H is for hemroid

[loriu]

what a day from hades.

warning: TMI!

was exiled from the house today, so in a cute coffee shop and i had to go #2. tried to go, was straining a bit, it didn't want to come out, i gave up and stood up to wipe and there was a decent amt of blood in the toilet.

i FREAKED out. no idea if blood coming from anus or vagina. ran back out to throw my laptop and work into my backpack and started to walk home, the whole time having visions of blood gushing out of my vag and me losing this babe. call the midwife on emergency line, and she tells me it might be a hemroid. go home, put toilet paper on finger, insert finger into vagina and see if blood is from there.

got home, had huge blood-covered poop when i got there (felt like a mack truck had come out of my butt) and immediately deduced that blood was from anus. did the vg check anyways = no blood.

called midwife back. says go to drugstore and get prep-h suppositories. use am/pm for three days. i already drink water like a fish and eat fiber like nobody's business, but she said to get metamucil, too.

thing is, this pregnancy it's either feast or famine for me with BMs. i either have diarrhea or am constipated--never in between. ugh.

i can't believe i pushed for THREE HOURS with my daughter and somehow ended up hemroid-less and now i have them before birth. this combined with my back pulling from last friday made me just want to cry all day. besides teh trauma of thinking i was giving birth at 26 weeks or losing the baby.

god, i need a drink right now.

anyone have hemroid advice?

[2boyzmama]

No advice...except to correct your spelling!

Hemorrhoids



I've always heard that dehydration causing constipation is the biggest culprit. I've had anal fissures before (OUCH!) and that was pretty bad, I can't imagine what a hemorrhoid feels like! Poor thing!

Have you...um...looked down there? Get a mirror, check it out to see if it's an external hemorrhoid, then you might need oitment and not just suppositories. But I"m no expert by any means!

[loriu]

thanks for the sp check.
funny,i googled it before posting and just took the first spelling and that website must have been wrong! how un-teacher-like of me not to check my sources

will go look in mirror now...scary.

[octobermoon]

: (sorry, couldn't resist)

[Lovinmum]

Ugh. I'm sorry mama! I have a huge external one from pushing out my first baby. If its external, you can soak a gauze pad in witch hazel and keep it there as long as you can. It will help shrink it and relieve the itching and uncomfortableness... (hows that for a word?? )

[2boyzmama]

I've been thinking about this...

YOu said that you keep going between diarrhea and constipation...maybe you need some probiotics on board? I wonder if your gut is all messed up. Get some, or start eating some yogurt (preferably without too much extra sugar since that can just cause more diarrhea!)

And you said you messed up your back? If it is a hemorrhoid, you could have gotten it when you hurt yourself, you don't have to strain during a BM to get a hemorrhoid.

Did the "mack truck" BM hurt?? I wonder if you have a fissure instead of a 'roid. It's like a tiny anal tear, it can be external or internal, and it is PAINFUL!!! But it's not itchy like a 'roid. A few days of stool softener can help with that, you have to give the anus time to heal, which is hard because it's a muscle that expands drastically every time you BM, so you re-open the little tears each time. I let myself get a little dehydrated during a nasty sinus infection earlier in this pregnancy, and got a fissure from being constipated. Took me about 2 weeks to be able to go to the bathroom without bracing myself! Same thing happened post partum with Connor. Ugh.

[loriu]

2boyzmama: you are a wealth of info! thanks so much.

i eat a big bowl of plain yogurt EVERY morning, but i'll supplement with some probiotics. i ahve some in my fridge.

and yes, maybe it is a fissure. i have had total poop issues this pregnancy--not major constipation (like with baby #1), but regular BIG poops that have challenged the plumbing in our 100 year old brownstone. let's just say i am an expert at toilet unclogging now.

i don't have itching or anything, either.

i have a midwife appt next week. maybe i'll have her look at it.

i totally understand why our moms are all crazy now--this process is exhausting and just too much at times! thanks for all the comments. i feel like an 80 year old woman sitting here sipping my metamucal after using my first prep-h suppository last night!

[ChaoticMum]

Definitely add some probiotics to the diet. i use one from Garden of Life (can't remember the line offhand).

Add the metemucil - I also find Senokot works well for me.

Tuck's Pads work great for just wiping your bum after each bm. You can get them at drugstores, walmart etc.

[lisa_nc]

shredded potato applied topically also helps.

[deymm]

I got them while pregnant with DS too. I still have them. They don't bother me, so I don't do anything about them.

My GP told me when I am done having kids I can have them removed.

[texmati]

Originally Posted by loriu

i totally understand why our moms are all crazy now--this process is exhausting and just too much at times! thanks for all the comments. i feel like an 80 year old woman sitting here sipping my metamucal after using my first prep-h suppository last night!

