THD Post Procedure Recovery

I am thankful I found this site because I am having similar experiences and don't want to call the doc every day. I am now on Day #7. Had procedure January 7, 2016. Had been bleeding with internal and external hemmies for 18 years on and off, since my only son was born. It was unbearable at times, but I was horrified after hearing what my parents, and other elders went through with hemmies surgery, so I was determined not to go that route. I am 51. I needed the colonoscopy for general health reasons, and other bouts of diverticulitis in my family so I finally went to the Colon Doctor. She sold the THD idea and I went for it. I had a colonoscopy the day before my surgery, so I was already cleaned out when I went, which I think was a huge plus. On any hemmie surgery, as the last gentleman said, DO NOT gorge yourself the night before, or days before, and cleansing would be a great idea, or a very light, smooth, high fiber diet. I have been eating 2 percoset every 4 hours because of stabbing pains every few hours, and I also get the bloated feeling when on my feet too long, (cleaning or washing clothes, and an attempted trip to the mall to walk around last night). The stool softeners are also are a must. No need to torture yourself with straining or a difficult, hard stool. Also highly recommend starting the softeners a few days before. My doc didn't give me much info other than 6-8 glasses of water a day, up to 4 stool softeners, soft foods, soups, one servicing of Metamucil a day, and then graduate into high fiber diet. They recommended mineral oil, but I don't feel the need as the stool softeners are working fine. I feel like I am finally getting a little better, but realized early on that the bath, or the sitz bath are my best friends. DO NOT USE SOAP OR EPSOM SALT!!! There was nothing about that on my paperwork, but I found out quickly that it dried the area out and made it so raw I could barely walk. That happened on Day 3 and it took me a couple of days to get over. ALSO NO PREP H, OR OINTMENT, again, wasn't on my paperwork, which all that pissed me off, and on the 21st I will be conversing with the doc and pointing all that out. Overall, HIGHLY recommend the sitz 4-6 times a day, and especially after every poop. It keeps swelling down and keeps the area clean. I finally figured out the sitz bath. LOL. Don't fill it up too much and try to place your affected area ONLY. Ended up with scalded butt cheeks a couple of times, but in the name of pain. I also found ice a comfort to my lower back and affected area as possible, it seems to help the swelling. I will try to check back in a few days. :)

I had my THD here in the UK about two years ago, and I agree with most people on the thread in that , it certainly isn't a minor surgery in terms of recovery time. Going back to normality after a couple of days as advised by Consultant was nothing but a fantasy actually!
I had to educate myself on how to cope with the recovery period as it was very challenging indeed, the pain is indescribable! Coupled with all other side effects that come with the recovery drugs I was given ...e.g constipation which comes with taking Cocodamol (a pain killer)...but constipation was really the last thing anyone would have needed at that point in time tbh.
I resorted to consuming liquids only , and progressed to soups with time, I went off Cocodamol and took other painkillers instead...
These are all what anyone considering the surgery should expect, which I wish I'd known at the time really. At least would have been more prepared for it better...
The good news though is that I am now seemingly cured of the grade 3 Haemorrhoids
I had.
To avoid a remission, I have become a lot more active with exercises as well as more disciplined with foods I eat. I drink lots and lots of water....so fingers crossed, no more recurrence in future as apparently this THD isn't a guaranteed permanent cure :-(
On the whole , I'll say, for me , it was worth taking the procedure, given the results I have with my quality of life now compared to before.
Hope this info helps someone out there. I was really looking for advise from someone that had had the procedure done for 2 years when I was trying to decide to go for it , I wanted to know more about long term /side effects of the procedure rather than the short term discomfort of post-procedure ... So there you go!

Cheers!

Thanks for your post. I'm on day 12 and really struggling. Yet I have faith and am doing the soups and liquids. It feels so swollen likemrheynarw still there! Follow up in 2 days so I will post again.

Dear Guest,

When did your bleeding stop I'm two months post THD and still having slight bleeding on stools if I'm a bit considapated .
I've also had a bit of scab come out of me after pooing is this normal ?

