Hemmroids, most commonly known as Hemorrhoids (the proper term) are abnormally large sacs of varicose veins, tissue and mucous membranes in the rectum. Hemmroids is also one of the most common anorectal disorders affecting approximately 5% of the entire population. So that's about 336 million people suffering from hemmroids as of September 2008.

Hemmroid's most common symptoms are : Presence of blood in the stool, Feeling of obstruction caused by swollen veins in the anus, Protruding lumps hanging from the anus, Itching and inflammation around the anus.

Hemmroid causes : includes long periods of sitting or standing, lifting heavy objects, dehydration, obesity and lack of exercise, but without a doubt the largest factor is constipation and straining during defecation which resulted from poor eating habits and diet. Hemmroids often develop during pregnancy because of the pressure the fetus exerts in the abdominal area, as well as the hormonal changes that cause the veins to enlarge. Stress is another cause of hemmroid.

Hemmroid Diagnosis/Test : It is diagnosed based on a rectal examination. To diagnose internal hemmroids, the doctor will insert an anoscope , a thin, lighted tube to view the lower rectum. A colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy may also be performed to examine the inside of the colon and rule out any other causes of bleeding.


Showing posts with label Hemmroid Pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hemmroid Pain. Show all posts
6:19 AM

Hemmroid Remedies

hemmroid remedies picHemmroid remedies are usually practiced as first step in treating hemmroids. Standard hemmroid remedies includes prescription or over the counter medications and surgical procedures, and are most often dependant upon the condition severity. However, mild hemmroids can be treated by employing simple changes in bowel habits and most cases do not require hemmroid surgery or specialized treatments unless hemmroids have become extremely painful. These hemmroid remedies includes the following as stated below.
  • Strive for soft and easy bowel movements. The most effective hemmroid remedies against hemmroids is to go right to the source of the problem. More often than not, on top of every rear end with hemmroids sits a person grunting and groaning. If it's news to you that passing one's stools is not supposed to be a long and arduous affair, you've likely got hemeriods. Huffing and puffing on the toilet provides just the kind of strain needed to engorge and swell the veins in your rectum. Hard stools then make matters worse by scraping the already troubled area. Solution? Drink lots of fluids, eat lots of fiber, and refer often to the following remedies.
  • Oil your inner workings. Once you've increased the fiber and fluids in your diet, your stool should become softer and pass with less effort. You may help your bowels to move even more smoothly by lubricating your anus with a dab of petroleum jelly, using a cotton swab or your finger, apply the jelly about 1/2 inch into the rectum as your hemmroid remedy.
  • Clean yourself tenderly. Your responsibility to your hemmroids shouldn't end when you're through moving your bowels. It's extremely important to clean yourself properly and gently. Toilet paper can be scratchy, and some types contain chemical irritants. Purchase only nonperfumed, noncolored (white) toilet paper, and dampen it under the faucet before each wipe.
  • Choose a kinder, gentler toilet paper. If you've never heard of lubricated toilet paper, that's because it isn't sold yet. But you can find facial tissues coated with moisturizing cream—and these offer the most hemmroid-friendly backside wipe on the market.
  • Don't scratch. Hemmroids can itch, and scratching can make them feel better. But don't give in to the urge to scratch. You can damage the walls of these delicate veins and make matters much worse for yourself.
  • Don't lift too heavy objects. Heavy lifting and strenuous exercise can act much like straining on the toilet. If you're prone to hemmroids, get a friend to help or hire someone to help you move that heavy objects.
  • Go soak yourself. The sitz bath—sitting with your knees raised in 3 or 4 inches of warm water in a bathtub—is one of hemmroid remedies that still tops the list of most experts as a way to deal with hemmroids. The warm water helps to kill the pain while increasing the flow of blood to the area, which can help shrink hemmroids.
  • Apply a hemmroid medication. There are many hemmroid creams and suppositories on the market, and while they generally will not make your problem disappear (contrary to what the ads may say), most are designed as local painkillers and can relieve some of the discomfort.
  • Choose a cream. Choose a hemmroid cream over a suppository any day. Suppositories are usually useless for external hemmroids, and even for internal hemmroids because suppositories tend to float too far up the rectum to do much good. So better look for hemmroid creams out there as your hemeriod remedy.
  • Work wonders with witch hazel. A dab of witch hazel applied to the rectum with a cotton ball is one of the very best remedies available for external hemmroids, especially if there's bleeding, "Barbers use witch hazel when they cut you—because it causes the blood vessels to shrink down and contract.
  • Try ice treatment. Try anything cold, even water, can help kill the pain of hemmroids, give your hemmroids a special treat by putting a bottle of witch hazel into a bucket of ice, just as you would a champagne bottle. Then take a cotton ball, soak it in the witch hazel and apply it against your hemmroids until it's no longer cold, then repeat. This is also the one of the fast action hemmroid remedies as it numb your hemmroid upon contact with ice.
  • Watch your weight. Because they have more pressure on the lower extremities, overweight people tend to have more problems with hemeriods just as they do with varicose veins.
  • Control your salt intake. Sure, you like your french fries covered with salt, but it can make your hemmroids worse. Excess salt retains fluids in the circulatory system that can cause bulging of the veins in the anus and elsewhere.
  • Avoid certain foods and drinks. Some foods, while they won't make your hemmroids worse, can contribute to your anal misery by creating further itching as they pass through the bowels. Watch out for excessive coffee, strong spices, beer, and cola.
  • Pregnant? Take the pressure off. Pregnant women are particularly prone to hemmroids, in part because the uterus sits directly on the blood vessels that drain the hemmroidal veins. A special hemmroid remedy if you are pregnant is to lie on your left side for about 20 minutes every 4 to 6 hours so, you decrease pressure on the main vein draining the lower half of the body.
  • Give it a little shove. Sometimes the word hemmroid refers not to a swollen vein but to a downward displacement of the anal canal lining. If you have such a protruding hemmroid, try shoving it back into the anal canal. Hemmroids left hanging are prime candidates to develop into clots.
  • Sit on a doughnut. We're talking about a doughnut-shaped cushion, here as hemmroid remedy. They are available in pharmacies and medical supply stores and can be useful to hemmroid sufferers who do a lot of sitting.
  • Try the ClenZone. This little appliance attaches to your toilet seat and squirts a thin stream of water into your rectum after every bowel movement. It gets you superclean and serves as a soothing mini-sitz bath at the same time.
Another hemmroid remedies are what they called fixative procedures, which cut off the blood flow to the hemmroids and uses rubber bands, lasers, heat, or chemical injections, are an option if you have internal hemmroids that bulge from the anus during bowel movements. These are illustrated as follows:
  • • Sclerotherapy: One of hemmroid remedies in which a chemical solution is injected around the hemmroid. The objective of sclerotherapy is to limit blood supply to the hemmroid, until the condition subsides and/or the hemeriod shrinks. The remaining scar tissue that has formed (resulting from the lack of blood supply and shrinkage of the hemmroid) minimizes the recurrence of the condition by supporting surrounding anal tissues.
  • • Rubber-band Ligation: This is an outpatient procedure that is relatively nontraumatic. During the treatment a rubber-band is placed around the base of the hemmroid inside the rectum. Like sclerotherapy, the band cuts off circulation and causes the hemmroid to whither away within a number of days. More than one session may be necessary.
  • • Infrared light: During this procedure, bursts of infrared light are used to inhibit blood circulation to small, bleeding, internal hemmroids.
  • • Hemmroidectomy: This refers to the actual excision of the hemeriods and subsequent resuturing of any affected rectal mucosa. It is usually the last option of all hemmroid remedies and is only used if all other hemmroid treatment options have failed. It can be done on either an inpatient or outpatient setting, and requires anesthesia.
Following such hemmroid remedies stated above may help sufferers relieve from the pain and disturbing effect brought by hemmroids.
6:33 AM

