Piles! i wish they would bugger off now.

[Yonihadtoask]

I am so fed up of this now.

Have been suffering badly for 3 weeks now with horrid piles. Internal and external ):

Have been to gp twice, been prescribed various creams, lactulose and painkillers .

I have a hospital appoimtment in a week or so.

Will they be able to fix my poorly butt then???

We have loads of plans for summer, and i just feel like laying around sobbing.

Any tips?

I highly recommend laxido rather than lactulose, but the best thing I found for my piles was an NSAID - diclofenac to be exact. Relieves pain and swelling.

I had piles rather badly around December & January time, was at my wits end with the pain, bleeding etc,, a locum GP prescribed me the diclofenac along with the usual suppositories and cream, and it made all the difference. (wet wipes also help)

Hope all goes well at your hospital appt.

I got terrible piles in pregnancy and they made my life hell (thrombosed piles on two occasions, pain much worse than childbirth!) I was also told that my external piles were the "worst ever seen"

I learned that:

• you should NEVER eat processed fibre (special K, riveta) only natural fibre (fruits and vegetables) processed fibre doesn't get broken down, just shoved through, is very rough and can cause damage (rips and fissures) along the way!

-put your feet on a stool when you go to the loo, helps avoid straining and more fully evacuates bowel. (do this for the rest of your life!) -suppositories are much better than creams (anusol best for me) , if you don't "fix" the internal piles first, the external ones will never shrink down. -if pain is so bad you are crying, it could well be thrombosed and a trip to the doctors to have it lanced will sort it out quickest (the alternative is to be in pain until the clot in the pile "passes") -witchhazel, aloe vera, horsechestnut all worth trying for slight relief but wont really cure you. -painkillers and anti inflammatories help -and finally, you must analyse your diet, learn what makes you constipated and avoid it - remember too much fibre and too much water (contrary to popular advice) can make you constipated. Instead of forcing food through your system with fibre (short term solution) you should try to build up your natural intestinal flora (yoghurt to inject some, then onions, bananas to "feed" it) as this will make your stools soft and easy to pass. Artificial or too much fibre strips away intestinal flora, so you become "addicted" to it, because you keep needing to eat the fibre to make your system work, and it also makes poos hard and bloated and therefore difficult to pass.

sorry didnt mean for this to be such an epic post - hope you feel better soon!

Thank you. Some good tips.

I always thought I had a healthy diet, vegetables galore. So was surprised to be suffering so much with this problem.

Thanks again fot the replies.

Yoni your diet doesn't always matter - I'm on an ultra low fat, plenty of veg & healthy stuff diet, but it was major amounts of stress and IBS that caused mine.

One thing I found helpful was not only to have my feet raised, but to lean forwards, as it straightens out the bowel and means less strain on already damaged areas.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

good point about the diet, it really needs clarifying - its not about "healthy" or "unhealthy" I am a vegetarian, never eat sugary fatty foods, am athletic slim and "healthy" - but I got really bad piles! The foods you need to identify are the ones that make poos soft (nothing to do with "healthy" or "unhealthy") and these can be slightly different person to person (for me its things like kidney beans) In general, avoid like the plague artificial processed fibre (Riveta, Allbran etc) and try to eat foods which natural intestinal flora feed off so you always have a good colony. Piles are always caused by constipation and straining (and pregnancy!) so you need to identify how to avoid constipation or they will keep coming back (and existing ones will get much worse!) The standard advice to eat lots of fibre and drink lots of water can make piles worse long term, because while fibre helps you do a poo by pushing all the food roughly through your system, it also strips out the things that makes poos soft, making it more like you will have a stool that is hard to pass the next time. (too much water strips out sodium having the same effect)

The idea of putting your feet on a stool when you are on the loo is precisely so that you lean forward a little bit, have bent knees and are in more of a "squatting" position. A toddler step is ideal and doesnt look too out of place in most family bathrooms.

Update.

I had my hospital appointment yesterday.

It turns out that I have piles and a fissure ): Which is why I was suffering sooo much. I spent a couple of weeks feeling like an angry goblin was shoving a red hot poker up my butt.

My pain has worn off a little now - 4 weeks in - which I was glad about as I wouldn't have suffered the examination yesterday well at all if not.

I can have an op - Botox to let the fissure heal? And probably banding for the internal piles and removal of the external piles/skin tags. All under a general anaesthetic fortunately.

Good luck with your appoinment. I had one pile whilst on holiday and it was murder. This was with fanjo problems from recent op and walking was very unpleasant :( Really feel for you.

Constipation tips: I was told to go for soluble fibre (fruit, veg and porridge), water and second the gut flora.

I was give the following websites for pooing!
www.squattypotty.com/ This is useful for posture. I use 2 storage boxes.
pelvicphysiotherapy.com/ This has exercises for releasing the pelvic floor, if there is any pelvic floor dysfunction
www.pelvicexercises.com.au/prolapse/bowel-prolapse/ This is easy to follow advice for the above.
foodhospital.channel4.com/fibre-challenge/stool-chart/ This is useful for assessing how constipated you are.

I have also been told by a friend of a friend who is a dietician that 2 kiwi fruit a day will sort out most problems! It is something that is in them. I used movicol a few times (not sure if that is the best thing for piles though) and now eat one a day to keep things in check and it does seem to be working :)