Should I have a hemorrhoidectomy

[kerry19834]

I have had piles for around 5-6 years, I have a very large skin tag/piles which dangles from my bum and then a large internal one.

The internal one bleeds after about 1/3 of bowl movements, bright red blood in the loo. Sometimes this will be once or twice a week and others it can be for 2 weeks straight of bleeding after a poo.

In a good month it might only bleed four times.

I have no pain or itching, just some discomfort and a couple of times a year they bleed randomly through my clothes

I eat a high fibre diet and drink lots, and can be done on the loo very quickly most times (I used to sit a lot and scroll on my phone).

I exercise regularly , yoga, running (marathons) and weights in the gym. They keep my mental health good.

I have seen a consultant and he has recommended a hemorrhodectomy so cutting it all out. Part of me really wants it (a years wait for the op on NHS), but there are horror stories about recovery.

I am scared that it will be very painful (despite the surgeon saying that will last a couple of days), also reading on here recovery is more than two weeks which the NHS claim.

I am worried that I will not be able to exercise for months.

I am torn, it is obviously bad enough for the NHS to fund it and they might not again if I turn it down.

Questions what would people do? What experiences have people had with surgery?

Should I put up with blood in the bowl after poos?

Will it get worse over time if I do nothing?

Thnaks

Following as in very similar situation albeit I haven't bothered getting any advice yet

Interested too

I'm awaiting surgery. Have similar reservations, but my GP put the fear of god into me about it potentially becoming cancerous due to frequently reopening the wounds in it, so it's going.

And I'll be taking all the necessary time - I've already warned work it could be 6 weeks. They only know it's colorectal, not the detail.

Oh really, my GP said I did not have to worry about thay when I asked? Has your famaily got a history of anal cancer?

Following as in a similar boat. I’m going to my gp again soon, as I’m sick of the years of pain. I don’t drink, smoke, and I eat a whole food diet and run and weight train. I am crippled with them at the moment, I’m going to have to turn down most of the Christmas dinner my sister has cooked.

I always say if there is a cure take it as you never know if things will get worse in future. Not you condition OP but my mum needed a big op on her ankles. She delayed it for 12 years. When she was desperate for it they said no as recovery success is low after age of 60. Had she known she would have done it younger and on reflection your body heals faster so it makes sense. Plus when older you're more likely to have other conditions to contend with

My GP said she wouldn’t!

I know absolutely nothing about this topic, just zero, but surely common sense would suggest it must take longer than two weeks to recover? It just sounds unfeasibly short. I bet they just don't want to give people the sick leave or something. Nevertheless, that's just an observation, not a consideration regarding whether to go ahead or not.

IME the NHS is dreadful. If you can possibly save up and find a good surgeon who will give you proper bowel prep, do the surgery personally, offer post op care, painkillers and stool softeners (even if you buy the meds yourself) it is worth it. I have experienced both systems. The NHS offered none of the above.
It takes at least 6 weeks to recover if your piles are bad enough to require an op, rather that just a simple procedure via camera. However, I think it is better not to leave it too long if you are bleeding. It is such a miserable condition.

Apparently you can now get them botoxed to reduce blood flow and bleeding. It might be one last ditch attempt before what is never going to be pleasant surgery

Yeah think I’ll ask my gp for investigative work and then use that to weigh up the next steps and possibly going private.

I can just imagine the pub chat. Have you had Botox? Yes, on my arsehole.

No history of it, no.

My GP is actually a consultant neurosurgeon who has moved to general practice and she's an incredibly good GP 😂

Anyhoo, her explanation is that cancerous cells are essentially cells that mutate. The chances of cells mutating increase with cell damage and repair, so every time my butt bleeds, it clots then heals and so on. Every time this happens, it's adding to the likelihood of those cells being mutated during the repair process. No damage and repair = no increase in the risks.

So it's all coming off....

Every time this happens, it's adding to the likelihood of those cells being mutated during the repair process.

Does this apply to other parts of the body? 😮 I have parts that I might need servicing if so. And it's news to me.

