Coping With Hemorrhoidectomy

The first surgery was 15 years ago after the birth of my second child which was my first son. My son’s shoulders were wider than his head and it took so much force to push him out that I was left with an external hemorrhoid as big as a large orange. I AM NOT LYING! I dealt with it as best as I could and when the swelling never went down, a proctologist removed it. It was the most painful thing I had ever felt. It burned and throbbed for days as best as I can remember. I obviously have forgotten exactly how painful it was or I would not have gone through this again.

Then I had an emergency caesarian 3 years ago when my 2nd son was born at 27 weeks. Well, being concerned for my infant and only thinking about him, I never thought about having a BM until I needed to go and realized that nothing was moving and I felt like I was going through labor. It was so painful and it was as big as a brick and very hard and dry and it took my 3 hours! I thought I was actually going to have a stroke Well, then the hemorrhoids came back, but this time they were inside and outside.

The doctors here gave me suppositories and creams and nothing worked to take the swelling and pain away. After my son passed away I had to get away so I decided to go to my mother in laws in Mexico and there the drug store sold a cream that was to be inserted into the rectum, and that medicine is not available in the states. I tell you that cream is worth its weight in GOLD! The swelling and discomfort was GONE in 2 DAYS! I brought back a second tube thinking I would not need it anymore, boy was I wrong.

I have nursed the hemorrhoids as long as I could and when I was recently diagnosed with diabetes, then meds gave my diarrhea so bad I began bleeding heavily when having a BM. So the doctor took me off the meds but the pain in my rectum and the bleeding were very bad so I called a surgeon who scheduled me for a colonoscopy and hemorrhoidectomy as 2 years ago with my first colonoscopy he said I had some internal hemorroids but he did not remove them as they were not bad enough to cause me much pain or discomfort.

Well, they got worse over the past two years and I felt as though I always had something in my rectum, as though having an incomplete BM, if that makes sense. So, I went and had them removed 12/15/08. The first day I told my husband, hey this is not as bad as I remember. Boy I tell you I must have be on some really good pain meds from the surgery center because the next morning I wanted someone to put an ice cube up my butt! OMG! The pain was horrible. Forget having a BM, OMG! I thought I would die. I started hyperventilating with pain. It took four days for me to realize that Vicodin was not helping at 3 hour intervals.

My daughter who is 21 researched the medicine and found out that Vicodin does not work on all patients. I knew Morphine did not relive pain for me because when I had the caesarian, the doctor told me Morphine does not work for everyone. My daughter said that her research showed that some people do not have opiate receptors, meaning morphine will not work for me. So I called the doctor at 11:00 at night and he said for my daughter to go to his office in the morning to get another script. This one was for Percocet. OMG! I found heaven.

I started taking 2 Percocets say at noon. Then at 2:30, 800 mg of Ibuprofen and then at 5:00 another 2 tablets of Percocet. And then I would repat the same schedule. This is the only way to control my pain. The doctor had the nerve to tell me on the phone, it is not that the meds are not helping, it is that the pain is extreme. WHAT? Ok, so than why did I have to ask for a new med? I think he SHOULD have said upon releasing me, if this pain medicine does not help, call the office tomorrow. I understand they are concerned with people abusing but the alternative could be to say, if by chance you need a different pain med, in order to get another script, you will need to have someone bring the remaining pain meds from the first script to be diposed of. Instead of letting people suffer.

So my point after all this, is do not sit or rather lie through the pain. Not everyone reacts to the same meds the same way. If your meds are not relieving your pain after the first day as prescribed, call the doctor and tell them. Do not wait 4 days, it is not necessary. Another point may be that these doctors know how painful this is and you may want to ask to stay in the hospital until you have your first BM. I could seriously see someone passing out from the pain. I know I thought I would. I do not want to scare you, but rather inform you to be sure you are getting relief from the pain meds.

They also told me to take 2 Colace pills everyday for 2 weeks to make my BM’s easier. I asked the pharmacist was there something better because 2 days went by with no BM after surgery. Oh great, here we go again. The pharmacist said Senokot was a better choice as it is both a laxative and a stool softner. So I started that on day 5 and have since had 2 BM’s. Still very painful but the bleeding was much less these last two times. I will be glad when my BM’s are soft and I have them daily instead of every other day.

Oh yeah, and do not eat anything that causes gas! What used to be a funny occurance is now painful. This surgery really is to be seriously considered and avoided at all costs. But if you have to have it done, get good meds and set an alarm to take them or you may wake up to some serious pain and take Senokot everyday.