My mother had a hem-ectory, at age 32, which was excrutiating for her. She's in her 60s today and said she never had a problem since then. Im a 29 Female and had an elected SKIN TAG removal yesterday morning under General Anesthesia. A couple years ago I had a fissure/tiny hem cauterized at the docs office (not enjoyable but endurable), and changed my diet. Raw foods was the key. If at least one of my meals every day is made of raw veggies (salads) and I'm eating yogurt, I'm fine. But if I eat steak and mac and cheese, pasteries and naughty stuff low and behold the blood returns. Its not rocket science. Since then I developed a "moderately sized" tag, which would get a little irritated and sore. COSMETICALLY I deplored it (gosh I love speaking about it in the past tense now!), and I would almost daily examine it, so it became an all around nusance and secret obsession. My doc said it was harmless and didnt require removal, let alone going under GA. But I insisted both. Last summer I had a kitchen accident resulting in three stitches in the webbing part between my index finger and middle finger. That shot of lidocain was excrutiating, I screamed like a banchee, and the thought of any injection/stitching in my rectal area made me squimish. Even though I can get a flu shot without blinking, had a genital piercing in my younger days, this I guaged beyond my pain threshold. The night before surgery was psychologically a journey in it's self. I hardly slept a wink, and read all these posts of horror stories which made me very anxious. Before op the doc reminded me recovery was very painful, it was hard weighing in whether I was doing the right thing. But I overheard a cancer patient talking to his nurses about his next surgery, and a wholesome yuppy woman getting a bladder sling bc of a rough pregnancy that broke her pelvis, which gave me perspective to suck in my nerves for my comparatively minor procedure. My doc was informative but in his tone he was almost bored by what was about to happen. I overheard him say to the anesthesiologist, "she's just got a tag, normally i do this kind of stuff in my office but shes anxious about the shot" Darnstraight I am! Not to mention the stitches. Once I was in the operating theatre ready to go, I was HIGHLY tense while all the docs and nurses were sharing inside jokes and morning updates like an episode of Grey's Anatomy, but a little dose of medicine relaxed me immediately. I woke up feeling fine, and became alert quickly because I had light anesthesia. They offered me juice which I accepted and a muffin?!?! which I declined thinking I have no intention of passing carbs through my backdoor while there are stitches. I am equiped with vicodin, a sitz bath and lidocain cream for the area. I got home and was dopey the whole day and felt nothing, but as Ive read, its day 2,3,4 and 5 that can be problematic. This morning (24 hrs after surgery) my husband REMOVED THE GAUZE (what a trouper) and took a peek, I wouldnt let him spread my cheeks too wide in fear it would hurt or tug at the stitches, so he could hardly see anything. There was a lot of blood on the gauze, but I wasn't bleeding per se (I envisioned messiness, but it was tidy). Together we spent 10 minutes jimmyrigging the sitz bath. I did that just fine. Im always sitting on my hip/haunch, not direct down. I feel a slight brusing feeling near the left side my tailbone, subtle but odd. And I havent consumed ANYTHING but GATORADE, because my painkillers make you constipated. Why should I put anything solid through my colon for several days if I know a BM will be painful? I drank 1,000 calories in Gatorade yesterday and maybe will have some broth tonight. I read about someone eating Granola on day 3, which sounds like a bad choice for a first food. I'm terrified of BMs, and want to avoid one at all costs for at least 3 or 4 days. Maybe 5 days. 5 day juice fasts are very healthy. No where have I read you HAVE to have a BM within a certain time frame. Seems like a good plan to urinate the calories. I'm def going to try doing a BM in a sitz bath while the hour of truth arrives, as so many people here said positive things about it alleiviating the pain. The other worry is that once this is all done, I'll get more tags. I don't know, seems like a gamble. But I rather try for none and fail, than letting this bother me forever. Interestingly, my husband never cared one way or the other about the cosmetic issue of it. He wants me to be happy and healthy, which are the values I would want in any sexual partner (husband bf or friends with benefits). So even if another grows back, his support is reassuring. Its only DAY TWO so I'm lacking any wisdom just yet on the recovery side of things. So far the hardest part was the night before surgery, and the anticipation and self doubt about deciding to embark on this. Knowing its done feels PRETTY GREAT. Now I want to put off the BM as long as possible. I can take 2 vicodin every six hours but ive only needed 1 every 8 hrs. Hopefully after day three I can start taking half-pills. Has anyone done the strategy of only consuming caloric liquids while healing? If so I wonder how that first BM went considering you've given it many days to heal? And if I do put any solids in me it will be smoothies or yogurt.