|
Hemorrhoids - Symptoms, Causes and Treatment Options
HEMORRHOIDS HAVE A CONNECTION TO DIGESTIVE MALFUNCTION AND LIFESTYLE
By hemorrhoids the veins in or around the anus, or in the lower rectum are swollen and often also inflamed. Hemorrhoids inside the rectum are called internal hemorrhoids, and those in the anal area external ones. Studies have shown that 1 out of 3 persons below the age of 50 will suffer from hemorrhoids. 1 out of 2 persons over the age of 50 is affected by this condition.
THE SYMPTOMS OF HEMORRHOIDS
Hemorrhoids give these symptoms:
* Swollen veins in the anal area or inside the rectum.
* Itching.
* Tears in the swollen veins and bleeding from the tears.
* Coagulated blood in the veins making hard lumps.
* The hemorrhoids may lead to permanent lumps, scars or thickened area after the initial healing.
THE PROCESS THAT LEADS TO HEMORRHOIDS
Before hemorrhoids form, there is usually an increased pressure in the veins of the anal area, for example due to over-filled intestines, due to constipation and thereby straining to get hard stool out during toilet visits, or due to frequent diarrhoea.
The veins have valves preventing the blood from flowing backwards. The increased pressure makes the segment of a vain right after a valve to swell up like a balloon.
The blood in the swollen vein segment then coagulates, making a hard lump that clogs the vein, and the clogged vein segment then gets infected and inflamed.
The inflamed hemorrhoids may then tear, so that the content empties and the vein bleeds. After emptying its content, the vein heals, but may develop a residing scar.
Other times the content of the hemorrhoids is dissolved and the vein heals without rupturing, but also now a permanent thickened or hardened vein segment may form.
CAUSES OF HEMORRHOIDS
Since hemorrhoids are caused by conditions making increased pressure in the anal veins, like lazy colon, constipation or diarrhoea, the ultimate cause of hemorrhoids are factors causing these conditions. Such factors are:
* Lack of fibre in the daily diet.
* Drinking too less water.
* Consuming too less fat, or the opposite too much fat.
* Lack of daily physical exercise.
Cramping or prolonged tension in the anal sphincter and the muscles around the rectal opening seems to restrict the blood stream from the anal area back towards the heart, and thus also contribute to hemorrhoids. Nervous or psychological processes may cause tension in these muscles.
Hemorrhoids are a very common complication by pregnancy. The hormonal stimulation during pregnancy causes the vessels in the anal area to dilate. The weight of the foetus and the straining during childbirth will further cause a marked pressure increase in the already dilated vessels, with hemorrhoids as a consequence.
Heavy muscular work or heavy lifting can increase the pressure in the anal vessels and contribute to hemorrhoids. Conditions that weaken the tissue in the anal area may also contribute to development of hemorrhoids, for example inflammations, allergies or high age.
HOW CAN YOU CURE HEMORRHOIDS
Sometimes hemorrhoids require surgical or other medical intervention. However, in many cases you can do much yourself to prevent, alleviate or cure the condition. Since cancer or other serious conditions sometimes resemble hemorrhoids or cause hemorrhoids, newly detected hemorrhoids should always be medically investigated.
1. Lifestyle adjustments
Lifestyle measures to prevent or cure an inactive colon, an overfilled colon and constipation, will also help to prevent or cure hemorrhoids. Such measures are:
* A diet with enough fibre, containing whole corn cereals, whole corn bread, vegetables and fruit.
* Using natural oils in the food that gives the intestinal content a soft consistency, like olive oil, sunflower oil, rape oil and soy oil.
* Some daily exercise.
* Drinking enough water.
2. Agents to regulate the digestive function
You can use certain natural products to regulate your digestive functions and this will also help against hemorrhoids:
* Bran added to your diet has high fibre content, and will stimulate the intestines to contract better and pass its content more rapidly.
* Linen seeds will make the stool softer so that it is passed better through the intestines.
