by Optimist » 01 Aug 2016, 07:25
Hope your surgeon meeting went well. I have myself some experience about these problems. I have lived through 1 colonoscopy and 1 sigmoidoscopy. Both done without any anesthesia; and boy the colonoscopy hurt in the curves (they did comment that my colon was uncommonly "tight"). Besides this, I have also had rubber band treatment (without anesthesia). The rubber band was easy, but I think the pain is relative to the banded hemorrhoid type. If it is nearer your anal opening, then it will hurt. Ten years ago I went through a full Milligan with also removal of a rectal relapse. Unfortunately the surgeon said that he could not remove all the hemorrhoid mass, because of fear of stenosis (narrowing). I could not beforehand imagine how painful the healing would be. But I survived. During these ten years I was quite happy with the result of the operation; no more bleeding and almost pain free. Until a couple of months ago when I got food poisoning in Bangkok. Oh no ! I managed during my bouts of diarrhea to give birth to some new painful hemorrhoids and went to another operation 13 days ago. The operation went well but to my surprise the surgeon did yet again the Milligan (+ sphincterotomy). He said that this time everything has been removed and no more hemorrhoids left. Anyway, this time I DID know what to expect after my Milligan operation. The first week was hell. Could not walk properly, pain during BM and that constant nasty discharge. But I am getting better; yesterday at day 12 I skipped all pain medications (just ate paracetamol for 4 days before that) and doing yoga exercises daily helps a lot. One thing I found out is that rubbing Tiger Balm on your ass cheeks (not near the hole, of course) relaxes everything muscular (sphincter spasms, burning, itching) very good. Another good trick is to have a couple of frozen pea plastic bags in the freezer. During the first week the burning pain after a BM can be somewhat numbed by pressing the frozen pea bag against your ass. Anyway, I am myself very pleased with the surgery and hope that everyone that goes through this will heal quickly and my best wishes on their way to recovery.