My GP is actually a consultant neurosurgeon who has moved to general practice

Well, someone lucked out!

I had one. Similar to you - one skin tag hanging externally and one large one internally. I did it privately and it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. It also left me with life long incontinence so I massively regret getting it done.

Recovery was much longer than two weeks. I worked from home for maybe a month and then after that I was still uncomfortable every time I did a poo. I would spend large parts of my day just sitting in the bath to ease the pain. It was horrific, truly.

My consultant said it would be “uncomfortable”. Huge understatement!

I had it done this year with zero regrets!

I’m in a similar situation, about 6 years, mine don’t bleed as regularly but still maybe about once a month or so. I’ve also got a large skin tag thanks to an previous anal fissure.

Following to see opinions! I’m currently looking into the Rafaelo (spelling?) procedure? Or maybe exroid although I’m not sure that is as successful? Either sounds preferable (to me) but right now I’m putting it off… although the comment from @JurassicPark4Eva might inspire me to go so something about it, I had no idea it was in any way risky tbh.

Am a bit surprised by this. I’ve bled for 20 years. Seems to be intermittent piles/some degree of prolapse. I keep an eye on it but is no worse than last time I had colonoscopy/flexible sigmoidoscopy. My DF died of bowel cancer as did an uncle on my DM’s side but both had ulcerative colitis and had loads of digestive issues as a result which I don’r have.

I had three large grade four piles and large skin tags removed a while ago and was actually 98% recovered after two weeks.

I put it off for years because of all the horror stories online and now I wish I hadn't because I have suffered so much because of my piles. Here is what Internet convinced me would happen vs how it turned out:

• I would live in nappies for a few weeks and probably have permanent continence problems - the surgeon reassured me they make sure they don't remove too much nowadays since this increases the risk of damaging the sphincter. I have had zero accidents and zero near accidents. The only issue on this front was that during the first week of recovery it hurt in a crampy way if I held it in once I got the urge to go.
• The pain would be a constant 10/10 and 15/10 during a BM - I was fine staggering paracetamol and ibuprofen and could stop after 10 days. BMs weren't particularly bad, just felt a bit sore for a few hours later.

No I wouldn't. If it isn't causing pain then it isn't worth it imo. I remember a thread years ago where the op had this op and it sounded horrific

I had one and thought I was hard until this operation lol it is extremely painful, they leave everything open as it heals better so going to the toilet is an experience in itself 😖but after 2 kids and the last being fairly large my butt was completely destroyed lol I left it like that for years and although it is very painful I wish I had it done years before. You literally have to dive in the bath screaming after every bowel movement but like childbirth it is quickly forgotten once everything is healed. I probably spent around 2 weeks mostly lying down in bed with strong painkillers and it is worse than childbirth because you cannot sit down, eating is also very scary at the start as any toilet episodes are a bit like a horror film lol also you lose most of the feeling for a while as things heal so you suddenly find yourself dashing to the toilet as you cannot feel it coming on like you would before, probably takes a good 6 months for everything to start to feel normal again but I would have it done again because you do end up back to normal. I also conceived about 2 months after the op so it can’t have been that bad and everything is normal again down there so personally I would go for it if you can cope with some bed rest and serious pain……..

I had this done on the NHS. The first bowel movement afterwards was horrifically painfully. No painkillers provided. Paracetamol was inadequate. Completely recovered within 2 weeks but 6 years later and I have to contort to evacuate my bowel.

REally food for thought, thanks. I am very torn, with it getting worse possibly and also the fact it will be very painful , I am a wimp. I was hoping they could band them but that is not possible. The blood and look just gets me down but at the moment they dont hurt!

I've had one. The recovery was awful - about a month til I was walking around again - but I am SO glad I had it. I had been in a lot of pain, so it was genuinely life changing.

Yes had an itchy and sore discharging but backside since 18 I’m now 43 and have suffered bowel juices making its way to the vagina to give way to other infections. It is lovely. NOT.