Causes Of Hemmroids

causes of hemmroids picCauses of hemmroids should be given importance so as to prevent from having hemmroids in the future because these are painful condition that affects millions of people throughout the world. Extensive research on the causes of hemmroids has led to the conclusion that hemmroids is the result of increased and extended pressure on blood vessels (veins) in the rectal area. This pressure may come from different sources and may be aggravated by a number of hemmroids causes, all resulting in swelling and inflammation of the vessels. Following are some of the more important causes of hemmroids that produce the swelling and associated hemmroid symptoms.

Most likely these are signs that you may have hemmroids and it's nothing to laugh at - because although it's pretty common, they can be annoying and embarrassing.

When it gets more severe, hemmroids can fall out like a lump outside your bottom. So let's see what some common wrong choices people make which cause them to develop hemmroids? Even if you have these already, try to follow the tips below so you can start getting some relief from the problem gradually.

Wrong Diet
Hemmroids are linked to wrong diet, overeating, intoxicating liquors, tobacco, spices of various kinds, white bread, sugar, fried foods, and all acid forming foods which cause fermentation. These habits devitalized diet causes constipation, clogs the liver and causes an impure blood stream and does irritates the stomach and intestines. All heavy and stimulating food should be avoided as mentioned. The diet should be simple and light. Soybean milk, soybean zwieback, thoroughly ripe bananas, vegetable broths of any kind. To go on a fruit diet for a few days is a very helpful measure.

Straining in Bowel Movements
Straining during passing stool on toilet is now regarded as one of the main causes of hemmroids. This may be the result of more than one factor, namely fiber-deficient diet, constipation, and inappropriate toilet positions. Fiber-deficient diet (meat and refined foods) makes bowel movement hard, increasing pressure on the rectal veins. Constipation may result from various causes, more importantly from low intake of fluids (water and juices), overeating, and stress. The use of modern toilets with a seat is also one of the causes of hemmroids. Passing stool in squatting position is the most natural and health-friendly way of defecation and may help you avoid hemmroids.