3. Topical balms or ointments
You can find topical balms on the market to apply onto the affected area. The balms contain ingredients that penetrate through the skin into the swollen blood vessels and anal muscles, or are transported through the tissue fluids upwards in the intestinal wall. Other ingredients remain on the affected area as a protecting and lubricating sheet. The effects of these ingredients are:
* Alleviating inflammation and itching.
* Stimulating tissue healing.
* Alleviating cramping in the rectal sphincter.
* Dissolving coagulated blood.
* Killing bacteria that cause infection in the affected area.
* Lubricating the rectal opening or the end part of the rectum to make the stool pass more easily.
4. Oral products to treat hemorrhoids
You can also find oral pills or capsules to help against hemorrhoids with the following effects:
* Giving the stool a greater volume so that the intestines manage better to get hold of it and work it through.
* Giving the stool a smoother consistency so that it passes more easily through the intestinal system and rectal opening.
* Alleviating cramping and irregular contractions in intestinal system.
* Stimulating the regular and effective contraction of the intestines.
* Alleviating inflammation and itching.
* Stimulating tissue healing.
5. Enemas
If there is a hard constipation aggravating the hemorrhoids, a small enema can help to empty the colon and the rectum, and also help to cure the hemorrhoids. However, big enemas can increase the intestinal pressure and aggravate the condition.
Article Source: Health Guidance
Knut Holt
Knut Holt is an internet consultant and marketer focusing on health items. TO FIND natural products to prevent and help cure common diseases, please visit his web-site. Examples: Hypothyroidism, over-weight, acne, hemorrhoids, allergies, depression, and more: http://www.abicana.com. Share Your Opinion. (0 posts)
Katrina story, chapter 7: damage assessment
We drove through the National Guard checkpoint and turned left on Highway 90, towards my office and the hospital. On the corner we caught a glimpse of the K-mart parking lot, now known as "Camp Katrina." Survivors and volunteers alike had congregated here and proceeded to take over the lot, which was now populated with RVs, campers, and tents.The tire store in front of the K-mart looked like it had collapsed in on itself; the glass was smashed and the metal garage doors were caved in. Along the road, store signs were either down or the plastic blown out, leaving gaping rectangles. Some stores had their roofs torn off or fallen inwards.We continued down Highway 90 and arrived at my office. The building looked largely intact from the outside, even though its neighbor had lost its metal roof. I peered in the waiting room and saw chairs and tables intact, on the ground, if not in the exact position where they had been 1 1/2 weeks ago.I unlocked the front door and was hit by an overwhelming smell of mold. Wallpaper in the hallway was warped and buckling, and part of the hallway wall had actually given out, exposing the flooring store next door.Picture my office as basically one long hallway. From the waiting room, the hallway went down the left side of the office. First room on the right was the reception and business office, followed by three exam rooms, and then my office, which was also the break room, which had a back door to the outside. The lab was across the hall from my office.The reception/business office was trashed. Ceiling tiles had collapsed to the floor, covering a desk and bookcase with grey foam on the way down. The flood line was three feet off the floor, just above the desktop computers, laser printer, flatbed scanner, telephones, and all other electronic equipment. A horizontal file, which had been completely submerged, wouldn't even open anymore.The exam rooms originally had white vinyl floors, but now they were just a thick brown-grey, covered with muck. The exam tables had also been submerged, and water still remained in the drawers. I couldn't even enter the third exam room; presumably a chair had floated between the exam table and the door, blocking the way.In the lab, the refrigerator had tipped over on its side. Vaccine vials were strewn across the floor. But as I entered the back office, I realized the office had saved the worst for last.The back bookcase, which previously held my medical textbooks, was now half-full, as its contents were strewn around the room and up the hall. My desk was tipped up at an angle, with a book somehow wedged under one corner. Whatever had originally been on, and on top of, my desk, was now also on the damp floor. The break room refrigerator had floated out of its corner