* I accidentally posted this as a separate thread, but intended it to be in this one.

My THD procedure took place on Dec 17th in Ft Lauderdale, Fl, so I'm about six weeks post-op. I believe that I must be somewhere between 85% and 90% healed.

Everyone is different and different Drs can have different experience and skill levels, so one should not expect the same recovery experience or results as anyone else. If you go to the THD website, they list Drs in different areas with training and experience in the procedure.

While I have to admit that the "recovery" was extremely uncomfortable, I'm literally amazed and thankful for the results.

I postponed having THD for quite a while, prolapsed hemorrhoid went from a manageable (able to reinsert) level 2/3 to an unmanageable level 4. At my suggestion we tried one dose of IRC, but, imo, it actually made the situation worse. Surgeon still believed that he could successfully perform THD, and he did.

Initially I didn't really experience "pain", but the discomfort level was extremely high, anal discharge for several weeks. Unable to comfortably sit and/or sometimes even walk, let alone be active, sleep became my friend. First bowel movement was on the second day, after that several BMs and "false alarms" all day and night, along with the constant feeling that I needed to go. Recommended that warm soaking both before and after movements are helpful, I was waking up every three hours with the urge, sometimes it was real and sometimes not. Eventually I went to two movements a day, and now am back to my before surgery routine of once a day. An important change that I made was listening very carefully to my body and not trying to tell, or force, my body into going when it wasn't ready. Your body knows when it's ready, listen to it.

I'll repeat what many others have said, after surgery discontinue using any creams and/or chemicals (Epsom salts) either directly or within baths until fully healed. Stool softeners, fiber, extra water, and a change in diet to high fiber (for me fruits like oranges and grapefruit), and soups, more so the days immediately following surgery, are recommended, and worked for me.

Don't know how it occurred, but about three or four weeks after surgery I somehow developed a small open wound which really burned and hurt worse than immediately after the procedure. Went back to the Dr, who after examining, took a swab sample of it's discharge and sent it to the lab. Haven't received the results (maybe today), but it hasn't been an issue for almost two weeks, I believe that it has healed on it's own.

Still have one small hemorrhoid, which prolapses if I apply too much pressure and then reinserts itself when I relax, but, again, I'm paying more attention to what my body tells me and not trying to force it to bend to my wishes, so I believe that it's manageable. If not, I will consider my options at the time...if needed, possibly another THD procedure.

So six weeks later, I back playing tennis balls and all my other normal activities. The difference from before the surgery and now, for me, is miraculous. As an additional bonus, I lost 10 - 12 lbs.

Good luck to all.

J

I'm going to be heading in for THD Surgery in about a month's time. I made the wrong decision and read all of the Horror Stories on the Web based on people's reviews after the Surgery and wound up scaring the absolute c**p out of myself. It was only after giving myself panic attacks over the upcoming Surgery that I realized my mistake.

By reading people's reviews on here who have suffered post-operative complications I'm taking a completely skewed Sample. First, most people who have had this Surgery are not going to post a Review on it. They will simply have the Surgery and move on with life. The people who have complications are the ones that will be searching for information online and likely leave a Horror Story or two about what to expect.

Second, you have no information regarding the Sample Size of these Operations. Some people are not going to have good results following Surgery. Moreover, you have no idea as to the Anal Problems that the person had going into the Surgery and most of the people complaining you have no idea why they were suffering pain Post-Op for such lengthy periods of time. They could have developed a Fissure or something and just not note it down.

So to get a more accurate picture I started reading the Scientific Studies that you can find online where Doctors took a Sample Size and performed this Surgery on all of them and wrote down the post-operative results.

When you look at any one of the Studies like that you realize quickly how small of a chance you've got of dealing with post-operative complications because of this Surgery as opposed to how you feel after reading all the Horror Stories on this Thread.

We're not allowed to post URLs in this Thread so for those that want to look at the Study Groups simply do a Google Search and see what you come up with.

