posted 09-12-2003 12:44 PM            

Did your roommate have a hemorrhoidectomy or a rubberbanding? Rubberbandings take a short time for recovery. Did she have to go to the hospital for this surgery, or what? That's great if she had a hemorrhoidectomy and is now feeling recovered; some people do recover quickly if there are no complications.

My problem was the 1st time I went for a hemorrhoidectomy the surgeon actually left the hemorrhoid in and sutured over it, and then, on top of that, cut a major artery and just sewed it with one suture and said nothing to me. This left a big mess inside of me that had to be fixed in the emergency room by another surgeon just a week later. So I don't have the typical surgery or recovery; mine is prolonged due to negligence by a surgeon. Runninggal also had a long recovery due to complications.

posted 09-12-2003 05:17 PM            

I use to use the Rectal Formula but ran out years ago and used the one for skin on the anus -- the Derma formula since then ---at 1:30 am this morning I ordered a tube of both. And, I already have confirmation that it was shipped today. So, they must not formulate it when requested. Both tubes and shipping was a little less than $20.

A 2 ounce tube last a long time and if you ever have anus, fissure, or hemorrhoid problems --- you should have this product in you medicine chest!!!
Not only that if you ever have diarrhea that burns, if your anus gets irritated or the prep for any colon exam and you get a sore or an anus that feels like Texas Pete was used --- then you need this ointment!

posted 09-14-2003 09:49 PM            

I just wanted to check in realy quick and see how everyone is doing? I had my first post-op dr appt Friday. He said I even 'looked' much better. LOL Whatever that means! BUT he didn't touch my surgical area....LOL...said he'd wait to do that at my next appt.

How is everyone? Tammy, how are you doing? Any better? Mrse....how's your mom and you both doing? Please check in if you have the time to let us know and keep us updated. Runningal....can't wait till I get to where you are..back at my regular exercise program and sweating from it again! =o)

Harry...thanks for the post and I'm glad tammy could find the ointment. I still have some of this prescription stuff left that I'm using, but will be checking your concoction out soon!

I'm doing good...still a bit tired, but not nearly what I was a couple days ago. Today no nap! LOL (hey, every little step forward ya gotta celebrate! lol) Still having my BM's like I should, hehe...thank the Lord above! Things are getting better each day...I sure hope and pray I will NEVER have to go through this type of surgery again. =o)

Hope to hear from you all soon! Check in if you get the chance!

posted 09-15-2003 09:31 AM            

Okay, I am stuck in my healing because I am having the darndest time with chronic hard stools that keep making me bleed. I have gone, at most, 3 days with soft stools before a hard one comes and causes bleeding. I am more than frustrated. Today is officially 10 weeks for me, and I woke up and had hard stools and bled more than I had in 3 weeks. Yesterday my 1st stool was really hard, but I didn't bleed, just sore. Then 3 hours later I had another bm, this was a bit softer, but now I bled, then I had diarrhea 2 hours later, where I didn't bleed.

I am going to try to up my colace stool softener dose; it's tough, because too much and I have stomach pains and am miserable. I really wish I could take that lactulose runninggal took, but I am seriously lactose intolerant since birth, so much so that my mother had to stop breatfeeding me as I was dying from the milk!

I take already 1 100 mg colace at breakfast with 3 cups of oatmeal, and drink then 4 cups of water. At dinner I then take 2 more 100 mg colace, with 1 pill of metamucil and drink 5 cups of water. For lunch I have 1 cup of raisin bran with my chicken sandwich. And I add an apple and nectarine, salad, bran to my dinner. Inbetween I drink another 6-10 cups of water. I just can't seem to consistently make my stools soft, but on the other hand, I don't want to have a stomach ache and bad diarrhea either from too much laxatives/softeners. Just 4 days ago I had diarrhea, and had to go like a cat that ate a box of x-lax!

posted 09-15-2003 07:10 PM            

My gastro who is a neighbor told me that the laser surgery is soooo much better than the old surgery (????) I dunno. I suffer from such bad constipation...have a huge stretched out colon. The only thing that keeps me regular is a bowl of Kelloggs All Bran Extra Fiber everyday. Of course, it also gives me gas and that would not me too nice after a hemmorhoidectomy.

