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My hemorrhoidectomy experience - positive

Posted , 4 users are following.

anna17305
anna17305

Hi all,

I just wanted to write on this forum as I came across this site when preparing for my hemorrhoidectomy and it scared me half to death.

I should first start off by saying I am a healthy 29 year old female who exercises daily when in good health, and eats relatively well. That may have played a part in my recovery being not terrible so I thought I should mention it first. I also have experienced broken bones and tattoos, so pain tolerance could be considered high.

I had my surgery on 26th Oct 2020. Right after surgery was relatively pain free which was probably because I was on lots of painkillers. I did get a little nauseous due to the painkillers but I was fine otherwise.

The first week was hard, I am not going to lie. What people say about going to do number 2s is true, it was painful, but I have been in worse pain. The first time was the worst, with pain following afterwards. Next few days were quite similar, and I would have to rest after going to the toilet. However by the end of the week it would only be painful while going number 2s and not extensively afterwards. By the Saturday following the Monday of my surgery I was able to go out for brunch, and by the Sunday following my surgery I went out for lunch with friends without heaps of pain.

The second week has been relatively pain free (with the management of pain via pain killers), and I have been pretty much able to go back to my normal life. I am now at the start of week three and have returned to work (office job), have been able to have sex with my partner and also have had some alcohol with no terrible side effects.

I do want to write that I see a lot of people on these forums saying that they stop taking their painkillers because it causes constipation. I would recommend taking as many pain killers as necessary/safe and using laxatives/eating relatively healthy instead, as without pain killers my recovery would have been a completely different story. In my opinion, medical professionals would not prescribe pain killers for this surgery if it would significantly effect your chance of healing. So take your pain killers (as mentioned, just my opinion)!

I also recommend having as many hot showers/baths that you can as suggested in a lot of the other posts I have seen, as this was the best way to help with pain other than painkillers. As soon as you feel the urge to do number 2s, start running a bath/shower so you have a warm one to jump into when you're done.

Also, don't get too worked up reading these forums. Although they are definitely useful for what to expect, everyone's pain tolerance is different and you will only know how your body will heal once you have the surgery yourself.

Good luck and just remember the long term outcome will be worth it!

2 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • kyle2020
    kyle2020 anna17305

    Posted

    Thanks so much for sharing this Anna! I think we NEED to hear positive stories like this. As someone who will be getting the surgery in early 2021, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?

    1. Did you have general anesthesia and if so, did you dream or feel anything when they were doing the surgery? Or was it basically they inject the medicine into you, and you just pass out and then it feels like you wake up 2 seconds later, but groggy? Like for example sometimes I'll dream that something is causing my arm to be in pain, maybe I fall down in my dream and my arm is in pain but then I'll wake up for a second and it's really just I'm sleeping on my arm funny and it's fallen asleep. Anything like that with you during surgery where you could feel pain in your dream (if you dreamt at all)?

    2. What dietary measures did you take in the days leading up to the surgery? Did you "clear" yourself out with laxatives the day before so your stomach would be empty? What was your diet like after the surgery for the first week or two?

    3. Did you have trouble peeing?

    4. You said you continued with the painkillers for the first 2 weeks - Did that not cause constipation for you?

    5. Were yours external or internal and what grade if they were internal? How many did you have?

    6. Closed or open stitch surgery (if that makes sense I think I got the medical terms on that right)?

    7. MOST IMPORTANTLY - Can you expand on the pain. So the first half of the week it hurt during and after BM - What about let's say 5 hours after the BM and in the morning before your BM - Was there pain then? I guess I'm asking, was the pain 24 hours per day the first 4 - 5 days after the surgery? What was the pain like can you describe it? Was it anything similar to the people on here who say it feels like a hot knife being twisted up your backside and pooping out glass? Or similar to the rubber band litigation where it feels like you have to go poop really bad even though you don't have to?

    8. Expanding on the pain - Did you get sphincter muscle spasms on your butt the first 4-5 days, is that the pain you're talking about? This is the pain that is often described on here that has me very very scared.

    9. Did the "pooping glass" feeling (if you had that) go away after the first couple of weeks?

    10. Final question, I wanted to ask your advice - I have at least one grade 3 hemmorhoid that prolapses after every BM despite me not straining 99% of the time thanks to daily metamucil and minimum 66 ounces of water every day. When I say I don't strain I mean I basically wait until it's READY to come out, then I get to the toilet sit down and it comes out basically effortlessly and I'm off the toilet within 1 minute, not 2 minutes but literally less than 1 minute. My bowels aren't liquid like diarrhea, but they are still solid. So, would you recommend staying on the metamucil or do you recommend having almost liquid BM so as to not yourself post surgery?

    Thanks again for sharing Anna!

    • anna17305
      anna17305 kyle2020

      Posted

      Hi Kyle,

      No problem!