into the middle of the room. The office server, placed up on the nurse's desk, was neatly covered with water, muck, and even dried leaves and grass.I tried to open the back door to let in fresh air, but it wouldn't budge. On further inspection, I saw the back door had been wedged out of its frame. I wondered if a looter had tried to break in to the office. I then took a closer look at the door between the back office and the hallway. The door, including frame, had been torn out of the wall and was lying at the end of the hall. No looter did this. I realized the storm surge must have built up outside the back door, until it was breached; then the flood waters came in with such force, like a burst dam, that it swept books off the shelf and pushed the inner door completely aside, before tossing about the refrigerators and furniture.I set to gathering a few basics, knowing that we had limited space in the car and had yet to visit the house. Salvaged from this first trip: office spirometer (purchased two weeks before Katrina, never used on a patient), cash box contents, damp office files (receipts, contracts, personnel papers), hard drives from desktop computers, and the office computer server. The latter weighed eighty pounds and drained water when we lifted it, but I hoped against better judgement that something might be salvageable--perhaps, if nothing else, the hard drives? Besides, if the drives were even remotely intact, they might have recoverable patient medical data, and I couldn't risk that information falling into the wrong hands.We got back in the car to drive next door, to the hospital.What used to be a hospital now looked like a military base. Army green tents covered the front lawn, and a black metal fence surrounded the entire military-hospital complex. On the road, a wooden sign painted green had a red cross letting people know that this was where they could get medical care. National Guardsmen milled about or walked to and fro. We drove up near the ER entrance, where we faced another guard post and more soldiers with M-16s. After producing my hospital badge, we were waved through and pulled up to the ER itself.The waiting room had become a warehouse, where both donated and pre-existing supplies were being organized into neat stacks and piles. Here was the sterile gauze, there were boxes of gloves, that's the place for diapers and baby food. Extension cords snaked through the ER and the hallways, running from generators to construction floodlights. I found the hospital administrator in his new "office," a dark nook of the ER that used to be the staff lounge and library. He was talking to the head of maintenance on a two-way radio, hopeful that Mississippi Power might be able to restore electricity to the hospital this afternoon.As it turns out, the hospital had not closed, but instead remained open during the storm. By the time they tried to evacuate some of the sicker adults, the storm was upon them and ambulance transports were no longer running. The wind ripped open a ventilation duct during Sunday night, but otherwise the building did fairly well until Monday morning, when the storm surge arrived. The first floor hallway became a stream. Then the generators flooded. As the water level continued to rise, the staff started evacuating patients up to the second floor, in the dark, in the heat and humidity.After the storm, the worst was yet to come. Within a few hours, a steady stream of survivors began making their way to the ER. A nurse described it as a scene straight from "Dawn of the Dead," with an advancing horde of staggering, dazed people. Many had physical injuries: cuts, bruises, scrapes; others were trying to find food and water, though the hospital barely had enough for its own personnel. Some just wanted to be checked out after their ordeal. The makeshift ER ended up seeing 800 people in the first 4 days, before the federal Disaster Medical Assistance Teams finally arrived. Only then did the hospital close its doors and the brave, battered staff go off shift.Needless to say, the hospital was in no shape to reopen anytime soon; the CEO thought it would take at least a month before even the basics could be provided. I asked about office space, since mine was completely unusable, as was just about every other building in town, and it might be two months or more before electricity and running water was restored. He said that FEMA might be providing the hospital some portable trailers in the next few weeks, perhaps by the start of October, and that the hospital would allow interested doctors to use the temporary space. I also learned that FEMA does not provide trailers directly to doctors; apparently, we are considered