For most Studies that I've read, for Post-Operative Pain 20% of people had pain immediately following Surgery and needed Pain Killers. Of that 20%, 5% needed Pain Killers for longer than 3 days. Usually 0 - 1% of people needed Pain Killers past 10 days Post-Op.

Post-Operative Bleeding happened in about 8% of people in the Studies that I've read.

Tenesmus was reported in about 20% of people Post-Op (about the same for pain) but this seemed to always drop down to 10% at the end of the first week and completely disappeared by the end of the 3rd week. Which is what most Doctors who provide this Operation state as part of the Healing Period. Healing can last any where from 3 days to 3 weeks.

When comparing THD to the Traditional Hemorrhoidectomy the difference between Post-Operative Pain is significant. Same when compared to PPH or Stapled Hemorrhoidopexy. In fact, being that I'm in Canada, most Doctors refuse to perform the Traditional Hemorrhoidectomy unless significant External Hemorrhoids were present (the only surgical treatment for large External Hemorrhoids is to cut them off). In Canada, PPH has also been replaced with TDH because TDH has much less Post-Operative Pain and the percentage of complications following TDH Surgery is extremely low when there's all kinds of problems you could have following PPH.

"Most" of the complications arising from TDH Surgery also become more apparent when using this Operation on Stage 4 Prolapsed Hemorrhoids as opposed to Stage 3 or 2. However, most Doctors now when Operating will combine a Plexi (stitching the prolapsed Hemorrhoid Tissue) back into place after Arterial Ligation. This significantly reduces the re-occurrence of Prolapse. I'm willing to bet that the people in this Thread that are complaining about an External Hemorrhoid or something else protruding from their Anus following this Operation didn't get the Plexi performed when they probably should have.

So with those Numbers it should make a lot of people feel a lot safer if you are reading these Reviews. You have an 80% chance of not experiencing any pain Post-Op. If you do experience Pain Post-Op within 3-4 days you have a 95% chance of the pain dropping to a level where you don't need Pain Killers. If after 3-4 days you do still experience pain upon defecation then you have a 99% chance that this pain will disappear between 7-10 days.

When comparing pain in with people who have undergone PPH there is also like an 8-10% chance of having chronic pain following Surgery. The Doctor needs to know exactly what they are doing when they perform PPH because if you put the Line too high or too low it leads to a completely different set of problems.

You have a 92% chance of not having significant bleeding Post-Op. Based on this though you only have a 2% chance of needing to be readmitted to the Hospital because of Blood Loss. In some of the Studies I've read you have an 18% chance of experiencing massive blood loss following PPH Surgery and about the same (18-20% chance) following Traditional Surgery.

Unfortunately, you do have an 80% chance of having Tenesmus following Surgery. This is the feeling that you need to have a Bowel Movement really badly when you don't need to. This lends itself to a feeling of Urgency even when all you've got built up inside of you is a very little bit of Stool or even Gas. This is what you've read in these Reviews about people needing to use the Toilet 8 times or more a day. The Urgency that people talk about saying that they feel that they only have a minute or two to find a toilet after the urge hits. This is also what people in these posts are reporting as feeling incredibly backed up and needing to take drastic measures to have their first Bowel Movement following Surgery.

Staying with Tenesmus, keep in mind that many people, even with Laxatives, experience constipation for 1-5 days when waking up from Anesthesia and that this gets worse when you are taking large amounts of Pain Killers since Opiates slow your GI Tract to a crawl.

You should also know that with Tenesmus you simply have the Urge to have a Bowel Movement immediately but when factoring in fecal incontinence there is pretty much a 0% chance of that happening. Meaning that you can hold it till you find a Toilet and you will be able to hold it for longer and longer as you proceed past the point of the Operation.

When you compare Tenesmus and Fecal Incontinence in with PPH the amount of people experiencing it is much higher than THD and there are like 8% of people that actually wind up with Fecal Incontinence.

