Piles...ugh

[littlemo27]

Sorry for TMI post.
Had piles for years now. Massively exacerbated by 'bad' bowel movements but mostly ok and I'm able to live with them without too much trouble. I have what I believe to be some skin tags/lumps in the area. Saw my doctor and she said it's likely where the skin has been stretched after a prolapse and never shrunk down again. Lovely.

Anyway as I said it's usually not too bad but over the past few weeks I've felt more itching in the area and also a mucus feel. This isn't uncommon after a bad flare up but things with my bowels have been much calmer lately so I don't really understand it.

I've seen my GP a few times as I get quite bad bleeding and am only ever prescribed suppositories and creams which do help a bit.

Does all of this sound quite normal for someone with this delightful condition? Obviously hard to talk about it to others in real life.

It does. Quite often they do get worse as you get older. There are lots of options to help, I always find suppositories better than the cream, if they're internal you can consider banding.
I had a hemmerhoidectomy (surgery) at the beginning of the year - I'd only even consider it if they're affecting your every day life. The recovery was long and painful. I'm actually still not sure I'm fully recovered. I've had two kids with no pain relief (one back to back) and I'd give birth every day for a week over experience that first poo post op again 🥴
I'm pregnant again now and delightfully they're back but I'd not have been able to have this pregnancy with how bad mine were so it was still the right choice.

That sounds normal unfortunately. I got prescribed scheriproct cream which helped, and salt water baths.

If it persists I would get checked for a fissure/see a consultant if you can. I was in a similar situation and got fed up so got referred and turned out I had a fissure from pregnancy. I was prescribed a cream and it was healed in a matter of weeks.

The consultant told me GPs often misdiagnose fissures as piles as it's tricky to see properly.

I've had piles since I was about 15 due to laxative abuse. Luckily they haven't really gotten any worse though and I don't have any skin tags. I bleed quite frequently but only notice mucus if I've been a bit constipated. If they pop out I just push them straight back in and they don't bother me too much.

I'm bothered terribly and the itching is unreal 😟

I was at the docs last week for it and have a new cream to use alongside the suppositories. They're generally effective tho but it's been a bad flare.

I will try the suppositories again. I generally only use them when I've had a bad flare up/prolapse. They tend to go back in again (sorry gross) and it settles down a bit. But like I said, my bowel habits have been quite stable for a while now so I don't really know what's going on. Could be due to getting older as pp said.

Back again...
Have been using cream and suppositories for the past few days and no change. Which is odd because they are usually quite effective for me. There's no pain as such, just an itchy feeling around and slightly inside my bottom.
And lots of bright red bleeding following a BM which is sadly not unusual for me.
I'm starting to worry about the possibility of other things. Dr Google says that symptoms of anal cancer are very similar to piles.
I once the doctor about this and they basically laughed at me and said I'm far too young it's 'just piles'.
Am I worrying unduly? I last saw the GP for this about a year and a half ago and resigned myself to just live with it after that as they clearly weren't concerned. But I don't know if I should keep pushing.

Just rule out threadworms first.

You might find certain foods trigger it off.

I mean I have a kid in nursery so it's a possibility but I haven't seen any evidence of it and it's not just at night it's during the day too...not constantly but noticeably more often than a few weeks ago.

I don't know if anal cancer is age related but I thought I was living with annoying piles and had repeated pile treatments from the GP - but anal cancer was what it was, so Dr Google is not an idiot on that one. It's related to the HPV virus. My GP was also very reluctant to refer me and only did so on the basis that I had developed a fissure - and I told her I had private insurance!
The treatment was unpleasant but very effective, so once diagnosed I was confident I would get through it, and here I am, happy lady happy bum. Better than those middle of the night anxiety pangs.
Rest assured piles are very common and anal cancer is very rare, so it's very much more likely to be piles - but get yourself referred for an examination by a specialist surgeon, especially if you've been putting up with it for a while.

I read this. I had a smear test earlier this year which came back negative for HPV so hopefully that would lessen the chances of this type of cancer even more?

@Rhythmisadancer Glad your treatment worked . Did laugh at Happy lady happy bum😁

@Rhythmisadancer without being too intrusive, could I ask how old you were when diagnosed and what your red flag symptoms were?

I was 50, and it had gone from being uncomfortable and annoying to being painful, which was why I finally insisted on being referred. But I had put up with symptoms that were just like piles for years - it was quite a large tumour by the time I got it sorted. I still thought it must be an infected pile - I didn't even know anal cancer was a thing, so never suspected it myself. I was testing negative for the virus by then too, though must have had it in the past.

Thank you for sharing. Nothing looks different in the area for me (I mean it looks like a car crash but that's nothing new). It's just the sensation of itching and soreness plus a bit of mucus from time to time. I will keep an eye on it.

Would definitely treat for worms (and your child and other family members too just in case). How about upping water intake and fibre for a couple of weeks too. Avoid sitting on the loo too long and then if no better ask GP for bum doctor referral?

Hey OP, did you see my message? Have you been checked for fissures? X

I haven't but I don't think it's that as there is no pain as such, more just what feels like irritation. Are fissures not notoriously painful? I'm starting to wonder if it's some sort of infection or allergy maybe.

Yes they are painful 😣 I didn't want to overlook it in case this was it. I hope you find your answer soon x