open wound after hemorrhoidectomy
Posted , 82 users are following.
Hello All,
I had a hemorrhoidectomy 5 weeks ago. This has been the most painful, challenging thing I have ever gone through. It has completely changed me as a person. I am completely depressed and anxious all the time. I am healing, but during my first BM I blew open one of my incisions. I had a giant, gaping open wound. it has gotten much smaller, but just when it starts to feel better, I have to poop again and it opens back up. Has anyone else experienced this? My Dr. will not give me a time frame for how long I will feel like this. I am desperate for my normal life back, or just to hear something positive. any words would be appreciated.
6 likes, 117 replies
kenya43081 dd23
Edited
I had the Hemorrhoidectomy surgery done on April 12, 2019. My BM are soft because I take Linzess and Colace twice a day. However my stitches stilled ripped. I soak in the bathtub multiple times a day. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. I am freaked out due to this open wound.
bart_BE kenya43081
Edited
HELLO
I had my surgery JAN 16 (2 removals of large skintags caused by hemorrhoids, outside).
Open wound healing took about 2,5 to 3 months; on some occasions, the healing wound tore again. Some scar tissue (white) also developed. However, what bothers me the most is that the inner wound never healed, the surgeon had taken away some tissue there too. This is where the outer skin develops into a different sort of 'membrane' or inner tissue. That spot is now always wet and I can feel it too. Sometimes it bothers me. I do not understand why no tissue is growing back there... it scares me because I consider it a place where infections can occur. The doctor has checked it again end of MARCH and told me I should not worry... nothing changed since and we are MAY 1st...
Sometimes I think I should have NOT done this...
I don't care about the pain I endured at the beginning, I mostly am scared about the situation now and that the outer tissue could possibly tear again. Geez, what did I get into?
bart_BE kenya43081
Posted
And also, I forgot to say but because the surgeon also took away some inner tissue from the hemorrhoid, there's often blood on my stool. Remember that my surgery was Jan 16 and now we are May 1st and I have still been experiencing this albeit not every time I have to poop, but it still happens. When I asked (end of March) my surgeon whether I still had open wounds, he said NO... !? I don't get it anymore...
tom51233 dd23
Edited
I am now 6 days post-op and thought id share some thoughts. Luckily my pain has not been near as bad as most people here. I had a friend go through the procedure before who was in horrible pain for 2 weeks so i prepared for the worst.
I walked out of the hospital after a 5 hour day visit and felt great, minimal discomfort. The first night i was laying in bed and i could hardly feel any pain and slept with ease. I think my surgeon did a great job.
Then on day 2 the problems started, i got horribly constipated (from anaesthetic and painkillers), spent hours trying to do BM in bathroom without success and it hurt like hell. Day 3 was the worst, i still felt very constipated but went and did 8 BM over the whole day and it was excruciating and could not sleep, i had 3 satchels of stool softener over 24 hours (Movicol) which my body reacted to.
Here is some general advice which worked for" ME" (we are all different) -
Regulate your diet 3 days before surgery, in my case fruits and vegetables only, meat tends to be harder to digest for me and gives more problems with BM. The trick is to avoid BM after the surgery, so best to eat minimal in the days beforehand (i made a mistake here).
After surgery, eat minimal food, just enough to get by with out being painfully hungry. Eat very small portions, i have a couple of bites per hour, this seems to make it easier to digest. Have water after every SMALL meal. I Dont mix food, i eat the same thing all day (one day just baked potatoes, one day just fruit, one day soup).... All this has made it easier to go to the bathroom. I've lost 3 kilos in 6 days but its made my life easier. i generally have issues with BM so this may not apply to all, but helps me.
