Hemorrhoids are very common as they affect men and women equally with 1 in every 20 Americans suffering from the condition. It’s a grossly uncomfortable condition that makes you swell, itch, bleed, and experience pain in the anal and rectal regions. Fortunately, you don’t have to go through this misery any longer because you’ll find out how hemorrhoids are treated below from remedies you can try at home to ones that need to be done in the hospital.
Hemorrhoids can be left to heal on their own but the pain can be unbearable. Treatment methods are meant to alleviate the symptoms and speed along the healing process. They include home remedies, diet changes, exercises, medical procedures, creams, and oils.
Home remedies make use of ingredients you can easily find in your home. Here are some of the most common ones you can use on hemorrhoids:
Tea Bag
Tea leaves contain a compound known as tannic acid that has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. To use it, place a teabag in warm water then press it for a few minutes directly on the hemorrhoids. It will take care of the swelling, pain, and itchiness.
Sitz Bath
A sitz bath is a shallow bowl of warm water that you fit on top of your toilet so that you can soak your anus after bowel movements. The warm water soothes the pain, irritation, and minimizes the inflammation by improving blood flow in the veins of the anus and rectum.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a great moisturizer, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory remedy so it will soothe the pain and reduce the swelling of hemorrhoids.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera gel is a potent anti-inflammatory remedy so it will relieve the pain, itchiness, and inflammation of hemorrhoids.
Cold Compress
Just like ice packs are used to relieve the pain and inflammation of injuries, they can also do the same for hemorrhoids. This, along with stopping bleeding is achieved when they decrease the blood flow to the area.
You can treat and prevent hemorrhoids by eating the right foods. This includes foods that are rich in fiber and fluids. This is because they add bulk to stool and soften it so that it moves down the digestive tract quickly and out of the anus without you straining.
There are two types of fiber; soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance that softens the stool. Insoluble fiber, on the other hand, doesn’t dissolve in water so it just adds to the bulk of stool to help it move quickly down the gut. Examples of soluble sources of fiber include peas, beans, apples, citrus fruits, oats, and barley. Foods that you get insoluble fiber from are nuts, potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, and whole wheat products.
Fluids combine with fiber to make stool softer so drinking water will prevent and heal constipation. The best source of fluids is water but you can also get them from foods with lots of water content like berries, watermelons, celery, cucumbers, and bell peppers.
Regularly exercising is very important in treating and preventing hemorrhoids because it helps you have regular bowel movements, thus you don’t strain. It does this by pushing stool down the gut quicker so that it doesn’t get the chance to dry up and become too hard to pass. Some exercises relax the anal sphincter muscle and strengthen the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles so that it’s easier to pass stool.
Some of the most common exercises that treat and prevent hemorrhoids include deep breathing, pelvic floor contraction, child’s pose, wind-relieving pose, and legs-up-the-wall pose. Read more here.
There are creams and oils old in drug and online stores that are designed to relieve the symptoms of hemorrhoids. The anti-hemorrhoid creams are usually made with anti-inflammatory compounds like hydrocortisone or witch hazel which reduce swelling, pain, and irritation.
Essential oils and other oils like the H-Hemorrhoids Formula are also used to treat hemorrhoids. When applied, they relieve pain, swelling, itchiness, and stop bleeding.
For stubborn hemorrhoids that don’t respond to the above treatment methods, they require medical procedures to do away with them. Theprocedures are outlined as follows:
Hemorrhoidectomy
This is the traditional surgery that involves the removal of a hemorrhoid using a scalpel, surgical razor, or laser. It’s a painful procedure that will take a while to heal completely.
Rubber Band Ligation
This is the most commonly done procedure on hemorrhoids. A tight rubber band is tied to the bottom of a hemorrhoid to cut off its blood supply. After some time, it dies and falls off.
Sclerotherapy
This procedure is often done on internal hemorrhoids or those that are too small for ligation. A chemical that hardens and prevents blood form flowing in the hemorrhoid is injected into it. It, therefore, dies and falls off within a few days.
Coagulation
This is a type of treatment where the heat of an intense beam of infrared light is focused on a hemorrhoid to form fibrous tissue. The tissue cuts off the hemorrhoid’s blood supply so it dies and falls off.
Cryotherapy
Here, liquid nitrogen is used to freeze a hemorrhoid. This causes it to shrink and fall off in a two to three week time.
Stapling
This procedure is specifically for internal hemorrhoids that have protruded out of the anus. A surgical stapling device is used to pin the hemorrhoid back inside the rectum.
You now have a wide variety of treatment options to choose from to get rid of your hemorrhoids. The best course of action you can take is to consult your doctor to find out which one works best for you and beginning immediately.
