Banding success story

I wanted to share my successful rubber band ligation story in the hopes that it might help those, like me, that have had concerns about this treatment.

I was diagnosed last year with three late Grade 2/early Grade 3 internal hemmorrhoids. Bear in mind, this took me close to 6 years of ignoring it, playing it down and scouring the Internet for solutions before I finally plucked up the courage to get it looked at (I had terrible fear of examination pain, fear of the treatment, fear of it being something worse etc.). Right off the bat, I wish more than anything that I had gone in sooner because I suffered unnecessarily both physically and mentally for no good reason. So just get in there folks!

I had the standard and most common rubber band ligation treatment (I'm not sure if it has a specific name) on three separate occasions by a colorectal surgeon in his office. He didn't recommend any of the other treatment options that I had heard of, nor did he offer them, simply because, in his experience, the success rate was high with the traditional method and it has been around for many years. I had done so much research but at the end of the day, I put my trust in him to take care of me.

The procedure itself was extremely quick. I had to kneel on one of those tables with my rear up in the air, he put in some contraption (I think it was an anoscope), he pinched the hemmorrhoid so that I could feel a slight pinch (this did not hurt) and did so again until I couldn't feel it - this allowed him to know exactly where to deploy the rubber bands without causing pain. Once the bands were on, I felt a certain level of uncomfortable pressure but not really pain as such. I was able to walk just fine. Sitting was mostly fine too.

The first two hours became more uncomfortable but I took Tylenol and it soon took the edge off. I could have had a stronger pain relief prescription but didn't feel it was necessary. Peeing initially was difficult but that was more to do with the fact that I was tense and found it difficult to relax down there. The second and third treatments were not really a problem on that front.

I was nervous for the first bowel movement but once it finally came the next morning, it really didn't hurt at all. I was quite surprised! I'd say that after about 48 hours, the most amount of discomfort had passed and then it was just something I was aware of but didn't really notice much in my day to day life.

For a few days afterward, there was some very light blood upon wiping. On the final treatment, I had a few days of a clear discharge that eventually went away after about a week - the doc said it was probably just from the hemmorrhoid as it withered away.

There was zero blood once it came off but honestly, I have no idea when any of the three came off. All I know is that I went back four weeks after each session for a check up and they had all gone.

I'm now almost two months past the final treatment and everything is more or less normal (though I have no memory of what normal was before all this started!). I still have a sensation after some more constipated bowel movements which I'm told may happen as the various sites are still technically healing. Otherwise, I am utterly amazed at how easy the whole process was and how seemingly successful it was.

I know folks have had it much worse than me so my thoughts do go out to you all in your own personal journeys. For those that may be in similar situations to me, I recommend that you find someone that you can trust and feel comfortable with. I loved my doc perhaps more than any doc I've ever seen before. That makes a huge difference in terms of trust and comfort levels. And if you still fear the treatment, try to just do some meditation and breathing exercises about a week or two beforehand, visualize and focus on success, not what you're afraid of. It'll help you relax mentally for what is, in all honesty, a perfectly manageable treatment option. And this is coming from someone that spent years fixating and worrying. I only wish I had done it sooner!

Good luck to you all.

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