Anyway, Tammy......LACTULOSE has nothing to do with lactose intolerance. Lactulose is a sugar.......it is like a syrup. It is not related to the milk family in anyway. YOu should be able to take this with no problem unless you were diabetic. It helps draw water into the stool.

Many years ago when mothers bottled fed their kids.....Karo syrup was added to the milk to prevent dry stools in babies!!!

Anyway, you could ask you doctor or nurse about getting some lactulose to try.

posted 09-16-2003 01:32 PM            

Ouch with your butt pain! I don't know about the laser. I did a lot of reading on this procedure, and all the places I read said there was no difference in the pain with the laser or the traditional. After all, pain is pain afterwards. You don't feel the procedure while it is being done, as you are out with anethesia. However, all the surgeons advertisements that did laser all claim laser is not as painful. After what I've been through, I doubt their ad claims.

You should eat your bran for sure after you have the procedure, but try having some Gas-X as this will help with the gas a lot. You can get gas-x over the counter---it contains simethecone (sp?) which cuts down gas. Gas-X saved my butt hole during the 1st 3 weeks after the surgery.

I'm doing better today. I saw a few days ago, that I had 2 abscesses on the outside of my anus in the surgery line, and those were the sources of many of my problems. I put some elocon cream, a steroid cream for skin problems, on them, and the abscesses have gone down a bit. I also had a point that was open and bleeding, and I had success putting on gotu kola, a herb known for treating wounds. I dabbed the herb on and in 4 days it was closed. I'm sharing this with you because those 2 things, the abscesses and unhealing wound, were dragging on my healing. My surgeon didn't offer any help, only that I wait it out for 2-4 months (yeah, right).

posted 09-17-2003 05:26 PM            

And then it got bad for about a week to 10 days. As explained in some previous posts, the pain from the first few BMs is intense. But I definitely saw progress. After the first BM, I was extremely uncomfortable for 8-10 hours. That time decreased each time I went. I could do non-strenuous work after 4-6 days. I was completely back at work after two weeks and totally pain free at about 4 weeks.

posted 09-17-2003 06:03 PM            

Even though I was basically symptom-free after a month, I wasn't supposed to lift anything more than 25 pounds for two months after the surgery. There's a lot of healing to do on the inside. The doctor also warned me not to run for two months.

That was tough for me. I was running and/or lifting five to six days a week before the surgery. But the doctor was right. On the exact two-month date after the surgery, I ran. My conditioning was shot. I think I only went 1 mile, maybe a little less. But I was sore, and I'm not talking about my legs. The doctor said that would happen. I doubted him, but it did. He said if I ran or lifted before that time, I could cause further problems. He said the entire healing time takes six months. I had to slowly work my way back into running. I'd go every third day and then every other day after a few weeks. I started lifting again later, maybe 3 or 3 1/2 months after the surgery (I still skip the squats). I was totally back to normal with the exercise routine by that time.

posted 09-17-2003 07:02 PM            

I have been reading most of these posts and maybe I can help a little on a few things. Some of these won't help those of you that already had surgery for hemorrhoids but can help others that need to decide how to best proceed with their condition.

It is generally agreed upon that the pain from traditional vs. laser hemorrhoid removal is the same. There is virtually no difference. However, removal of hemorrhoids with a surgical instrument called a harmonic scalpel did result in much lower pain scores when compared to traditional or laser removal. If the pain scale is from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the worst pain imaginable) traditional/laser surgery has pain scores of 8 or 9. Surgery with the harmonic scalpel shows pain scores of 3 to 4, a very big improvement. The harmonic scalpel has lower pain scores because it does not destroy adjacent tissue to the hemorrhoid. It is a very precise instrument and it is well worth asking your surgeon if they use it.

Also, if you have internal hemorrhoids a new procedure called PPH (procedure for prolapsing hemorrhoids) is now being used. Basically, the device raises the internal hemorrhoids and surgically staples the tissue at that higher level. A negative is this is a fairly new procedure. While short term results have beed good, data on long term results are not in yet.

