Piles (Hemorrhoids)
What Is Piles (Hemorrhoids)?
Piles (haemorrhoids) are swellings that can occur inside and around the back passage (anus) and the anal canal, sometimes it includes painful stomach ache and back ache. Types of Piles (Hemorrhoids)
- Internal piles
- External piles
Piles (haemorrhoids) are swellings that can occur inside and around the back passage (anus) and the anal canal, sometimes it includes painful stomach ache and back ache. Types of Piles (Hemorrhoids)
- Internal piles
- External piles
Mild Internal piles are small swellings on the inside lining of the anal canal. They cannot be seen or felt from outside the anus. It is very common. In some people they enlarge further develop to a severe or chronic.
Severe Internal piles: are larger they may be partly pushed out from the anus when you go to the toilet, but quickly spring back inside again.
Chronic Internal piles: Hang out from the anus when you go to the toilet. You may feel one or more as small, soft lumps that hang from the anus. However, you can push them back inside the anus with a finger. And in rare cases it becomes permanent hang down from the anus, and you cannot push them back inside. They sometimes become quite wide and long.
External piles are those that form below that point, in the lower part of the anal canal. They are those that form below that point, in the lower part of the anal canal. External piles may be painful because the lower part of the anal canal has lots of pain nerve fibres.
Causes of Piles (Hemorrhoids)
The blood vessels around the anus and in the rectum will stretch under pressure and may swell or bulge. Inflamed veins (hemorrhoids) can develop when pressure increases in the lower rectum. This may be due to:
Ageing
Chronic constipation
Chronic diarrhea
Hard stool
Hereditary factors
Lifting heavy weights
Overweight or obesity
Pregnancy
Symptoms/Signs of Piles (Hemorrhoids)
In many cases, haemorrhoids don't cause symptoms, and some people would not know that they have signs of pile. However, when pile come with symptoms , they may include:
- Bleeding after passing a stool (the blood is usually bright red)
- Itchy bottom
- A lump hanging down outside of the anus, which may need to be pushed back in after passing a stool
- A mucus discharge after passing a stool
- Soreness, redness and swelling around your anus
- Physical Examination:
The doctor may ask the following questions:
- Do any close relatives (parents, siblings) have piles?
- Has there been any blood on the stools?
- Has there been any mucus on the stools?
- Has there been any recent weight loss?
- Have bowel movements changed recently?
- What color are the stools?
Digital rectal exam
Your doctor inserts a gloved and lubricated finger into your rectum. If they feel anything abnormal, they may order an additional test called a sigmoidoscopy.
- Sigmoidoscope
How to Prevent Piles (Hemorrhoids)
Go when you need to go
When you have to go, go. This is one of the simplest ways to prevent hemorrhoids.
Though it sounds like common-sense advice, but too many people ignore it. If you delay using the bathroom, your stool may become hard and dry in your bowel, which makes it harder to pass. If you strain to pass stool, your risk for hemorrhoids rises. Speaking of straining, don’t force a bowel movement when you don’t need to go, either. Straining increases the pressure on your venous cushions, this leads to hemorrhoids. In particular, straining can turn internal hemorrhoids into external ones.
Get Plenty of Exercise
Exercise helps improve or prevent many bowel and digestive issues, including hemorrhoids. When you are sedentary, everything slows down, including your bowels. Exercise helps keep waste moving through your intestinal tract. In turn, this helps you avoid constipation and dry, hard stool. Walking, running, biking, yoga — take your pick, but choose an active lifestyle. One note of caution, though: Avoid heavy-duty weight-lifting squats and similar motions that increase abdominal pressure. If you’re trying to prevent hemorrhoids, these exercises can do more harm than good.
Fill Up on Fiber
Hemorrhoids are more likely to occur in people who have infrequent bowel movements. One of the easiest, most natural ways to become more regular is by filling up on fiber either through your diet or supplements. “Adding fiber to the diet is the universal recommendation
Great food sources of fiber are:
Legumes, such as split peas, lentils, lima beans, and baked beans Whole grains, such as barley, bran flakes, oatmeal, and brown rice Vegetables, such as green peas, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts Fruits, such as raspberries, pears, apples, and bananas.
Treatment for Piles (Hemorrhoids
You can go to the hospital or pharmacies to get proper treatment.
Creams, ointments and suppositories can help relieve swelling and inflammation symptoms in the short-term. Your doctor may recommend corticosteroid cream for severe inflammation.
Warm (but not hot) sit baths is a traditional therapy for piles: sit in about 8 cm of warm water for 15 minutes, several times a day, especially after a bowel movement.
Painkillers, such as paracetamol, can help relieve pain caused by piles. Products with local anaesthetic may be prescribed to treat painful haemorrhoids.
If you are constipated, your doctor may recommend using a laxative.
However, these treatments do not get rid of the haemorrhoids themselves.
If you are pregnant, discuss any treatment, including dietary changes, with your doctor before proceeding.
In advance cases, your doctor may suggest one of the following procedures. Many can be performed as a day-case:
Injection or sclerotherapy. An internal haemorrhoid can be injected with a solution that creates a scar and closes off the haemorrhoid. The injection will only hurt a little.
Banding. Prolapsed haemorrhoids are often removed using rubber-band ligation. A special tool secures a tiny rubber band around the haemorrhoid, shutting off its blood supply almost instantly. Within a week, the haemorrhoid shrivels and falls off.
Coagulation or cauterisation. Using either an electric probe, a laser beam, or an infrared light, a tiny burn painlessly seals the end of the haemorrhoid, causing it to close off and shrink. This is most useful for prolapsed haemorrhoids.
Surgery. For large internal haemorrhoids or extremely uncomfortable external haemorrhoids (such as thrombosed haemorrhoids that are too painful to live with), your doctor may choose traditional surgery, called haemorrhoidectomy.
The success rate for haemorrhoid removal approaches 95%, but unless dietary and lifestyle changes are made, haemorrhoids may recur. Piles (Hemorrhoids) Home Remedies/Home Cure
Coconut Oil – Apply coconut oil directly to hemorrhoids, rinse and repeat. In addition to symptoms subsiding, the hemorrhoids should disappear over the course of just a few days.
Aloe Vera – As with the above treatments, simply apply aloe vera to the affected area to relieve symptoms.
Squat, do not sit – Conventional toilets are highly unnatural, and may be one reason hemorrhoids are rarely seen in less developed countries, where squatting is done when going to the bathroom. Sitting down to pass a bowel movement puts tremendous strain on the rectum while squatting straightens the rectum and relaxes the puborectalis muscle. This is tip should be done along with any home remedies for hemorrhoids you may use.
Click here to read Natural therapy for Pile (Hemorrhoids) Complications of Piles (Hemorrhoids)
When Piles become chronic as a result of blood lost it could lead to
Anemia: Shortage of blood
Stangulated hemorrhoid- the blood supply to an internal hemorrhoid is cut off, causing severe pain, and even gangrene (death of tissue).
