Hemorrhoidectomy Recovery

it's nice to read that your surgery went well. personally I have two external hemorrhoids(which reduced in size and do not hurt anymore) and some internal ones. true to say I was also worried(due to many factors) that I may go the surgery way but I didn't.

I don't know how you feel but what I can say is that you follow your doctor's advice if it has helped you since the hospital. and also just try a sitz bath every now and then. it will help sooth the pain

Sally, your experience is quite similar to mine. I'm on day 3, day 1 being surgery day on Sunday for me. I read all the stories and was quite scared for the pain, but it's not been as bad as expected. I slept 7 hrs last night, should've woken 3am for pain killers but didn't. Took them at 6am 1g Panadol, I'd say the pain was like a 2 when I took them and one hour later almost gone, just uncomfortable. Nothing yet to shout about. 

I had a little beef casserole last night so I'll see how my stool is today. But I'm keeping up with my pre planned regime and fingers crossed.

good to hear other good experiences too.

Update for you.

14 days since my op.

The day after I wrote the initial post was quite possibly, the worst day of my life. It was awful. Quite uncomfortable pain and general discomfort. I found it very uncomfortable feeling like I needed to go to the toilet, but it was impossible.

I called the gp and shebsuggested glycerine suppositories. These were a god send. Made life much easier to go.

I am still in slight discomfort. No pain.

It hurts to go to the toilet, but that is short lived compared to the early days. No baths needed.

I find using the suppositories helps so much as I do not need to strain.

Im glad I had it done.

If anyone has any question, please ask away. I'll try to help ease your mind

It's been a while since your first surgery. Did u have the second one? I read all horrible reports of the hemmoroid surgeries and cancelled mine last year. Now it's a must so into the fire I go in a couple of weeks. Your post gave me a better feeling about it. Thanks. Any advice would be appreciated. How long till you felt well enough to socialize and go back to work? I work in an office. Nancy

Good to hear! I had my surgery about 6 weeks ago and found the recovery to be fine. I was back at work less than 2 weeks post surgery - Oh also I ride my bike to and from work and was back on my bike on the first day back to work! I have to say though this seriously beat my expectations - I'd told my boss I'd be off work for up to 6 weeks!

I'd recommend talking to your friends about your surgery. I understand its embarrasing (trust me I went through the same thing!) however I found that when I got over the embarrassment and started telling people about my surgery I found lots of people who either have the same problem or have relatives who have the problem. Its great to talk to people about haemorrhoids, I think these forums can be misleading sometimes.

Hi Sally,

glad to hear you had a positive experience with your surgery.  I was wondering if you could tell me how bad yours were beforehand. I've been dealing with mine for about 30 years if you can believe that. At first they were manageable with over the counter solutions but then I had 3 kids and they got much worse. I've tried shrinking them with infrared treatments but that made little difference. In the last couple of years they've gotten really out of hand, uncomfortable and bleeding on occasion. I have several external ones. I've had my internal ones banded. From what my doc says surgery is the only option going forward if I cannot tolerate it anymore. I've been dreading having this surgery because of all the horror stories. I'm trying to gauge the severity of other people's hemmorhoids who have undergone surgery and have had little problems afterwards. One lady had a blog she did and she said it was no big deal for her afterwards however she had very few to begin with and probably didn't really need the surgery that much. Thanks for writing about your experience!

Hey Sally,

I'm 5 days post surgery and I'm glad I did it too. Like you I was scared and thought, what the heck, I'll just adjust to this discomfort for the rest of my life. But I've heard surgeons and specialists say their patients were very happy and wish they did it sooner so that pushed me into the path of surgery.  I had 2 hemorrhoids they removed which also caused an anal fissure that was giving me pain for almost a year.

For some reason though, I always have the urge to have a BM and I've been going multiple times a day. It's been enough and easy enough but the pain that comes after is horrible. I ususally ice the area and try to lay on my stomach for a good while afterwards.  I haven't left the house in 5 days either and I'm scared to even in the next couple of weeks. I have been eating fruits and veggies and taking one glass of Metimucil every morning. I'm wondering if it's that that's making me go so much. I want to stop but don't want my stools to be hard.