For me, after doing all this Reading, I feel a lot more confident approaching this Surgery than I did before. Right now my life is pretty much a living Hell. Every Bowel Movement hurts, I always feel like I've got to have a Bowel Movement, the amount of pressure in my Rectum is also putting pressure on my bladder so I've got to Pee like every 20 minutes. Also, the only position that I seem to be comfortable in for a long period of time now is on my back in bed. It's February 7th today and I've been pretty much on Bed Rest since the beginning of 2016. I'm just trying to keep myself calm long enough now to go through with this Surgery. Every day is such a Challenge that I'm absolutely exhausted right now. I just need to get this Surgery over with so I can start feeling better.

had thd with mucopexy done exactly two weeks ago. a few days ago, i noticed my bum hurt worse and had prolapse almost as bad as before. i noticed what appears to be a new internal hemorrhoid that looks raw and red at the end (maybe this is one that had been stitched up?) and a couple smaller external hemorrhoids that had never been there before. i've stayed away from straining, taking the exact amount of laxatives and fiber as recommended (there was only one incidence of straining and my bum looked and felt exactly as it had prior to this new incidence). i have a follow up appt in two weeks since my doctor is out of the office until then. i have been in panic mode for the past few days and though my doctor says this is a normal part of the healing process, i don't understand how it could have happened overnight from neat and tidy to worse than before. can anyone give me any advice or hope that this will get better?

had thd with mucopexy done exactly two weeks ago. a few days ago, i noticed my bum hurt worse and had prolapse almost as bad as before. i noticed what appears to be a new internal hemorrhoid that looks raw and red at the end (maybe this is one that had been stitched up?) and a couple smaller external hemorrhoids that had never been there before. i've stayed away from straining, taking the exact amount of laxatives and fiber as recommended (there was only one incidence of straining and my bum looked and felt exactly as it had prior to this new incidence). i have a follow up appt in two weeks since my doctor is out of the office until then. i have been in panic mode for the past few days and though my doctor says this is a normal part of the healing process, i don't understand how it could have happened overnight from neat and tidy to worse than before. can anyone give me any advice or hope that this will get better?

I'm about to have the procedure done on Thursday with a Botox injection for a fissure. I found my doctor on the THD website who works out of Mt Siani in NYC. I actually had the procedure done about 3 years ago to one hemorrhoid. I'm wishing he did the others. The recovery wasn't bad. I was sore the first few days but manageable with advil. But I'm not sure it will be as pleaseant as it was the 2nd time around. Did anyone have multiples done? What was the pain like? Burning? Soreness? I have about 10 days off for work after the procedure so I am hoping to be good to go by then. Is that the average time back for multiple hems?

I just want to say that this site helped so much because l kept reading and hearing how you could go back to normal activities with 2-3 days and it's been three days and l just did a BM this am and it was painful. After the procedure l thought l was going to die, they wouldn't let me go till l peed but 8 hrs later they just let me go home and staying in the bathtub was the best feeling, no pain and never wanted to get out. It's like l had to learn how to pee and have a BM all over again.

I am just past 48 hours from THD procedure for internal hemorrhoids that would prolapse but could be pushed back in. I had gone through banding the previous three years, which would work well for about a year and then I would have prolapsing again. My doctor retired so I got a new, younger doctor who was trained in THD who told me I could do banding again but why not do something more permanent that would not be nearly as painful as a hemorrhoidectomy. I agreed.

Thank goodness for this website along with other information on the Internet, as I got little to no guidance from the doctor what to expect afterwards except to take 10-14 days off work. Then, again, I guess if they told you what to expect, nobody may ever do it.

I expected when I awoke from the procedure not to have any pain since I would be numb in the area where the procedure was performed. Couldn't be further from the truth. I awoke in about 8 out of 10 pain, shaking uncontrollably. A shot of Fentanyl was put in my IV. That didn't do anything. The nurse gave me crackers to eat and 5 milligrams of Norco. Then she wanted to bring my family back. I told her I was not ready to let my family see me in this condition. Another injection of Fentanyl was given and another Norco. By then I got the strength to get up, walk to bathroom and get dressed to go home. Total time at the surgery center was 3 hours. When I was put under, it was 10:15. When I woke up, it was 11:00 a.m.