Finally, I have read posts where it is difficult to maintain a soft BM. Lactulose is decent but long term use can cause electrolyte depletion. A good product to try is Kondremul. It is a mineral oil emulsion that tastes good. It's worth a try. A common mistake with docusate (Colace) is people to not take enough. Many patients need 4 or 6 or even 8 a day to soften the stool. Avoide stimulant laxatives. Use Metamucil, it is a good product. Check with your doctor if you plan to use any of these for a long time.

Good Luck,

posted 09-17-2003 08:10 PM            

My problem is I have irritable bowel syndrome and frequent urination (7-10 times in an hour after meals). These 2 things made it very hard to heal. Plus, I received very poor post-op guidance on how to keep my stools soft. This procedure is painful, period; whether laser or harmonic scapel, or otherwise.

However, complications can be avoided provided the patient takes aggressive immediate measures to keep stools soft and self-moving from day one, without any excessive or violent diarrhea.

A good trustworthy surgeon is a must. My first surgeon, a colon-rectal surgeon, actually left the hemorrhoid inside and just stitched, and cut an artery as well, all in his office. The second surgeon, also a colon-rectal, used a harmonic scapel to remove the now thrombosed hemorrhoid and then repaired the bleeding artery. Both were colon-rectal surgeons.

I also vehemently disagree with you on your docusate recommendations. That is why I had to go for emergency repair; the first surgeon told me to take 2 docusate daily. This dose of 2 docusate gave me violent, and I mean violent bowel movements, from 12 to 20 PER day, that just burst explosively out in harsh waves! My stitches ruptured from the violence, and my sphincter was deformed from all of the many bowel movements. I would strongly advise AGAINST docusate, but if you must, start with just ONE pill, and see what happens; (but you shouldn't have to use a laxative in the first place, as you should have before surgery figured out how to gently get your stools soft and selfmoving).

The second time around, the next surgeon told me to use 2 colace and eat fiber. This wasn't enough of a dose for me for the colace, and I finally have found success with 3 100 mg colace and 1 50 mg colace, plus 1 metamucil pill, and bran, and oatmeal, and fruit skins. What I mean by success is stools that are soft and self-moving, but not excessive or violent or diarrhea.

One of the main possible complications of a hemorrhoidectomy is rupture of the sutures during the first 2-4 weeks; harsh bowel movements from a laxative that is too strong can rupture sutures. I know because that happened to me.

A laxative is not a long term or even short term advisable course for recovery from a hemorrhoidectomy. Laxatives should only be used with caution and if the patient has not moved his/her stools after using stools softeners and a fiber diet within the 2nd day after surgery, and only to get the first bowel movement going, and not daily.

I haven't used lactulose, but another poster here did with good results. She didn't mention it being harsh. I never heard of the other one you mentioned, called Kondremil. Mineral oil, by itself, however, shouldn't be taken more than 2-3 days, as it interferes with the absorption of nutrients.

After a hemorrhoidectomy, a person needs to keep his/her stools soft for months, not days. But the initial 3 weeks it is crucial that from day one that the patient keep his/her stools soft and self-moving.

The best plan of action is for someone considering this surgery, is to start a week before or two, experimenting with different methods to make your stools soft and self-moving. I have shared my method here in prior posts; and others have shared theirs. The key is not to wait until after your surgery to then try to figure out what works for you, but to do it BEFORE. Because if you fail to find the right softening concoction for you that is not harsh from day one of your surgery, you risk injury and facing emergency repair.

posted 09-17-2003 08:40 PM            

However, Steve, you need this surgery. You are living in hemorrhoid hell. I started this thread because of the terrible recovery I was having, but my problems were due to a negligent surgeon for one, and for two, terrible post-op instructions.

Listen, Steve, here is when you should do the surgery. Start now, today, working on different ways to get your stools soft and selfmoving---book your surgery, 1-2 weeks or as soon as you can. The method you ocme up with should not use laxatives as these can't be used for months, and you will need to have a way that works for you for months (years actually).

I found for me that one 100 mg colace with my breakfast of 3 cups of oatmeal, then a cup of raisin bran with my regular lunch, then two 100 mg colace plus one 50 mg colace at dinner with 1 metamucil pill, plus half an apple with the skin, nectarine and green salad with my regular dinner, and lots of cups of water, produces in me soft and self-moving stools.

