Hemorrhoids Medicine

As everybody knows, piles are painful and inconvenient. Many women get them for the first time when pregnant but they can affect both men and women equally and most often occur between the ages of 45-65. I was only 38 when I got mine and it came as quite a shock. All of a sudden, my life was ruled by this condition that came out of nowhere and there didn’t seem too much I could do about it.

What is amazing is that an estimated 100 million Americans suffer from hemorrhoids and yet there is so little information in newspapers and magazines about it. Like most people, I had to turn to the internet for answers and when I did I found almost too much information. It became really confusing. From what I did discover, there are two main types of hemorrhoids. Internal hemorrhoids are less painful than external hemorrhoids and may not even cause any discomfort at all. The problems start when an internal hemorrhoid becames inflamed and irritated and can even bulge through the anal opening. In this case, it is called ‘prolapsed’ and can sometimes lead to surgery.

External hemorrhoids are almost always painful and can become thrombosed if a blood clot occurs. You can tell when this happens because the lump that is the hemorrhoid becomes hard. I suffered from this type of hemorrhoid and I can tell you it is very painful indeed. Other symptoms of hemorrhoids include bleeding or spotting, itching, pain and discomfort during (or sometimes after) bowel movements. Causes of hemorrhoids include age (more than half of us will get them by the time we’re 50), heredity, straining on the toilet or chronic constipation. Once you have hemorrhoids you are likely to always have them unless, like me, you are lucky enough to find a cure that works.