      1. I had general anesthetic and I didn't dream, it's more just like you are awake one moment, asleep the next without even knowing you're asleep, and then awake again without even knowing you're asleep.
      2. I just ate my normal diet although I did cut out alcohol a few days before the surgery. I was not advised to take laxatives, so I didn't, as I have had a colonoscopy before and really did not enjoy the prep for it. I ate vegetarian for the first week, but I didn't eat much to be honest in the first week as I was not very hungry. I just ate my normal balanced diet (lots of veg, smoothies, oats for brekky, soup for lunch etc). When I switched back to meat eating it didn't make a notable difference.
      3. I didn't have trouble peeing and was able to go in the first 12 hours after the surgery.
      4. I had constipation for the first two days, after my first bowel movement everything went back to normal, if not doing bowel movements more than I usually do.
      5. I'm not sure exactly, I think I had a few internal, I definitely had one grade 3 one similar to what you described in your last point. My surgeon said I had a ring of them... not fun.
      6. Once again I'm not sure, sorry!
      7. Pain really depended on where I was with my painkillers. If you can time it well and make sure you have painkillers in your system before you do BM then that definitely helped with the pain. However BM don't really follow a system in my case haha so I found that sometimes I was going when I was just about to take my next round of pain killers. I would say that the pain was like a burning, stinging sensation, I guess an extreme way of putting it would be like pooping glass but as I said it was not as bad as I thought it would be. There was also kind of the feeling of needing to go or pressure in my bottom, but that wasn't too bad. I would not wake up in pain, although I would usually need to go to the toilet after waking up. Once I had done my number 2, I would usually take my quick acting pain killer and have a bath, although at the start I would probably be in pain for the next hour or so until that kicked in. Then I was still in a little bit of pain for the next few hours, but manageable pain that can be made better by resting. It would repeat like that after every bowel movement. By the end of the day I would be in a little more pain based on the amount of times I had gone that day.
      8. I did get that pain, however as mentioned it wasn't that bad. Also my surgeon prescribed me a numbing cream that helps numb the area so that you can't feel these spasms, maybe your surgeon can provide that for you too? It was called nifedipine.
      9. I am on week 2 and 1 day and bowel movements are relatively pain free!
      10. It sounds as if you have the perfect bowel movements. I've been told that is what to aim for during recovery.

      Good luck and hope my answers helped!

    • kyle2020
      kyle2020 anna17305

      Posted

      Anna, thank you so much for replying to me and answering my questions in such detail. I have asked other members lots of questions too, truth be told I am just very nervous and very scared after reading the horror stories.

      My surgery won't be until the start of the new year (in case I have to use my Out Of Pocket Maximum in case of any potential complications with the surgery). That said, as my surgery looms closer I think I will refer to your post (and to others including Myers1987 post as well) to make me feel better and to remain positive.

  • Myers1987
    Myers1987 anna17305

    Edited

    Anna, I am so happy to hear you had a positive experience! I really do not have any complaints and do not regret the surgery. I feel like once I got the whole BM thing figured out I was good to go. My only regret is not getting my bowels soft before the surgery. My first BM was awful as I was constipated.

    Like you I am younger, 33, active, healthy and very small. I also used an excellent general surgeon with experience. I read a lot of horror stories on here and I think lifestyle and surgeon play a huge part in recovery. Please keep us posted as you continue to recover!

  • annie37615
    annie37615 anna17305

    Posted

    Thank you Anna for posting your positive experience!!! makes me have a bit more of a positive outlook 😃

    Im a 29 female, rather healthy i believe but developed hems from pregnancy constipations since my first child 6 years ago, three kids later they just got worse and worse after every pregnancy. i just gave birth to my boy on 24th Oct and

    • i had both internal grade 4
    • and external thrombosed

    it was horrible, the pain was excrutiating, i couldnt sit to feed baby, i couldnt even stand or walk to settle baby or do anything for 3 kids! (thank god for mum being around to help)

    i went to see a specialist and he said they are very very bad we needed to do something ASAP, he was fully booked for two weeks but managed to squeeze me in the next day knowing the pain i was going through and so that i could sooner get back to being a mum again.

    I have just had my Hemorroidectomy 2days ago and so far i havent felt much pain as i am keeping on top of my meds because i dont want to wait till they hurt.

    im super happy i can now walk around and lay down on my side and able to carry baby for little walks around the house and feed him, even able to change his nappy!

    i have been gassy and passing gas but no real urge to have a BM, i am really scared of the thought of it, i hope that my fear of it mentally is making my body not want to go!

    im eating alot if soups and veggies and fruit and drink a lot of water trying to eating foods that wont cause constipation.

    how many days after surgery did it take for you to have a BM?

    i assume everyone will be different but from what ive read the pain is all the same.

    thanks! sorry for my rambling i didnt even realise i wrote so much!

    • kyle2020
      kyle2020 annie37615

      Posted

      Hey Annie, you wrote this post 3 days ago so you should be on day 5 now on Monday evening, and it'll be day 6 tomorrow on Tuesday right? How are you feeling? Did you have your first bowel movement? How is the pain and is the pain all day 24/7 or just during and a few hours after the bowel movement? Any advice for diet? And did you stop with the painkillers yet, did they make you constipated?

      I hope you are doing well. I'm having the surgery at the beginning of 2021 so I've been researching other peoples experiences.

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