Hi all,

I'm new to this forum but have sought advice from posts and feel better now someone knows the ordeal i am currently going through and i would be greatful for advice from anyone who's been through this about my current predicament.

I visited the doctor with bleeding, was referred as NHS patient to private hospital for a colonoscopy. During this time i noticed i had developed hemmorhoids (heinsight, that was the bleeding) quickly they became worse and would require insertion after every BM but weren't causing me pain. The consultant tried injections, didn't work. He then wanted to go straight to hemmorhoidectomy and i was not happy. I was also told my GP on a separate visit that I had Anal Warts (HPV virus) which is very common and can be treated with creams which she gave me. I made this clear to the consultant on further consultation appointments. So.. he wanted to put me under general anaesthetic to have a "better look" whilst more relaxed etc.. and i forced upon him banding, i wanted to try different methods before committing to cutting them out which brings huge recovery times.

So i go in for my hospital appt, 5pm. I am put under and i wake up in severe pain after the op is done. The consultant does not come and see me to tell me what he's done but gets the nurse to show me discharge letter which states "EVA Rectum, Excision of anal lesion and banding of hemmorhoids" and he's sent me home with Lactulose, Fibogel... CO-CODAMOL and Ibuprofen.. FYI this is all in under 3 hours in and out.

I start the meds cos i'm in pain, i've got basically open wounds in my anal canal.. where he has removed "anal lesions" which were quite clearly the anal warts. Long story shorter haha is that Co Codamol constipates, along with ibuprofen.. what the hell was he playing at? The Fibogel and Lactulose sure they helped but weren't strong enough and hard stools only made the wound worse with every bowel movement. Now i have what is basically an open wound which after every bowel movement is not healing. It's been 3.5 weeks now. (Am I being too optimistic with hoping for a month long recovery time?!) I went back to my GP and explained all, she gave me Naproxen and some antibiotics purely for preventative measures.

WHAT DO I DO?!

I'm back on the lactulose, only eating a fibre rich diet, drinking lots of water, taking stool softeners and my stools are still hard, i can't find a happy medium it's either too hard or diarhhea

I am only using paracetamol as pain relief as i'm too scared to use anything else without it upsetting my stomach more and constipating me or making my stools like rocks. I have a doctors appt on weds to make her have a look and tell me if it's healing right, the consultant gave me a 6 week appt from operation date.

What do you reccomend to help soothe and heal? (which can be bought in the UK( I feel like i'm at the end of my teather and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel

fyi no sign of the hemmorhoids since which is good but i basically have a fissure now

Sorry to hear you're suffering so much - it's unfair that anyone has to go through these painful issues!

Have you given a different kind of laxative or stool softener a try? Lots of people on here recommend miralax/restoralax and it has worked always for me.

-GG

Thanks for your response, I don't think we can buy Miralax in our pharmacys in the UK, i've tried Dulcoease and Senna which i think is the equivalent. I'm back on the fibogel and lactulose now.

Hmm, maybe another boarder could give you some advice there. Restoralax is a stool softener - not an osmotic laxative like senna.

Ducosate sodium is another option.

How about altering your diet a little? Fruit like prunes, pears, mango, maybe some smoothies with fibre rather than bulky meals? Some olive oil to help get things moving?

Yeah my problem isn't the fact i'm not going, because I am, but the harshness and solidness of the stools is causing me issues in terms of re-opening wounds.

Right - so trying stool softening foods and an otc stool softener will likely help! I find taking stool softener before bed to be the most helpful time.

is there anything recommended to use on it to ease the pain? I read somewhere about GTN?

Hi so sorry your suffering
What an absolutely horrendous experience...I can't help with the BMs as I don't have that issue but I can give a few ideas about pain relief... first ask your gp for some gabapentin it's a nerve blocker and was the only thing that has ever worked on my fissures and I tried everything from ibuprofen to Valium at large doses as I don't have constipation issues, nothing touched the fissure pain. As for GTN unless you have a diagnosed fissure and not an open wound from an op I'm not sure if GTN would help as it works by stopping the spasms obviously if you do have a fissure then yes get the GTN as soon as you can.

Thanks for your advice, I will bear that in mind when i go back to see my GP. The whole process has opened my eyes massively and taught me a lot! I just can't wait to be back to my old self. I'm an active young man, i gym it 5 days a week, I haven't been for 3 weeks and that is having a psychological impact on me as well as the pain daily. The lack of customer care from my consultant has really affected me and i am likely to be writing a letter of complaint amongst telling him how I feel at my next appt!

I'm hoping as I am now taking the lactulose and fibogel again, I am also reducing my food intake and making sure everything I eat is basically smooth it is going to start to heal.

I keep telling myself... time is a healer.