I say go ahead and book your surgery, as this will strongly motivate you to find how to get soft stools for yourself PRIOR to the surgery. Everything that I use doesn't require a prescription.

Nine tenths of the healing battle is to have soft-selfmoving stools from the first day of your surgery. Yes, the first 12 hours you may experience excruciating pain---morphine, oxycodone, help. Those hours will pass.

Ask your surgeon to prescribe for you lactulose if you want, to try it BEFORE your surgery to see if it works for you in the first 2-3 weeks. You may find the stool softeners I described above sufficient. On the stools softeners, I have to add that the dose my surgeon recommended ended up being too small for me; however, during surgery recovery was a bad time for me to discover this---that's why I'm telling you to toy with the dose now, to see what works for you. After failure to get consistent success, I looked up in a nursing book the doses prescribed for colace and found that it could be up to 500 mg daily. So I upped it from 200 mg to 350 mg, using 4 pills, 1 at breakfast, and the rest at dinner, because I found that all at dinner didn't work, and that I needed some colace in the am too, to make all of my stool soft, as Francis said.

Once you have successfully gotten your stools soft and self-moving, then do that surgery. You WILL heal from it and your life WILL improve. I am now 10 weeks post-op, and I am doing far better than before the surgery. I no longer have that sickening constant throbbing in my rectum from my hemorrhoid.

Stever, you are suffering now. If you enter this surgery with the right, realistic frame of mind, in 3 months you will be ultra happy that you did it. The right frame of mind is to know that you will not be able to sit in a chair or walk around for the first 2-8 weeks; however if you start out with keeping your stools soft and selfmoving, you should make a faster recovery.

It is possible with Irritable Bowel Syndrome to get your stools soft and selfmoving; I have finally managed to figure it out for myself, but I learned too late in my healing and suffered.

You aren't living a life now, Steve, you have to admit that. No, you won't and shouldn't be able to lift weights for the first 2 months---I would even say longer, because lifting weights actually can cause hemorrhoids themselves, meaning they put excessive pressure in the rectum, and you will want to be cautious until you are fully healed.

Don't hate your surgeon; I guess in his own way he is trying to get you to do this surgery. As long as you are mentally braced, and have achieved a good concoction beforehand that produces soft stools, and are prepared to take up to 6 weeks off of work, if need be, (even though you tell your boss 2-3 weeks initially lol), you should get right through it.

posted 09-17-2003 08:46 PM            

You are right on that---that was my main problem. My surgeon had told me to take too low of a dose of colace, only 200 mg which didn't work for me, but never advised me to take more when I called repeatedly after my surgery to say it wasn't working and I had hard stools that were making me bleed.

As I told Steve above, in desperation I turned to a nursing book on drugs and found out that up to 500 mg per day is the dose for colace (i.e. docusate), and when I upped my dose, then I found success.

It was ducolax laxative that gave me violent diarrhea that burst my stitches.

posted 09-18-2003 07:07 AM            

Wow, I can see this forum is still up and running very well.

I'm wondering how mrse is doing? Hope to see her post here soon and let us know how her healing is going, and also things with her mom.

Tammy...so sorry that things are still a pain in the a** for you. Gosh I feel so bad for all the bleeding your doing. It sure is taking its sweet ol time healing down there, isn't it? I hope things turn around for you....as you sure are doing what seems to be everything possible to aid in your revovery. =o)

Steve, I agree with tammy about getting the surgery done. BUT you must prepare WELL in advance for getting yourself cleaned out and having VERY soft stools. That was my major mistake in all of this...not being told what to do prior to this surgery. This led to my second surgery because of impacted stool. It's so interesting to me how different we all are...but I CAN TELL YOU without a doubt in my mind that the pain with this surgery is OFF THE CHARTS. I consider myself a pretty tough cookie...heck a week prior to this surgery I had a shot given to me in my ankle just under the inside ankle bone with a thick, inch long needle, & didn't flinch a bit. My ortho doctor was shocked that I didn't move a bit, and told me how this shot would send people through the roof! Soooooo....anyway....I have to admit that I cried and cried for the first 24 hours after surgery from the pain of it, all while being on massive amounts of pain killers. I don't know your pain tolerance, but mine is pretty high, and I, like tammy, uttered many 4 letter words while moaning many a time. Pain pills did nothing for me. My doctor told me to 'white knuckle it'. LOL Ha, Right!!