the same as any other small business, and our services are not essential to the community, no more than the local burger shop or clothing boutique.Now we had some timeframe and direction: a hospital-provided trailer, in early October. This would be my new office.Before I left the hospital, passing stacks of donated medicines arrayed in the ER, I realized I probably had some intact samples back in my office. The administrator said, "yeah, I don't think we went in your building." What did that mean? In the first few days after Katrina, the police and National Guard broke into some offices to commandeer medicines and create a small stockpile at the hospital. It was decided that the meds could better be kept safe, and distributed as needed, under appropriate supervision, at one central facility--which now happened to be also under armed guard. I should note that some offices stored not only antibiotics or cholesterol meds, but also controlled substances: painkillers, Valium, and similar.We offered to add my meager pediatric samples to the pharmacy, since I wouldn't be distributing them anytime soon. We ended up collecting five boxes worth of medicines, all above the flood line, untouched and usable.Outside the ER a truck from the Florida Department of Health was unloading bags of ice.We walked back towards my office, about three blocks away. Just outside of the hospital grounds I saw a multicolored foot-long shard of hard plastic that looked vaguely familiar. It was a fragment of my office sign that had originally been by the road, perhaps 1/4 mile away. It was the only piece of the 4 x 6 foot sign I would ever find. (Source: Just Practicing) Symptoms Of Hemorrhoids
by Barbara Brown
Do you have hemorrhoids? Not sure? If you have or think that you may have hemorrhoids, your first step should be to evaluate your symptoms. By learning what symptoms you are exhibiting, you can evaluate what sort of care and treatment you need. There are several different symptoms of hemorrhoids.
The most common symptom of hemorrhoids is bleeding. Sometimes bleeding only occurs when the hemorrhoids initially appear. Most of the time, if you have hemorrhoids, you will notice blood on your stool. You may also notice blood on your underwear. If you have experienced these symptoms and think you might have hemorrhoids, the next step is to see your doctor. Your doctor will examine your anus for swollen blood vessels and bleeding. Bleeding, however is the least of the discomfort that can occur with hemorrhoids
An internal hemorrhoid, in addition to bleeding, will sometimes move from the interior of the rectum, where it has become swollen, to the exterior of the body - the anus. In addition to irritation and bleeding, you may find the area of your anus sore and swollen. You may also experience irritation and pain. All of these symptoms are indicative of a prolapsed hemorrhoid.
When a hemorrhoid is external, in addition to causing bleeding you may feel noticeable lumps in the area of your anus. This can mean that a series of blood clots have formed from bleeding under the skin. This can cause more swelling and pain on top of the pain the hemorrhoid may already be causing you.
Other hemorrhoid symptoms may occur when you move your bowels. It is easy for hemorrhoids to become irritated each time you move your bowels. Straining, for example, that occurs regularly will cause the hemorrhoids to bleed more and cause more pain. Rubbing or cleaning the area of the anus can also cause hemorrhoids to become irritated.
When hemorrhoids become irritated it can cause more pain in the area of the anus and may cause itching. The itching may occur due to the body's production of mucus in that area. This irritates the hemorrhoids and causes them to become more inflamed. Unchecked, this cycle of irritation and inflammation can cause more serious problems and pain that won't easily go away.
Hemorrhoids are easily identifiable by the symptoms above. While other symptoms may occur as well, these are the most common. Other symptoms you experience may be due to a digestive disease or could be a reaction to continuous irritation to the area of the rectum. Knowing the symptoms of hemorrhoids can help you know whether you have them. Knowing if you have hemorrhoids is the first step in treating them succesfully.
About the Author
Barbara Brown contributes articles to several popular online magazines, on wellness and health and health tips topics. http://shakeable.com/ Incidence of occult upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients presenting to the ed with hematochezia.
Incidence of occult upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients presenting to the ED with hematochezia.