I'm also having problem urinating. The first night I was SO uncomfortable. My bladder was SO full but I couldn't pee except a tiny bit or I just passed a little gas. It was like I was constipated with urine. It wasn't a good feeling. I'm still having issues with that but it's slightly better. I read it's becuase of the swollen area, it prevents you from peeing? Anyway, I hope you're surgery outcome turns out well. I'm sorry to hear you have to go back to get more removed. But now that you know what recovery is like, you'll be a champ the 2nd time around. Be glad you did it and you don't have to deal with the discomfort anymore. 

I go to surgery this coming Tues. I have been suffering with hemroids now going on 3 years. I got them after I had my second son. They were manageable at first but have now got to the point that I have 2 thromboned ones a few external and internal. I can't walk for extended amounts of time or sit without them getting irritated. They bleed and discharged a clear oderless liquid. After bowel movements it's helacious sometimes it will push them all out and I'm in extreme pain for a couple hours until the swelling goes down. Sound as are story is a lil similar. I'm excited for the results but terrified of the post op. I feel as if this give pain a whole new meaning and take me to a whole new threshold. Soooo that being said I will keep you posted on my journey!

Hi Sally that's wonderful news your doing so well after such a short time.

I however had the operation 16 months ago and still suffering severe pain with BM and anything up to 6 hours after that.

For me personally the operation was the worst thing I've ever experienced, from the very moment I got home till now.

From reading people's stories it seems more people recover well than don't.

I unfortunately am one of the unlucky ones, and can honestly say since Op I've had a very low quality of life so feel people need to be aware of the flip side also.

Hope your recovery continues well x

This was most reassuring! I had mine 4 days ago and found the horror stories a major cause of constipation, and we know what THAT does.  I had 2 external, 3 internal and some skin tags removed.

My advice to everyone based on my

Experience: 

- have an enema or laxative before the op or have an 'inducing diet'. I had neither of these and feel a large part of my issues have been due to going under the anaesthetic with a full bowel.  Empty out! The NHS hospital I went to didn't provide either of these and I am now struggling with squeezing out rocks (impacted) through my stitched up bottom. I think this could have been

Avoided. 

- stay on top of the pain emotionally as well as medically!  Meditate, remember you are master of your body. Pain comes from the mind.  You can beat it. And codeine will constipate you...

-  it doesn't hurt straight away.  In fact, when I got home from the hospital after the GA I was tidying up! And looking after my kids and playing, chatting.  The codeine made me wobbly and I just stayed on top of painkilling.

- the first bowel movement..... mine was 2 days later and a very little came out but the gauze and the blood filled the basin. It didn't hurt during but hurt afterwards then subsided. My advice which is VITAL and I WISH i had done from the start: POO squatting IN THE BATH! Don't be shy or grossed out. You can shower after. Not only does it make it come out easier, it instantly relieves the pain.  Don't even bother on the toilet if possible. 

- have a fruit and fibre diet. Nothing else. And tons of water. Dont stop

sipping away. I wish I'd had more water. You will know when you're ready to introduce other food. But it is imperative you keep things as soft as possible. Lactulose helps. So does

Flaxseed and fennel tea

Hi everyone, Thank you everyone  for sharing your experience on this forum. It helped me so much in my journey of recovery from this traumatic surgery. It let me know what to expect and provide reassurance that I will get better too, hopefully soon. Over all, my experience  has been slightly better than some stories here. I’m very lucky I guess. But I’m still recovering so hope it’ll go well! I owe it to all of you to share my experience and hope it will help someone in the future.  

 Day1-3 : 

Pain level: 1-2. This surgery is well known for its painful and long recovery. But what is needed to be done need to be done. To my surprise, day 1-3 was very well for me because my surgeon injected a good amount of local anesthetic freezing in the area ( it’s usually bupivacaine 0.25% with epinephrine 1:200,000). It numbed the area for a good 72 hours. I could feel the freezing when I wash the area. I could walk normal.  From what I read from other people experience, this safe me a lot of grieve. 