I don't know why, but this made me laugh so much. I should have more sympathy for the mom's in my life.

[sugarpop]

I have yogurt everyday, but if I skip my acidopholus then I am in some big trouble. It has been suggested to me to elevate my feet while on the toilet. So I put a stool in the bathroom and that seems to make the process easier, I don't know if it makes things line up better or makes the right muscels work but hey if it works I am going with it! I have also found a cup of decaf coffee to be beneficial (I hope the decaf is ok for the babe). Good luck, I hope you feel better soon!

[FreshDidysOnLine]

Sorry, writing this quickly before naptime!

Make sure you are well hydrated as well. Even though you'll be peeing every few minutes, it really will help the constipation. Consider drinking Emergen-C or Recharge, which will replace electrolytes and vitamins, which are lost during diarrhea and just good to make sure you are hydrated too. Also, make sure you're getting fiber; I've been eating watermelon and peaches (both in season!) like it's going out of style because tjey hydrate and have fiber.

I agree about the probiotics; good to take all the time anyways! Vitamin E is also supposed to help varicose veins (which is what a hemorrhoid is just at the rectum); take it in pill-form or cut it open and put it right on the spot. I also eat Almonds, which has Vita E. Oatstraw (which I make into a pregnancy tea with some other herbs) is also supposed to help with varicose veins.

I've had (have now) hemorrhoids and I had anal fissures after I had my DD. Not fun at all. My hemorrhoid doesn't itch and it flares up regardless of how long I sit on the toilet. I notice when I drink more water it's better. I also have an herbal salve and pads that have witch hazel that I bought from a midwife who mixes them up (but I can't remember who) and that helps. If you PM me, I can find out where I bought it.

Hope that helps. It's no fun! Be really careful after you deliever to watch your diet and fluids, esp if you are going to BF. THe drop in progesterone and the fact taht you are nourishing a baby is so demanding on your body that if you are prone to hemorrhoids, it can make them worse like with me so that I got the fissures (and was scared to poop. Hugs!

[KayleeZoo]

Same boat here as Lovinmum- was happily hemmorohoid-free until I pushed for 2 hours w/my first baby. They suck. Plain and simple. Tucks pads, lots of water and fiber, not letting yourself get one bit constipated, and sitz baths are all I have to recommend. That's the one thing I've feared since my first baby's birth- the pushing and it's affect on my hemmorohoids Ain't any better with my 4th. I've had bleeding more than once this time around

[mom2tig99Nroo03]

ouch.

[Masel]

I knew there had to be a hemorrhoids thread around. No need to start my own. This week has been remarkably sucky and now I have hemorrhoids. Witchhazel has not been cutting it so I went to Preparation-H. I've read lots of sites and did my own Pubmed search and am concerned about the lack of research on P-H but I also found tons of references to doctors recommending it to pregnant women.

I wonder what the shredded potato a PP recommended does. Is it astrigent like the witchhazel. Does it have vasoconstrictor properties?

I'm concerned about calling my doctor on this. It seems like she's been going ballistic over every little issue.

I'm appallled that so much advice is "Oh well. You'll just have to put up with this for three months, maybe longer." If a man was painfully bleeding out of his butt there would be a ton of research and many ways to treat the problem. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[xelakann]

Witch Hazel pads will feel sooo gooooood. Also because it can be tender I would actually put a little diaper cream in the area and it would alleviate the pain and tenderness a bit.

Also I think there are some stool softeners safe for pg. sorry I don't know which ones.

[sky_and_lavender]

I'm a hemorrhoid/anal fissure veteran, but a few days ago I developed a huge external hemorrhoid. (For me, it doesn't have anything to do with constipation... I've never been constipated in my life!)

I have gotten my big hemorrhoid down by the following:

-kegels focused around my bottom (hold each for a few seconds)
-showering my anus with warm water for 5-10 minutes a few times a day (esp. after BMs)
-a homemade ice pack that fits between the cheeks: take a medical glove and fill the the fingers with crushed ice before tying them off and cutting them from the glove. Wrap in something (I've been using witch-hazel-soaked gauze or special hemorrhoid pads) and place between your cheeks for 10-15 minutes or until it melts, a few times a day.
-application of Herbal Ed's Salve after washing my bottom

Oh, and one hint I learned: if the hemorrhoid is purple, it is likely an external one. If it is not external, I've read (and my midwife told me) that you should try to push it back in with your finger, so the body can apply its own pressure there... I have an external one and two internal ones, but I haven't been brave enough to push the internal ones back in.