Grade 4 thrombosed haemorrhoids - anyone got rid of them without surgery?

[Llamasally]

I gave birth recently resulting in an extremely severe case of piles. Lovely.

Was at the hospital overnight to have them removed the following day, but when it came to it the surgeon wouldn’t do it as my episiotomy from the birth was still too swollen etc.

Thing is, I was already doing ALL the other things you can to bring them under control to no avail. I honestly can’t see how they are going to resolve with cream/suppositories/ice and laxatives. They are the size of small plums and very angry. I’m in agony and having to seriously consider stopping BFing as I can’t sit down. It’s affecting my mental health and relationship with my baby.

Has anyone had them this severe after birth and managed to resolve without the surgery? Or had the surgery soon after birth? I’m considering getting a second opinion. Also it makes sense to me to get it all over with then I can heal the episiotomy AND piles and not have to start all over again once one horrible pain is better!!

[LordOfTheOnionRings]

Ouch OP! I didn't want to read and run but you have my sympathies. I don't have them as severely but I got them when I was pregnant and they haven't gone anywhere and my son is 15 months. They're not sore like yours sound though, just unsightly.

I hope you get the help you need.

[Llamasally]

Thanks @LordOfTheOnionRings I suspect even milder cases are not so easy to get rid of! Do yours still hurt??

[Llamasally]

Sorry just twigged you said not sore - ignore!

[LordOfTheOnionRings]

@llamasally they do flare up from time to time, I find for me sudocreme helps and having a warm bath. I would abstain from smoking/drinking alcohol and eat loads of fibre to not irritate them even more.

I think from the size you're saying they are I'm not sure if they will go naturally. Mine are like deflated balloons most of the time and then they'll just inflate again for no good reason and cause me a few days of soreness before fucking off again. It's all very annoying so if you can get someone to cut the fuckers out then you'll be better off in the long run.

I'm sorry about how it's effected your mothering experience so far ♥️ breastfeeding can be tough anyway without it being so sore to sit down for long periods.

[MyGrassIsBrowner]

@Llamasally you poor thing! I had a single thrombosed pile after my DD. Was probs a bit bigger than a pea and my god the pain was something else so I can't even fathom how much yours are hurting. I'm a year PP now and it's basically just deflated so I'm left with a big of excess skin where it was, not painful now just unsightly though it does go a little thrombosed if I strain hard for a large BM. Epsom salt baths were great during my healing, I used to have at least one a day! If they're stopping you from getting on with life normally I'd go to your GP and get some advice. I do hope you get sorted, they are bloody awful things! X

[MyGrassIsBrowner]

*bit of excess skin I meant to say x

[alpenguin]

Mine always seem to pop themselves and leave me with a lovely mass of skin tags. My favourite time was when I was wearing lovely white trousers in the summer 😳

[Springchickpea]

How old is your baby? I had this with both births, probably lasted a couple of weeks but they did go down. Thrombosed really just means that they contain a blood clot (in this case a bit like a bruise) which will eventually reabsorb. My kids are 4&6 and I still have piles, but they rarely become thrombosed now, and if they do, it’s nothing like they were postpartum.

I saw a surgeon when my youngest was about 18 months. His advice was not to removed them unless living with them was unbearable. He reckoned it was a 8-12 week difficult recovery. I decided to wait until the kids were older and the rest needed was realistic, but I don’t think I’ll have them done at the moment.

Also - I would only really consider doing them if you’re done having babies because the surgery isn’t 100% successful and recurrence does happen.

[moochingtothepub]

Dp is having them removed under local/spinal block and is only scheduled to be in the hospital 4 hours apparently it's the best way to ensure they don't return

[PregnantGotCovid]

How long since you gave birth?

I'm 38 weeks pregnant. I had them at the start of my third trimester. I've no idea what grade they were, as I was not examined. I've had haemorrhoids before, but never this painful. It was the worse pain I've ever experienced!

The doctor told me they'd take up to a week to settle down. In fact, it was about 4 days. They are still there but completely painless.

I would recommend:
Haemorrhoids pillow (you can get them on amazon)
Flexible ice pack that you can sit on, available in pharmacies (be careful to wrap in it a cloth so you don't get an ice burn).

Alternate between sitting on those when breastfeeding. You can also bf lying down.

You can check what medications you can use via the breastfeeding network website or helpline. They will know better what medications you can take when bf than your local pharmacist. Take a movicol sachet daily to keep your stools soft (you can definitely use this when bf). I took co codamol which you definitely cannot use when bf. I also use germaloids as it has a good topical pain relief in (I don't know if you can use this when bf).

Good luck. That level of pain in miserable. Try and keep up bf as the hormones will help the pain.

[Supersalty]

You have my sympathies OP, mine weren't as bad as yours but I found even a mild case like I had/have makes you feel very down in the dumps. When my DD was 12 months I went to see a colorectal surgeon because I had flare ups on and off over the first year and it was really getting me down. Mine were only grade 1/possible grade 2.

His main advice was to take a stool softener daily (movicol, dulcosoft are ok when BF), as much as you need to to ensure you NEVER strain on the loo, put your feet up on a stool rather than on the floor when you go (or a each foot on a toilet roll if you don't have one!). He explained that over time that a mild case can disappear but it does take time, and what is absolutely key to healing is doing what you can to not make them worse. He was absolutely correct that I needed time for them to heal, and they are much better now. I stopped BF at 13 months and things have continued to improve (DD is 16 months).

Have you tried scheriproct on prescription? You can definitely have this when you are breastfeeding and its magical. Personally when I felt like mine were "bad", the off the shelf medication didn't help at all.