This friday will be my three week 'anniversary' (LOL) of my surgery. All is much better now. Still some bleeding with BM's....but my hemmies are gone, and I'm finally on the road back to being myself. I was exercising with weights prior to surgery time, and have NOT done that at all yet. Don't think I will for a while yet, either. I want to HEAL from this..and get back to my old self, and will do like tammy, ANYTHING possible to help in getting to normal.

Steve, I wish you well if you opt for the surgery. Just prepare yourself in advance and you should be good to go within three weeks afterwards, living a hemorhoid free, pain free life.

posted 09-18-2003 05:19 PM            

I am a tough cookie, or I thought I was. My pain tolerance was tested with 3 natural child births (no meds), but the pain of this surgery brought me to my knees. Even Morphine didn't work for me in the first hours after surgery. They were giving me morhine I.V. pushes and a drip and still I was in agony.

Golf in a week? That is highly unlikely. Your surgeon must have taken the same ethics class that mine did.

Hopefully, you will not have the same level of pain, or complications that some of us did.

I am 4 months post surgery and free of pain for the first time in years. Was it worth what I went through to get to this place? Yes. Would I do it again? No Way!

BTW, the nurse in my surgeon's office told me that most patients cancel at least once before they finally go through with the surgery.

posted 09-18-2003 11:18 PM            

Things are going good for me....just not getting back my energy level that I used to have pre-surgery. I wonder how long this is supposed to take? I worked out today, but for only 40 minutes. Maybe that was too strenuous for me? I used to be able to make it through longs day with no nap..today was NOT the case. I think I slept almost 5 hours this afternoon! Grrrr....annoying to say the least! I just couldn't get my butt up!

I've backed off all mineral oil and metamucil. I am doing okay with bm's, however today was a little rough, and I bled a little bit. I may add some metamucil tomorrow and see how that goes.

As you all can see, we are all different in our healing. I think a major factor also is how much tissue/hemorhoidal tissue is removed. I can't imagine being up 90 minutes after my surgery like nothing ever happened! LOL But then again, my doctor removed three fingers worth of tissue from my rectum. Maybe thats the cause of the tremendous pain I was in?

I'm almost to the point of runningal...glad that I had the surgery. Just wish my energy level would be where it once was. I'm sure it will get there eventually...as they say, time heals all wounds.

Hope everyone is doing better and hope to hear from steve....did you opt in for the surgery? Let us know if you have a chance!

posted 09-19-2003 02:00 AM            

I continue to feel stronger everyday, but it took a while to get to this point. I really think the fact that I was healthy, other than the "bottom issues" and in very good shape, aided in my recovery.

I'm so glad you are feeling better. Hang in there and don't push it.

posted 09-19-2003 03:24 PM            

When I first saw the surgeon regarding my problem, it was back in April. I was going on a cruise in May, so I put off the surgery for when I was going to return from the cruise. When I got back, I put if off again (chicken syndrome).
Before I make my decision now, I am going to speak to the surgeon and see if he'll give me an honest view of the recuperation. How can I trust a surgeon who is going to tell me I can lift weights after 2 weeks????
I am concerned about my IBS and how it will affect my recovery. My IBS causes me to use the bathroom between 3 and 5 times daily. The stool is not hard and dry, it is soft. My problem is that the spasms in my colon are irregular, so there are days when I can feel the material in my bowels needing to come out, but it won't. This results in my having to push to try to get it out. I realize that after surgery, this will be impossible, and even after I heal, if my bowel habits don't change, the hems will come back.
So I will have to change my diet, experiment, and find the right "cocktail" that will give me soft and easily eliminated stool. Bad habits are hard to break, and it will be tough, but hopefully I can do this.
The other factor is my lifting weights. I cannot imagine my life without working out with weights.
It's a large part of who I am, and I know if I can't workout, it will depress me severely. I suffer from a pretty bad case of generalized anxiety disorder, and working out is a great stress reliever. I'm talking about working out 3 days a week, approx. 1hr each session.
What would be the point of having the surgery, and then repeating the same behavior which gave them to me in the first place?
I just don't know how to reconcile this problem.
I know I need the surgery, that's not a question.
I know I wouldn't want the hems to come back after suffering through the recuperation.
I can deal with not lifting for 3 or 4 months post-operative, but after that, I do want to continue with it. I skipped training this summer and played a ton of golf. When I went back to the gym, after 2 workouts, I was again bleeding after each bm.
That's what brought me back to seriously considering the surgery again.
HELP!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry that all of you had to go through the pain of this surgery, but I am extremely grateful that you can pass your experience on so that others may benefit.

