got back up to my hospital bed and was crying again in pain, I called a Nurse for some pain relief, she stated that I couldn't have any more as I had been given enough to last me until 20:00 that evening, it was only 16:00 by this point. I made the Nurse get a doctor, upon inspecting me the doctor decided I needed a lot more morphine than I was already prescribed, he prescribed me oral morphine, 10mg every hour. After 3 doses I was feeling okay and again had a pain free night.

On day 5, again my surgeon came to visit me, he was getting concerned that I hadn't had a BM still, he put me on 8 sachets of movicol to try and get me to have a BM, but still nothing.

On day 6, I'd still not had a BM and was still taking the 8 sachets of movicol a day. I was off morphine, and able to manage the pain with ibuprofen, paracetamol and tramadol. The doctors made the decision to give me pericolax, to completely empty my bowels (basically a drug enema). I took this at 19;30 that evening and went to bed around 21;00. I was awoken at 03:40 with the sudden urge to have a BM, A large very hard stool came crashing out along with a lot of very watery stool. The watery stools continued throughout the rest of the night.

On day 7, I was feeling really good, very little pain, and able to have bowel movements, the doctors were more than happy to let me go home.

Every day I get a little better, the lidocaine is really good and numbs the bum to be able to have a BM. I'm now 10 days post op and able to sit down with out pain and I'm no longer taking any pain killers. I'm still very tired and not doing too much, I'm just concentrating on getting ready to go back to work on 01/12/15.

It is all a lie that you're able to return to regular activities after 48 hours. I'm just about ready now on day 10!

Hopefully this helps a few people out when deciding if THD is the best option for them.

Hi All, have been suffering with this for about 2 years and it's gotten to a point where the internal hemorrhoid closes and I cannot make a movement. I don't need to tell you all how painful this becomes.
The local surgeon initially recommended banding. When I mentioned my need to be back at work asap and of my fears and of my inability to make appointments because of all the time it takes me just to get cleared to go........sometimes all day, becoming most days now.
So I think I have to get past the fear and make ( and keep ) the appointment. Is it fair to say that while there's pain initially post op, that this procedure works and life can finally be lived again afterward and if this is a safe thing to say would you agree that sometime in less than 30 days after the op that you are happy to did?

I had my procedure one week before Christmas - I had both internal and external hemmies - that had been bleeding for almost one year - I had so much bleeding I ended up in the emergency room and needed transfusions. The loss of blood had caused rapid heart rate, shortness of breath ( I couldn't even make it to my car from the house without getting winded) and I was chalk white. After emergency transfusions, a surgeon saw me and scheduled THD about 4 days later. After reading all these posts here I agree ....2 days recovery time is a JOKE. When I awoke from surgery I was not given any oral pain meds - just a prescription for them. It took me over 3 hours to pee a few drops which I had to do before they sent me home. I felt like someone shoved a wooden plank up my rear - not a sharp pain but dull and aching. I was not give any advice about diet prior to procedure - just told no food or drink after mid-night. So of course I ate like a pig that day finishing the evening off with a big fat rib eye steak and loaded baked potato. Big mistake - should have done a cleansing diet . So I got home that evening - besides the wooden plank up my bum feeling - ate dinner and got some sleep. Some time the next morning I started getting these intense spasms like my lower colon was twisting in a knot. These came sometimes several times an hour and then at times would be more spaced out. The "pressure" feeling would also come in waves and the pressure feeling was just like you had to have a BM so I spent a lot of time on the pot but with no luck. I took stool softeners, drank some liquid but held off on oral pain meds. By day 4 I was bloated like a dead carcass. The osmotic stool softeners were pushing liquid into my bowels but I could not go. I would sit on the pot and push and nothing would come out. I started some pain meds on day 3 which made the pressure feeling more bearable. On day 5 I am panicking because of no bowel movement and all I could imagine was I would end up back in the hospital to have them ream my bowels of compacted poop. I contacted the surgeons office and they had me double up on the softeners and to call them back late in the day if no luck. I called them at 4pm and they advised drink a half bottle of magnesium citrate ( a colon prep). That worked after about 4 hours and it was the most glorious bm I've ever had. I continued on the pain meds for a couple more days and then discontinued. I had a 3 week follow up with the surgeon and had no bleeding up until that time and was feeling much better. The very next day, I had a couple of drops of blood on the paper and the water was a light pink. This increased for the next two days but NEVER was as bad as prior to the surgery (I bled so much then that the water was a dark maroon color - remember my hematacrit and hemoglobin were so low I needed transfusions). I called the surgeon and they didnt seem too concerned - stay on softener and drink plenty of water. From other posts I understand that some bleeding even weeks later is normal - could be stitches coming out. I hope that is correct. Now this morning maybe one drop of blood - I have increased my fiber and water intake dramatically. I agree with pretty much everyone on here - this takes a lot more than 2 days to recover. I think the constipation is normal and if I had it to do over again I would have done the mineral oil, softener routine more aggressively from the start and would not wait to take pain meds. Also a restricted diet a few days prior to surgery would also be wise - not like me having a King's feast the night before. My surgeon told me he was able to pull up most the hemmies and stitch them up but he couldn't get all - so I have one small hemmie which I can live with . I do not itch and it is not sore. From what I have read the THD procedure is the way to go but be warned it can take a couple of weeks before you really feel up to going back to work. I had planned on being back 5 days post surgery but it was really a couple of weeks. I hope this helps. I will try and post another update later. I am still very anemic even with the transfusion - I am still cold intolerant but breathing and color have returned to normal. Doc says it can take a couple of months for blood values to return to normal even on iron supplement. I continue to take softener and extra fiber. Good luck to everyone.