3 Tips for Preventing Hemorrhoids
What are hemorrhoids, and what can be done about them?
I spend my days listening to my patients’ deepest, darkest secrets. People tell me about marital problems, terrible pain, frustration, depression, and fears. Yet for some reason, it’s hard for them to talk about their hemorrhoids. Why that is, I can only guess; but it’s pretty much universal among my patients. Let me reassure you: neither your doctor nor I think any less of you because you have hemorrhoids, and I don’t go home to my wife saying: “Do you know who came into the office with hemorrhoids?”
The rules are different in the exam room with the doctor. Your neighbors, coworkers, and even family members probably don’t want to hear about your hemorrhoids, but your doctor is there precisely for that reason. Don’t be ashamed of your problems; if you can’t talk to your doctor about them, who can you talk to? At the bottom of this article I’ll have some links to other topics patients have a difficult time addressing.
3 Tips for Preventing Hemorrhoids
- Don’t get old
- Eat lots of fiber
- Don’t hold it
Now, let’s break this down a little.
What Are Hemorrhoids?
So what exactly are hemorrhoids? Hemorrhoids are veins in the anal area that are swollen and stretched out like a balloon. There are two sets of veins in the rectum that can get swollen, resulting in hemorrhoids: one set on the outside anal area, and one on the inside. The location of the hemorrhoids determines whether they are internal or external hemorrhoids. Neither is much fun to have, and both give pretty much the same symptoms.
What Causes Hemorrhoids?
Hemorrhoids are brought on by a number of things, including:
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Getting older
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Sitting a lot
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Having constipation or diarrhea
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Pregnancy
All of these things increase the pressure in the rectum, causing the blood vessels to enlarge.
What Are the Symptoms of Hemorrhoids?
The two main symptoms of hemorrhoids are itching and bleeding. Sometimes the amount of blood can be scary, making the toilet water turn red. When people come to my office with hemorrhoids, bleeding is usually the thing that got them worried. They are concerned that they have colon cancer or something else terrible because of the amount of blood. The reason hemorrhoids bleed so much is obvious: they are blood vessels.
The good news is that whenever the blood is bright red and comes in large quantities, it is almost always hemorrhoids. The bad news, of course, is that serious problems like colon cancer usually don’t give much at all in the way of symptoms.
Now, the itching that accompanies hemorrhoids is a real nuisance. It’s usually a fairly bad itch, and it’s one that you can’t scratch in public and keep your dignity. The medications prescribed usually deal with this symptom, as demonstrated by the people squirming in their chair on the commercials for hemorrhoid cream. These creams usually contain some cortisone, and often other anti-itch ingredients.
Are Hemorrhoids Ever Painful?
As I said earlier, hemorrhoids are usually not painful. There is an exception to that rule, known as a thrombosed hemorrhoid. Thrombosis is the fancy doctor word for “blood clot,” and so a thrombosed hemorrhoid is one that has gotten large and formed a clot. These are really painful, making it hard to sit at all or have a bowel movement.
How Are Hemorrhoids Treated?
Most hemorrhoids will go away with time, with medications being given to treat the symptoms. There are several instances, however, in which more aggressive treatments should be considered.
Thrombosed Hemorrhoids – It sounds really brutal, but the treatment for thrombosed hemorrhoids is to cut them open and remove the blood clot. I have done this a number of times for patients, and it relieves their pain almost immediately. It’s odd to be thanked for doing something like that to a person.
Large hemorrhoids that won’t go away – Large hemorrhoids either cause persistent bleeding, or they just hurt the person’s social life enough that they want to get rid of them. There are several procedures done to get rid of these, the most common of which involves putting tiny rubber bands around the veins so that no more blood flows into them. This procedure has fewer complications than surgically fixing the hemorrhoids, but it is also less effective. I guess you have to pick your poison.
This highlights the problem with embarrassing problems like hemorrhoids. It’s really awkward to explain to your boss or coworkers why you went to the emergency room or what kind of surgery you had. I personally recommend to my patients with this problem to bend the truth a bit to avoid those awkward moments. If you call it “back pain,” technically, you are telling the truth.
How to Prevent Hemorrhoids
Of course, the best thing is to prevent hemorrhoids from happening in the first place. So here’s where I will give you my Quick and Dirty Tips about preventing hemorrhoids.
Tip 1: Don’t get old
All sorts of humiliating things happen when you get older, so I recommend staying young if at all possible.
Tip 2: Eat lots of fiber
Increased fiber in your diet makes your bowels more regulated, decreasing both constipation and diarrhea. Don’t add too much fiber at once, though, as a sudden increase in fiber intake can greatly increase gas and significantly harm your social life.
Tip 3: Don’t hold it
When you have to have a bowel movement, don’t hold it in. That is, in my opinion, the main thing that gets people into trouble, giving them hemorrhoids.
OK, that’s all I’ve got about hemorrhoids. That wasn’t too bad, was it? I don’t think there’s any way I can make hemorrhoids, or any of the other embarrassing topics to stop being embarrassing. But don’t ignore them. Your doctor can help you with these problems and I promise you that he or she won’t be shocked and won’t snicker behind your back. We hear a lot worse things than about people’s hemorrhoids.
This month, I’ll cover other potentially embarrassing topics like bowel problems, urinary incontinence, and ‘male’ problems (you know what I mean). It may also interest you to read my previous articles on body odor and bad breath.
If you have topics, embarrassing or not, that you want me to cover, send them to create new email, or you can submit them to me on twitter or my Facebook page.
Let me once again remind you that this podcast is for informational purposes only. My goal is to add to your medical knowledge and translate some of the weird medical stuff you hear, so when you do go to your doctor, your visits will be more fruitful. I don’t intend to replace your doctor; he or she is the one you should always consult about your own medical condition.
Catch you next time! Stay Healthy!
Hemerrhoids image courtesy of Shutterstock