Cleaning
Appropriately cleaning the anal area after defecation is important in preventing hemmroids. In affect, it means cleaning gently enough not to cause swelling of the rectal veins. The habit of wiping the bottom hard, and/or for too long, can be one of the causes of hemmroids and may aggravate already existing hemmroids. Gentle wiping with a soft damp cloth or unscented white toilet paper is the recommended way of cleaning after defecation.

Excess Weight and Sedentary Lifestyle
Obesity or excess weight has been regarded another causes of hemmroids. Associated with excess weight is a sedentary lifestyle that continues to affect the rectal veins with increased pressure of the body. Even without excess weight, sitting on the same seat for several hours daily can put one at an increased risk of getting hemmroids. The answer is to get up and walk around after sitting over 1 hour at a time, plus remember to do stretches that promote healthy blood flow. Exercising, practicing better posture, and reducing bowel movement strain and time are really important to offsetting a sedentary lifestyle and to avoid possible causes of hemmroids formation.

Heavy Lifting and Strenuous Sports
Lifting heavy objects regularly as well as playing strenuous sports or taking high-stress exercises (e.g. weight lifting, mountain motor bike riding etc) are also among of the causes of hemmroids since they increase pressure on the vessels including rectal veins.

Pregnancy and Childbirth
One of the main causes of female hemmroids is pregnancy, as it puts a lot of pressure on the rectal veins. Some women get hemmroids in their first pregnancy while many get it more than once as they become pregnant and go through childbirth. Some women develop hemmroids in the second stage of labor (childbirth). Besides direct pressure on the vessels, pregnancy also indirectly influences the development of hemmroids by the increased levels of progesterone which makes the vessels relax and easier to swell under pressure.

Anal Sex
More recently, anal sex has been regarded as one of the causes of hemmroids and abstaining from anal sex is advised for preventing the development and/or aggravation of hemmroids.

Less Fluid Intake
Another causes of hemmroids is not drinking enough water that can cause a hard stool, or even chronic constipation, which in turn can lead to hemmroidal irritation. An excess of lactic acid in your stools, a product of excessive consumption of dairy products like cheese, milk etc can cause irritation; cutting back on these diary products can bring relief.

Eating an Abundance of Processed Food
This can be a hard for some people. However, it's a fact that processed foods create hard stools and digestion problems which in turn creates constipation and other issues which can lead to t formation of hemmroids. The point is when you are suffering and trying to cure hemmroids, you really need to decrease the causes of hemmroid just as you decrease your intake of processed foods.

Excessive Use of Medicines and Creams
This creates the same problem as processed foods. Are you aware of the fact that many of the fiber supplements have processed and artificial elements that can possibly create side effects elsewhere not to mention they're not even dealing with the hemmroid problem.

If there are swollen tissue of the mouth of the rectum, and also swollen blood vessels, these are symptoms of hemmroids and you can notice the bleeding piles. Little tumors are formed around the anus. Both internal and external pile is very painful. Often, there is extreme itching. Other symptoms of hemmroids include:
  • * Bright red blood on the toilet paper after having a bowel movement, especially if the stool was very hard or very large. Blood also may streak the surface of the stool, or color the water inside the toilet bowl.
  • * For a prolapsed hemmroid, a soft, grape-like mass protruding from the anus that may be itchy or painful or may leak a fluid or mucus. In some cases, you can gently press the prolapsed hemmroid back into the anus with your fingertips.
  • * For an external hemmroid, a painful bulge or firm lump around the rim of the anus. The lump may have a blue or purple tint.
Unless there is rectal bleeding, most people with hemmroids can diagnose and treat the problem themselves. If you have rectal bleeding, it is important for you to see a physician, so he or she can check for more dangerous causes of bleeding.

But you often can prevent hemmroids by preventing episodes of constipation. Some of the following diet and lifestyle changes may help you to soften your stool, establish a regular schedule for bowel movements and avoid the straining that can lead to hemmroids:
  • * Add more fiber to your diet. Set a goal of 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily, from such high fiber foods as beans, broccoli, carrots, bran, whole grains and fresh fruits. To avoid bloating and gas, add these foods gradually over a period of several days. With these, you can avoid possibility of formation of hemmroids.
  • * Drink adequate amounts of fluid. For most healthy adults, this is the equivalent of 6 to 8 glasses of water daily.
  • * Begin a program of regular exercise. As little as 20 minutes of brisk walking daily can stimulate your bowel to move regularly.
  • * Train your digestive tract to have regular bowel movements. Schedule a time to sit on the toilet at approximately the same time each day. The best time to do this is usually right after a meal. Do not sit on the toilet for long periods (it tends to make hemmroids push out and swell up) as this is also one causes of hemmroids.
  • * Respond immediately to the urge to have a bowel movement. Do not postpone until the time is more convenient.
Therefore, to prevent such formation of this hemmroids try to avoid the above causes of hemmroids. And if for instance you already have hemmroids, you can also try avoiding such causes of hemmroids to prevent it from coming back or to avoid such complications and to worsen the situation.