Am J Emerg Med. 2007 Mar;25(3):340-4
Authors: Byers SE, Chudnofsky CR, Sorondo B, Dominici P, Parrillo SJ
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of nasogastric (NG) aspiration revealing a clinically unsuspected upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with hematochezia. A secondary aim was to identify factors associated with an upper GI source. METHODS: Data were prospectively collected from patients 18 years or older with either bright red blood per rectum or maroon stools. Patients were excluded if their history revealed hematemesis or their examination revealed melena, bleeding from an external hemorrhoid, or anal fissure. An NG tube was placed, and initial and postlavage aspirates were inspected and tested with Gastrocult (Beckman Coulter, Inc, Palo Alto, CA) for the presence of blood. Additional data included demographics, history, vital signs, and laboratory results. RESULTS: Of 114 patients, 11 (9.6%; 95% confidence interval, 4.9%-16.6%) had a positive NG aspirate. There were no statistically significant differences in age, sex, or race between the 2 groups. Factors associated with a positive aspirate were history of upper GI bleeding (P = .04), heart rate (P = .055), and hemoglobin (P = .03). CONCLUSION: Patients presenting to the ED with hematochezia require NG tube placement and aspiration to exclude an upper GI source of bleeding. History of an upper GI bleeding and anemia were associated with a positive NG aspirate.
PMID: 17349911 PubMed - in process (Source: The American Journal of Emergency Medicine)Effective Ways to Treat Hemorrhoids
by Darrell Knox
Hemorrhoids are large inflamed blood vessels in or outside the anus or rectum. It's a highly common condition, which affects around 75% of people at some stage in their lives. Hemorrhoids usually occur in older people from 45 to 65 years of age, however younger people are not immune.
Although hemorrhoids are not dangerous, the symptoms can be very unpleasant. Symptoms include anal pain, itching, irritation, swelling and you may even form a lump.
Symptoms usually last around a week but wouldn't it be great to prevent or at least treat symptoms using natural methods? If you're interested, read on and discover several natural ways to treat hemorrhoids.
Change your diet A major method treating hemorrhoids is by changing your diet. Food is responsible for many symptoms we experience and the same applies with hemorrhoids. The first thing to do is make sure you're drinking at least 6 glasses of water per day. You can also increase the amount of fiber in your diet. Both of these methods will reduce pressure in your blood vessels and help them in not becoming irritated. The extra fiber will also reduce bleeding.
Exercise Regular exercise cannot only be helpful towards hemorrhoids, but can improve your health in many other ways. Exercising increases the strength of your veins, which if they are too weak can result in hemorrhoids.
Warm Bath One of the simpler yet highly effective methods of hemorrhoid treatment is soaking the affected area in a warm bath for about 10 minutes. Doing this will not only reduce itching and pain, but will also reduce the size of the hemorrhoids.
Creams There are various over the counter and prescription based hemorrhoid creams and ointments available. Hemorrhoid cream acts as a lubricant, which can ease any pain and irritation you are experiencing. Depending on the type of cream, there are some that can reduce bleeding, itchiness and swelling. It's important you have a consultation with your doctor before trying any creams; you may find you are allergic to some hemorrhoid creams, which will worsen your symptoms.
Herbal Solutions Found in various supplements and fruit based liquids are natural hemorrhoid solutions. They are available over the counter at many drug stores and can be very effective depending on the solution. Herbal solutions will reduce pressure and pain, cure you from hemorrhoids or do absolutely nothing but give you mild side effects. You are taking a gamble when purchasing these products, but some of them do work, hopefully you are one of the lucky ones who will be cured using them.
Horse Chestnut Found in forms of capsule or tea, horse chestnut is a traditional solution to treating hemorrhoids. Horse chestnut eases irritation, inflammation, swelling and also strengthens your blood vessel walls. Only certain parts of the plant can be used such as the bark and seeds, the rest is poisonous. Although uncommon, some side effects are known to occur such as bruising, bleeding, liver damage and kidney damage.
One of the more drastic steps in treating hemorrhoids is via surgery. Although it certainly is an option, it would be unwise not to try out the more natural methods first, and besides why put yourself through potentially unnecessary pain.
About the Author
Darrell Knox is a writer and entrepreneur with 15 years of home business and marketing experience.Site: http://www.rectalrelief.com/heal.pl/cures.html Share Your Opinion. (0 posts)
|