  I was very drowsy from the general anesthesia used at the surgery though. I had no appetite and just wanted to lay in bed. I was given tramadol and stool softener.  

Diet: semi-liquid diet- soup /porridge +banana

 My tummy was growling  so much like bubbling. That was very uncomfortable. I had diarrhea like BM, but I guess liquid is better than solid.  I had no appetite;plus whatever goes in has to come out. I’d rather eat less LOL. The pain mostly intensified after each BM, but tramadol took the edge off and made me drowsy enough to fall asleep. Oh and I use a stepping stool as many people suggested. Works great! Using a squirt bottle to clean the area instead of wiping. And sitz bath to follow. 

 Day4-7: 

Pain level: 5 most of the time, 7-8 after BM. That’s when things got difficult because the local freezing was wearing off. I feel a lot more pain and basically bed ridden. Pain was so intense after each BM ( usually once a day) that lasts for 3 hours. I would expect to be in pain for at least 3 hours after each BM. And it would slowly turn into soreness and then finally subside. I used ice pack - it doesn’t reduce the pain but it helps toward the soreness. 

Diet: semi-liquid: butternut squash soup +banana.  Because of the pain, I had no appetite still. My diet was still soup + 1 banana + stool softener. I ate so little like one meal a day. I just slept my day away. A lot of Netflix and sleep.  

BM : wasn’t too painful because it was numbed. Lots of sitz bath - I lived in the bath tub. 

Stitches came out on day 4 and have two little open wounds. 

Day 7-14: 

Pain level : 2 with meds; after BM 6-7. I usually have high tolerance for pain and I tried to use my mind to disassociate my pain. The pain is almost like contraction during giving birth. Some people described it as a spinster spasm.  But finally, I gave up. I called my doctor for stronger pain med and she prescribed  me OxyCodone. It definitely helped : I know the pain is there but was much less bothered by it. I only use it when the pain intensified.  I read that many people start to feel better by 2 weeks. So my goal is just to ride this out, let my body heal.

Diet:  semi-liquid diet + gummy candy Ate so little because I was just not hungry. I was in bed most of the day. Some day, the only time I get out of the bed would be to the bathroom and dinner time (my only meal). I know it’s not healthy and I was wasting away (lost 10 lbs) But being in bed was the most comfortable place. I looked at food on the table but I really didn’t want any of them.  

BM: the urge to go is very sudden and I have to be on the toilet within 10 seconds. I found that it was hard to control and almost impossible to hold. Possibly because my liquid diet lead to my stool being very soft, not form at all.  

Up side is that I have no pain during BM. The pain usually comes 5 mins after and it’s like contractions/spasms/cramps. 

 Day 14-17: 

Pain level: 1-2, sometime just discomfort. 

So finally, I reached 2 weeks mark. It was true that two weeks is the turning point. I finally got out of the house for a few hours. I still have little pain when I have to walk or stand for more than 15 minutes. There is good day and bad day. Some days I felt like I’m all better and wanted to do exercise. Some days I can only stay in bed and watch Netflix. It feels like the outside is pretty much healed, only minimal swelling.  So I guess the pain came from internal. I still spend my mornings and some afternoons in bed.  

Diet: 

As I started to do more, I started to get hungry. I started to eat regular food in small quantities. Still using stool softener religiously. The down side of eating more is pooping more LOL.  Passing BM isn’t painful but there is always little pain and quite discomfort after BM. 

One of the two open wounds is healed. The other one is healing nicely. 

The challenge I have right now is to regulate my body for BM. It seems like every time when I eat, my digestive system  started to mobilize and I have to go right the way. Some day I have 4-5 BM which is super annoying. I want to go out but I don’t like to use public bathroom. So, hopefully this can will resolve soon. 

Hope this help your journey!