The doctor tried to send me home with Norco, which I objected because I've taken it before and gotten little to no results. So instead he gave me 5/325 percocet, one every 4 hours, and Valium for anal spasm to be taken once every 6 hours.

Once home I started taking Percocet right away. The pain was similar to what I had after banding except for multiplied, obviously, with the strong ache in the area. The day passed away not too badly, until nighttime. Once the numbing medication that was given for the surgery wore off, the pain was amazing. I was maxed out on taking Percocet and didn't know what to do.

I called my doctor's on-call number. The doctor on call sounded like I needlessly bothered her. In a snarky tone she said to me, "Well, what does it say on the bottle you should take? Well, then it sounds like you can't take anymore, huh? I know you want to go to sleep, but I'm sure your doctor told you that these next days would be rough. Go take a sitz bath and use ice." I was sorry I called.

The next several hours are a blur of me in and out of the tub and crawling around on floor crying, trying ice, heating pad. I think I took maybe a little more percocet but was afraid -- and still am -- about side effects of constipation and had taken max amount according to bottle (although not more than 4,000 mg, which I didn't hear about until later.)

Finally at about 1:00 am, I went ahead and took two Advil, even though doctor told me not to take ibuprofen. I don't recall exactly at what time but I was crawling around my bedroom and I just dropped on floor and slept for two hours, until the alarm went off on my phone to remind me to take more pain meds. I wanted to stay ahead of the pain, as instructed by the very helpful nurse at the surgery center, who was more real with me about what to expect than anyone else.

Mornings seem to be best so far. Second day I stayed within the one percocet every four hours and things went fine until nighttime. Again, I could not stay ahead of the pain. I think it is partially because I am extremely tired since I haven't slept adequately for days. I was crying and in and out of shower, didn't want to take percocet because of constipation fears but didn't want to take Advil against doctor's orders (which I did take about four throughout the second day anyway, since I have had no bleeding and I get such good relief from ibuprofen. If my doctor had called to check on me, I would have asked if okay, but no such call since it's a weekend.)

I again called the wonderful warm and friendly on-call doctor (same one) and asked if I could take Tylenol PM. She said I could as long as I did the math on how much acetaminophen I had taken throughout the day and that it did not exceed 4,000, although I have heard 3,000 and 2,000 before that. I took one Tylenol PM, slept okay for awhile, woke up in pain, took more baths, took another Tylenol PM. I think I slept at least four hours.

Day 3, I have only taken two regular Tylenol so far today. Trying not to eat. Took a stool softener yesterday and one today. Really don't think I need to have a BM since I am hardly eating. I hope tonight goes better. And I hope tomorrow is BM day, since I'm sure the doctor's office will insist.

I don't mean to scare anyone off. I just truly feel that if it wasn't for my Internet research, I would not have been prepared at all for what I am experiencing. I'm hoping that the ole saying "no pain, no gain" really rings true here. My doctor said in two weeks everything will be better and that in one month I will be overjoyed that I did this. Anatomically everything looks nice, too. Sorry if I sort of jumped around topics here and my thoughts are not more organized. I will try to update later.

I wanted to add that my doctor said no ibuprofen for 48 hours.

How are you now Sir?

I am 2 weeks post-op and today I am bleeding from my rectum.
This was one of the most painful surgeries that I have ever had. The doctors will tell you no pain and just a feeling like you have to go poop. This is not true. It really hurts and on top of the surgery pain I had a stomach virus the day after surgery.
If your hemorrhoid are manageable, then please don't have this surgery.

Hi AnythingOnce271113,
im thinking to do THD as well once i get my insurance. I also live in LA, could you tell me please in which medical center you had done yours? or who was your sergeon?
I tried rubber banding on 2 large ones 10 days ago (pasadena) but seems it didnt work at all, i even have bigger prolapsing after BM. Its a nightmare every time i have BM. Any reply would be appriciated.
Aya.