posted 09-20-2003 10:11 AM            

You write what is the point of going through the surgery if your hemorrhoids come back if you don't change your habits?

Well this is the point: if you have the surgery your hemorrhoids that were taken out WON'T come back, even if you don't change your habits.

This is what may happen, whether you do or DON'T have the surgery, and you continue your current habit of strenuous weight lifting:

New hemorrhoids will form in DIFFERENT veins than your current ones. But if you don't have the surgery, not only will you continue to be miserable from your CURRENT hemorrhoids, but you may also add more in DIFFERENT veins to boot.

You see what happens with this surgery is the vein with the hemorrhoid is cut out. End of story. It's gone. To heal the surgical excision, you need to abstain from weightlifting and avoid straining and hard stools with bowel movements.

What this surgery doesn't do, is cover the rest of the (now healthy) veins in your rectal vault. You see we are born with many veins in our rectal vault. By the time many people reach age 50, they have developed bulges in some of those veins, and these bulges are called hemorrhoids; these are developed through various stresses and pressure on those veins, and sometimes, just genetically.

I had one hemorrhoid in my left rear area. I had it banded 4 times (I thought actually I had 4 different ones banded, but no, it was the same one). I had poor post-op instructions on how to avoid making them reoccur in the same vein that was left in, and just went back to my old lifestyle. Within 6 months, this same vein would form a new hemorrhoid in the same place.

Now in my hemorrhoidectomy, that vein was cut out. No more hemorrhoids will form there, as the vein doesn't exist (bye, bye vein, you will not be missed). However, I've got other veins in my rectal vault which are now okay and healthy; but if I ignore good bowel habits and also put excessive strain on my butt, well those can also, independent of the one removed, develop their own hemorrhoids.

So, if you have this surgery, your current hemorrhoid WILL NEVER COME BACK. However, you may develop new hemorrhoids in other veins independent of the vein(s) that will be removed in your surgery. The point of the surgery is to remove the ones that are defective.

You aren't a good candidate for rubberbanding, which removes the bulging hemorrhoid but leaves the 'troublesome' vein in, since you would go right back to weightlifting and no doubt that same vein, that was left in, would develop a hemorrhoid again in months.

Now, the hospital nurse assigned to me after my surgery had also had a hemorrhoidectomy 20 years ago. She said that now, 20 years later, she had small hemorrhoids, but they weren't troublesome to her. She looked about 50. Perhaps in another 10-20 they will be very troublesome to her. But these were new ones, independent of the ones she had removed, elsewhere in her rectal vault. She, however, looked to be no weightlifter and didn't seem to get them from that, just from the strain of regular life on her feet many hours, sitting alot, etc.

If you do this surgery, and return to weightlifting, maybe you will be lucky, and go the rest of your life without developing new hemorrhoids in the other remaining healthy veins in your rectal vault. But, I think you will be pushing your luck, since you already have developed hemorrhoids. Maybe if you persist in heavy lifting, even within months you will develop a new hemorrhoid that has nothing to do with the one removed. Maybe you will be lucky and go for 10 years or maybe you will have a heart attack and croak before any would have developed and not have to worry.

Anyone who tells you that you can practice weightlifting and never, ever have to worry about getting hemorrhoids again is either ignorant or lying to you. Pressure and strain is a major cause of hemorrhoids. When I used to work out, I saw some men lift 600-800 pounds. I wonder how their rectal vaults are doing now? Some people are fortunate and never suffer hemorrhoids; my own husband is near 80 and never had a hemorrhoid in his life; yet he never did repetitive weight lifting in his entire life either. I did; I wonder if that is the difference.