GET A HOT WATER BOTTLE** -
Amazing piece of advice i was give, it really helps to lay on a hot water bottle to soothe the pain. IN MY CASE IT ALSO MAKES ME GO TO THE BATHROOM VERY SHORTLY AFTER, so if you want to avoid BM perhaps best to not use one for the first few days, or use it about 1 hour before going to the bathroom as it helps soften the stool. I find prunes, coffee and a hot water bottle as a good natural alternative to laxatives which make me feel nauseus.
Have a bath after every BM, its very important to keep the wound clean. But in order for the wound to heal it needs to remain dry, so dont stay in the bath for hours, just about 10 minutes to clean and relieve the pain.
Stop the painkillers as soon as you can (especially if they gave you oxycodene), they make you constipated which then makes everything else worse.
It gets better, so just ride through the pain, try to sleep as best you can.
tina8981 dd23
Edited
I am going through the same thing right now. I can't even explain the pain, especially with a BM. it's only been 6 days n I am bout to lose my mind. I have never been so violated in my life. Should I go back to the doctors or wait a lil while longer.
bart_BE tina8981
Posted
give it 2 weeks, it is very very normal that you have pain with BM and/or experience loss of moisture.
take paracetamol or other pain killer as prescribed by your doctor.
tina8981 bart_BE
Posted
Thank you,
Im just now getting better.
tina8981
Posted
Sorry it took me so long to get back to u. I had other surgeries n Im just now getting better. Of u r still having problems please ho back to the doctors.
preetesh74339 dd23
Posted
i had two sentinel piles removed (external) and fissure lateral internal sphinctonomy done
i noticed a stitch thread in my dressing today
it has been ten days since the surgery
should i be worried
Dawn246 dd23
Posted
Hi all i have been following this chat for a few weeks now hoping everything i was going through was normal. I am 3 weeks post op and was wondering how your all doing now, months, years down the line?
i had my op on the 21st of October 3 large external removed and a large internal which my surgeon didn't like the look of and sent away for testing. I have been super lucky in terms of pain, i haven't had any pain killers and can walk, sit, sleep fine. I had my op on the Monday and was at my sons presentation night on the Saturday so i have been truly blessed.
The only time i experience pain is with BM, if i do it in a sitz bowl with my bottom completely submerged and have a salt bath ready to jump into straight after its bearable. The first two weeks with spasms was awful and i spent many hours in the bath. What worries me is that at 3 weeks i pass blood with BM and have a large hole where the largest hemorrhoid was removed that feels like it opens every time and i cant see how it will ever heal. i didn't have any stitches at all my surgeon left them as open wounds and sent me home with antibiotics. Before my op i never had any trouble going to the toilet i suffered with irritable bowel so everything was always loose. Now im finding the fibre is having the opposite effect and causing constipation, i had one spoonful of lactulose around day 5 and afterwards it was a day of burning stomach pain and diarreah. Ive had to strain a little because i cant completely empty. My mornings have become routine open bowels, salt bath, blow dry the area then the urge to go again after getting dried so i repeat it all again, its so frustrating and annoying. Its lunchtime before i can even start my day. I regret having it done because my life is all about the bathroom now. The hemorrhoids before were a grade 4 not causing any pain but ridiculous amounts of blood. When will BM become pain free? The growth removed came back as hemorrhoidial matter so i tell myself it was worth it just for that, but was it? im not convinced im so fed up the mental torture is worst. Hope your all completely healed now and got your lives back. Your posts have kept me going.
otgooneo dd23
Edited
Hi dd23, I know you will be in your normal life very soon. In my experience, my pain completely gone after two months. But strong pain has already gone after 2 weeks. Now its already past 16 months. No pain at all of course, also no worries about this hemorrhoids anymore. But we have to change our life style. If I repeat life style same as before operation, then we will have this hemorrhoids pain again after several years. Sometimes I try to remember this pain and feeling to trigger myself. After all, still can
t break wind silently. Im starting to agree that it this will never recover back when I had no hemorrhoids at all.deedah25311 otgooneo
Edited
Had my open hemorrhoidectomy surgery on 8/10/19 n I am 7 weeks n 3 days out. Went in for surgery totally banged on the '2 wks of recovery that was claimed by surgeon' n not fully knowing what open-wound-surgery entirely means. Removed two large grade4 hems. Had my first bm on day1 post surgery n didn't hurt as bad as i anticipated. Lucky for me, blood in bm stopped after day3. But the throbbing pain after bm sucks. True that the pain gets better weekly. '2 steps forward, 1 step backwards'-kinda thing.
