Piles ruining my confidence and sex life

[nowandyesterday]

I've had piles since my second pregnancy, I know a lot of people get them and it's just one of those things but honestly they are ruining my life. I am so insecure of my husband feeling them or seeing them that I can't relax when we are intimate. I often get smearing after a bowel movement so am ashamed of my underwear and often wear panty liners. I use wipes and wash after the loo and can be clean then later have small marks. I eat well and am not constipated so am fully emptying my bowel but I think bits get stuck on the piles then move about. I'm disgusting and feel like it's affecting my life. I can't have spontaneous sex, I need to make sure I'm definitely clean before hand, if I've had a bowel movement recently I can't relax that some won't come out when we are being intimate. I'm in my forties and love my husband and don't want my sex life to be over.

Have you tried a bidet? That will get you properly clean.

You can get them removed surgically and also injected to shrink them.

I would see your GP, they can refer you for surgery and if there are also tags left on the outside that interfere with getting clean, they can remove those.

Also look on Amazon for portable bidets & sitz bath for toilet. If you have surgery then the sitz bath will also be helpful in the healing process.

They don’t remove tags as they class them as ‘cosmetic’. Being vulnerable - I have large and many tags. They are painful and tmi but I’m quite thin with a small bum and they overhang out of my bum and hurt when I sit down. Been to the gp and hospital too many times to count and no one will remove them despite being painful and impossible to clean and wipe, also I think is the cause I get recurring piles and I have to strain and I bleed a lot. Yet it’s still classed as ‘cosmetic’. I’m pretty ‘poor’ so I can’t afford to get them removed

Have you not seen your GP about this? They can prescribe creams and suppositories that are much stronger than over the counter ones, they have a higher steroid content and can really help to shrink them. I have horrendous piles and quite often they completely pop out after a bowel movement but the stuff from the doctors really helps. Personally I don’t want surgery because I have complex health needs and I’ve heard from several people that the recovery is quite brutal.

I haven't seen the GP, I just feel so embarrassed. I've tried numerous over the counter medications with no changes at all. I tried an online pharmacy but they contact your GP!

Please don't be too embarrassed to get help, the GP will have seen this so many times, so many women get haemorrhoids after pregnancy.

I was embarrassed for 30 years and am so glad I finally got it sorted.

Maybe it depends on your local commissioning group but mine were removed. Not in the first surgery where they did internal work but I went back again a few years later and they agreed immediately. These were large and wide based tags left over from haemorrhoids, not just like thin based normal skin tags. I am so sorry you are being left to suffer.

i had mine banded around 10 years ago and they have pretty much gone now although the consultant said they may come back. was a simple procedure done on nhs. ask your gp.

You need to see your GP - life doesn't need to be like this.

Check on your local ICB website to see if they allow NHS treatment for this at your trust and what the criteria is. If not you can always travel to another trust.

Please, please don’t be embarrassed to see your GP. Piles are truly one of the most common things they deal with. They will treat you with respect and dignify and it’s got to be better than feeling like this hasn’t it? They will see numerous bum holes every single day. Honestly.

Just see the GP. There are better treatments they can give you.