I understand your need to relieve stress. It seems to me, however, that sooner or later you will have to undergo removal of the veins that currently have hemorrhoid bulges; I hope it is not as an emergency, because then you will have no choice of your surgeon and will have to live with the results of that surgeon's work.

Once you do this surgery, what you do is up to you. You can resume weightlifting after you are healed and take your chances with new, different ones forming---as I hope you understand by now that the ones that you will have removed won't come back, as those veins will have been cut out. Sometimes, like it or not, if we have a health problem, we are forced to make lifestyle changes. There are many other sports out there that also are great stress relievers: Boxing, racketball, jogging, tennis, basketball, martial arts, and so on, that don't put you at the risk of developing new hemorrhoids.

You've got an acute problem now: a hemorrhoid or hemorrhoids that need to be removed. If you give up weightlifting now, you may get away with a simple banding and practicing good bowel habits, but you would be at increased risk in those troubled veins of redeveloping the same hemorrhoids. You can try that though, as it is a 'conservative' method compared to the hemorrhoidectomy.

If you do nothing, you will probably end up in the emergency room as each time you lift weights the hemorrhoids become engorged---pretty soon with that kind of abandon, you will have a problem you can't ignore.

If you do nothing, and stop lifting weights, those hemorrhoids will still be there; over the counter methods might give relief, but at any time you again exert undo pressure, they will probably flair up.

If you have them banded, and stop lifting weights, again just from bowel straining, those troublesome veins may develop hemorrhoids again.

If you have them banded, and go back to lifting weights, not only will those troublesome veins flare up again, but you also risk getting hemorrhoids in other unaffected veins.

Finally, as I wrote above, if you have the veins cut out through a hemorrhoidectomy (ectomy in medical language means to cut out), and go back to lifting weights, those same hemorrhoids will never come back, but you risk getting hemorrhoids in other currently unaffected veins.

Get the idea?

Look, I myself hate the reality. You think I like the idea that I have to, for the rest of my life, eat foods I don't like and struggle constantly with keeping my stools soft and self-moving? Hell no. I still am struggling to win that battle daily almost 3 months post-op, but the hemorrhoid I had is gone, forever. Now I can disregard eating right and not putting excessive strain on my rear, and see if I'm lucky to go 20 plus years without any new hemorrhoids. But, to be honest, I never want to develop new hemorrhoids, not after having to go through this surgery twice in a row.

posted 09-20-2003 10:22 AM            

If you ignore that, you will bleed unnecessarily, and prolong your healing. Runninggal's doctor told her that, for an entire year, she could experience rebleeding from hard stools, or stools too long. It is only 3 weeks after your surgery and you are abandoning practicing methods to keep your stools soft even before you are completely healed.

As I wrote Steve above, if you don't, from now on, incorporate new stool habits to keep your stools ALWAYS soft and selfmoving, forever, then you are putting yourself at risk, in the future, to develop new hemorrhoids and also fissures, in your other remaining veins, as well as now risk complicating your recovery.

I wrote to Steve about the nurse who attended to me after surgery, how she had had the surgery done 20 years ago, and now had new small hemorrhoids that, presently, didn't bother her. If you are in your 20s or 30s, you could also develop new ones, if you ignore keeping your stools selfmoving, and strain to have bowel movements, and also have stools so hard that they can cause a new fissure.

posted 09-20-2003 08:44 PM            

I've abused my butt for so long, before I got on my health kick, and that was the cause for all my problems down there. But as I started getting healthier and eating better, adding ground flax seed into my morning yogurts and lunch salads, and also adding psyllium to my smoothies, I was starting to actually have a easier time. I guess I thought those measures alone would help me to have soft stools. Like you and runningal, I NEVER want to go through this again, so whats the harm in sticking with the metamucil? LOL Ok...so every now and then I need a kick in the butt.

posted 09-21-2003 10:03 AM            

Due to desperation trying to learn why healing from this surgery was taking so long, I took a crash course on hemorrhoids and hemorrhoidectomies, reading everything I could offline and online. I sure wish I knew this stuff before, but, oh well.