Blood in bm came back at 4wk-point. Went to emergency n doc says i fissured my wound. Argh! Has been nursing the fissure eversince.
Got my hubby to take a picture of my bottom. It shocked me, big time, as there were two gaping holes. Then it dawned on me what 'open hemorrhoidectomy' truly means.
Brought forward my checkup in wk6. Doc put something up in my bottom. Confirmed that my inner rectum has totally healed. No signs of any cuts or being surgeoned at all. I am left with only those two gaping holes which has been shallowed to just being superficial wounds. Doc assured me that complete healing usually takes a minimum of 3mths. What!!!
Took weekly subsequent pics. Just to affirm myself. Can see the gaping holes closing: 1) white fluffs around the area, 2) raw skin slowly turning from deep red to rather pinkish, 3) raw skin area shrinking. My stools are soft n toothpaste-like n sometimes watery. I go to the toilet thrice in the morning. Maybe due to the stool softener n fybogel.
No blood in bm in wk5 n wk6. But there was blood in wk7. Sigh. Really disappointing. Pic shows a rather small little fissure in my healing wound cos bm was slightly bulky. At this point, the pain after bm really isn't as intense anymore. It has reduced to being a slight sting (yay! Good news.) But the sting lasts a whole day though. Sigh.
Ur post uplifts me as u give me hope for light at the end of the tunnel. I keep having this mindset that i will never heal. Will i ever stop bleeding during bm? Sigh.
I am trying to work towards a deadline though i am aware that healing is totally a 'when it happens, it happens'-thing. Imposing a deadline helps keep my sanity, really. 3mths to totally be painless n bloodless in bm?
Andrew123456 dd23
Posted
hello everybody reading and replying . i just had a open hem surgery 7 days ago and have still not been able to have a bowel movement is this normal or is this a problem ? just like everybody has stated their is a lot of pain in that area and everytime i pass wind either blood comes out or brown stuff which i think is poo . i have my good days and bad days with the pain just really anxious to have a actual bm ..
otgooneo Andrew123456
Posted
Hello. You are exactly same as others including me. First week is most painful. But it might took 2 more weeks to become better. Totally normal requires almost two months. But from now on (from second week) you will see it is getting better very slightly. Week by week you will feel better. Be strong. Good luck.
Dawn246 Andrew123456
Posted
Hi Andrew12 if your taking stool softeners try not to worry too much, youve probably been eating less to normal and your body will tell you when you need to go. keep on top of your softeners/laxatives eat fiber and drink plenty. That first bowel movement is extremely painful hot sweats, wanting to vomit and spasms for hours afterwards. when you feel a BM coming on fill a bowl of cool water and do it in that with your bottom submerged. Have a bath run ready with epsom salts in as hot as you can stand it and relax in that afterwards. Doing it in a bowl your squatting too which makes things easier and the water takes the sting and pain away. Dont try going without water and sitting on the toilet like i did, i was vomiting from the pain and wanted to die. I bought a washing up bowl to use which is kept in the tub ready and bleach it afterwards. Im on week 4 now and still need it. Apart from that one BM a day i feel great. Thanks for the reassurance otgooneo the sooner this wound closes the better. My surgeon removed 3 of 5 externally because doing all 5 at once would leave too much scar tissue, he said he would deal with the other two at a later date. There painless and alot smaller more like grade 2 skin tags. Not a chance im going in for another hemorrhoidectomy!!