Can anything be urgently done about a pile?

[GoldenCagedBird]

I’ve felt a lump around my anus earlier in the week, and woke up with severe pain today. It was coming from the area so I felt it and it was now grape sized. DH looked, it’s a pile. Blue in colour and external- so can’t be pushed back in.

DH went out and got me Anusol and the pharmacist advised me to take paracetamol and ibuprofen for the pain. Granted, I’ve only had two doses of each and only applied Anusol at 9ish this morning- but the pain is steadily getting worse.

The pain is a solid 8/10. I have an 7 month old and can only feed her laying down as it’s severely uncomfortable to sit up with her. I can’t walk without crying, let alone be on the floor playing with her.

I have heard about piles before, never had one- and just didn’t realise it can be this severe.

Is there a private option to get it drained if this level of pain continues? I can’t believe such a tiny thing is stopping me from doing day to day tasks :(

Just bumping this

@GoldenCagedBird

How are things now?

Thank you so much for your response.

unfortunately I couldn’t see the consultant because they were busy but I had a registrar and a surgical doctor who were with me.

I was told that it is a stage 3 thrombosed and the excision is not a good idea because it’s a ‘self-resolving’ condition and there is an infection risk because of the area.

I wasn’t given lidocaine because my OTC creams contain it so I have just been advised to use those. I refused codeine + laxatives as I currently don’t have constipation and when I took pre-emptive laxatives it just gave me violent diarrhoea. At the moment the pile is so external descended that opening bowels is actually fine (comparatively) - I don’t want to add constipation/diarrhoea that makes me feel even more disgusting into the mix.

So I will continue with naproxen and ice- as I have been doing so far :(

what they couldn’t really tell me was how long I am expected to be like this. do you have any insight? I was given no time frame for ‘self-correction’. Weeks? Months? How long am I supposed to feel like this for? What do I do next? Who do I call?

my gp isn’t interested, they can’t do anything.

not great

i have been in tears all night. In so much pain and I just feel horribly down

what makes me the most sad though is how annoying I’m finding my beautiful, much wanted baby

i’m struggling to respond to her, it hurts reaching to get her

The pain usually peaks at 72 hours, then resolves over 7-10 days but it may take a couple of weeks for the lump to go. I promise this will get better, you won’t feel like this forever.

How long has it been now? That's exactly what they said to me. I begged them to cut it open and relieve the pain. Think mine started being less excruciatingly painful on about 2 weeks and then seemed to shrink a bit afterwards. Think it was probably 6 weeks till I didn't notice it at all but that killing pain was about 2 weeks.

The pain from this condition is indescribable - it is a very sensitive area - it is no wonder that you are struggling to look after your baby. It is not acceptable that you are just being left to soldier on. I wish I knew where you might turn for help. Sending a hand hold.

Thank you- I’m on 7 days of severe pain so really hoping for some relief soon :(

I don’t know how it feels but my DH had this about 6/7 years ago. He had his cut out. Can you go back to A&E today. Tell the, you can’t live like this and certs8nly cannot be responsible for a baby.

It's really important to make sure your poo is easy after it starts to go down because one wrong poo and you are thrombosed all over again and it becomes a vicious cycle. Other risk factors are sex and lifting anything heavy, walking too much in one day and driving. Speaking from bitter experience unfortunately. Prevention is better than cute, especially with piles because there are no guaranteed cures.

*cure x 2

Any change today op?

Nope- still in absolute misery :(

still plum sized

still just as sore

thank you for checking in. I am so down about it

What creams are you using now OP,still regularly icing? One tip I read was to freeze a sanitary towel or fill, freeze and tie the fingers of a rubber glove as it's an easier shape to ice with .

I actually took a day off the creams today and I think we may have some shrinkage. If you squish it, it can ‘pop’ in now…although not for long. But that’s progress. Seems a bit smaller to the eye too.

I will use these tips for icing tomorrow. I’m very limited on how much icing I can do as I can’t stay sat down for long, so frozen sanitary towel sounds great.

Still incredibly sore but I’m beginning to get used to it now.

I was complaining to my mum about some pp hair loss and she told me to phone my gp for some blood tests- agahahahahashah! As if they would entertain that right now. I doubt they’d see me if my head was hanging off

Tried to brush my hair and do some skincare today, just to feel a bit more ‘groomed’. I think this is something I’m really struggling with. I’m in my twenties, shifted a lot of baby weight, got my hair done, skin calm….then BAM- bulbous bumhole. It’s just utterly grim and embarrassing.

but hopefully I am on the mend

arse watch 2023 continues

Bloody shit show op, I really feel for you.

Sorry to hear it's still so painful, although it sounds as if there's some change. unbelievable that you've been left in so much pain, I can see there may be clinical reasons not to excise it but you'd think there would be something they could do.

Unless it's different for your arse ,you shouldn't ice for more than 10 mins at a time anyway so little and often is good.

I saw my friend yesterday who was operated on when she had hers, by the sounds of it there was an abscess too BUT she's had lots of issues with it healing as it's so hard to keep clean. So maybe that's why they are reluctant to operate straight away? Really hope you're on the mend 💐

OP I would like to sincerely thank you for this thread. Whilst I know it has been traumatic for you, you have dealt with it with such good humour that it's really lifted my spirits and I'm sure you're a lot of fun to hang out with.

On a serious note you've also made the rest of us realise this stuff doesn't actually need to be as embarrassing as it is often made to be (I pretended to my OH it wasn't happening!).

Glad to hear you're on the mend x

Ah OP I'm sorry it's still so miserable (but glad it's going somewhat in the right direction)

I agree with the PP, you've a humorous way of writing despite the horrible situation - 'bulbous bumhole' is brilliant 🥇

Any improvement @GoldenCagedBird ?

I do agree with what’s been said above, you’ve managed to make a lot of humour out of what must be a horrible experience.

just had my (over 60) bowel screening kit delivered, a timely reminder. At least I only have to pick up a poo sample, not stick anything up there!

Thanks all- imagine how jovial I am when I don’t have a bum plum! 😂

I was utterly convinced I would wake up feeling better and visibly less lumpy. But no change- same as yesterday. I shouldn’t use the steroid cream any more as it’s been over 7 days so I’m just using germaloid on and off. One gp, a surgeon and a registrar has said it will do fuck all- so I’d rather not have a greasy arse as I already feel vile enough.

Going to watch and wait and call the GP after the weekend if no change. At least then I would have waited well over the 14 days so in theory they shouldn’t tell me to wait it out more.

but who knows?

Really admire your resilience OP. Here's hoping.
Like others love your style... plum bum soubds only too accurate

*sounds

I agree @Twentyfirstcenturymumma