Having read anto's account of her anal incontinence on another thread, I have plucked up courage to post about this rather unpleasant problem.
I had a very difficult ventouse delivery with my ds. I must have had a large episiotomy because they were stitching me for ages. Afterwards, the stitches didn't give me too much trouble but I had a lot of discomfort around my anus. I was told that I was very badly bruised and also had a pile. The doctor prescribed lactulose to ensure that I didn't get constipated and the pile and bruising seemed to sort themselves out quite quickly (within a week or 2). However, I have suffered with slight anal incontinence ever since. I thought at first it would just sort itself out but after 15 months I have come to the conclusion that it won't. To add to my discomfort, the pile has reared its ugly head again. I suffer a lot of pain on going to the loo, but apart from that it's just a bit itchy at times. However, despite using various creams and making sure I don't get at all constipated, it isn't getting better (and it started playing me up well before Christmas ).
I have concluded that I really need to visit the docs, to see if anything can be done about the incontinence and to confirm whether or not I have a pile or something else (I am worried it might be a fissure, which my Mum has suffered from and I know these problems can be heritable.). But of course I have been putting it off because I don't like the idea of the inevitable examination!
Really, I'd like to know if there's anything I can do to help myself, both with the incontinence and the pile, as ideally I'd like to avoid a visit to the docs. And has anyone had an anal fissure? Could it be that rather than a pile?
Thanks!