Embarrassing Piles - can I do this ? No medical advice needed

LegacyUser

Hello,

OK - really embarrassing question. I have the most awful piles after 2 children and have been referred to my local hospital since last November -the usual on the waiting list.

I phoned them to day and have been told it will be April at the earliest - here is my question and I hope no one is offended by this.

For the last 5 days even taking every drug under the sun that has been legally prescribed by my doctor for this symptom and no relieve. I cannot sit, stand, drive, sleep, lie down, anything and I am exhausted.

Do you think if I presented myself to A & E they might be able to do something as I am at my wits end - excuse the pun - I honestly don't know how much longer I can go on like this I haven't slept since Saturday for the pain. I really don't know how much more I can take.

An embarrassed Mother.

MagicMarker

Go to A&E if you wish (there's no rules against it). Be prepared to wait many hours.

When you come home, go on the internet and buy yourself some health insurance (any responsible adult with kids should have this).

My apologies if you do have health insurance, just that those kind of waiting times do not sound right if that's the case.

neil_hosey

the only problem is, you will have to 'sit' there for hours. I know someone who had this and from what they told me sitting somewhere for a long period of time is undoable. So you would basically have to stand in a and e for 5 - 15 hours

Mr Benevolent

Has you doctor given you any creams or pain relief for the discomfort? Even recommended a rubber ring?

LegacyUser

I know how you feel,I had these once. They lasted over a week and I could only lie on the couch the whole time. I went to A&E and they told me the best thing I could do was continue with the creams etc. and it´ll eventually go down. It worked for me.

Ps. not sure why Piles have to be so embarressing and I´m posting unregistered. It´s just another illness!

LegacyUser

I don't know if this is the kind of thing they treat, but jave you heard of Swiftcare clinics? http://www.vhi.ie/swiftcare/
The clinics are an alternative for some A&E treatments. You'll get seen within the hour but you'll pay nicely for it. Probably best to give them a call and see if it's something they can treat.

MJOR

Have you tried some natural yoghurt on them to cool them?? there is a cream also you can buy over the counter called anusol hc which is good. Drink lots of water too as this can help.

MILF

Keep away from the A&E's! They prob wont let you in at the mo with the winter vomiting bugs going round anyway. Go to D-Doc or Swiftcare. Thats what theyre there for. Your problem isnt technically an accident or emergency so you'd be wasting their time. They made D-Doc and Swiftcare instances where medical assistance was needed but wasnt accident or emergency. I would go to D-Doc as its cheaper!

pjproby

this is the solution-sit in shower on your hunkers-use the shower head to wash the affected area-you may have to take the shower lead apart to achieve this-very fast relief but you should do it every day.


an embarrassed poster

LegacyUser

I had merciless piles, 5hitting razor blades is the closest description I can give it. I literally went without sleep for 2 days because the pain was so bad. I was considering surgery but (and I know this is going to sound cliche) but I completely changed my diet and it worked immediately

I thought, ok I have to change my diet but thats not going to kick in for weeks and Im in agony right now but it did- it worked overnight.

I switched to Shreddies (but found that weetabix were better), hi fibre brown bread, actimel and fibre rich fruit (mainly apples) and I've been fine since- honestly do it!! Do it now!!!

Zaph

MJOR wrote: »

Have you tried some natural yoghurt on them to cool them??

Just a word of warning about this speaking from personal experience. I got badly sunburnt many years ago and someone recommended natural yoghurt to cool things down. It worked for a while, but the problem was that when it dried it needed more than a bit of scrubbing to get it all off, which is not something you want to do on an already sensitive area.

dragona

I do feel so bad for you -I had a pile the size of a mandarin when I was still pregnant with my son, and the doctor came to my home and gave me a cortisone injection into it :eek:

My husband also suffered terribly -he went to the doc and they were frozen there and then -I cannot understand why this hasn't been done for you. I would go to A+E, in tears which I'm sure won't be difficult. No-one knows the agony, sheer agony of piles unless they have suffered them. If you are in pain, they will do their best to relieve it.

Your problem isnt technically an accident or emergency so you'd be wasting their time.

from MILF

I would consider unbearable agony an emergency.

MILF

dragona wrote: »

from MILF

I would consider unbearable agony an emergency.

I had piles after both my kids so I know exactly what the pain is like. What I'm saying is that in the eyes of a hospital, I dont think they would view it as an A&E case is all.

pwd

squat don't sit

http://naturesplatform.com/images/Sikirov_table.gif

shellyboo

MILF wrote: »

I had piles after both my kids so I know exactly what the pain is like. What I'm saying is that in the eyes of a hospital, I dont think they would view it as an A&E case is all.

Yeah, but once you're there they're not going to send you home and say 'that's not an emergency'. The A&E is full of drunken eejits getting sick on people, hardly an emergency either but they have to look after them once they go there.

If your GP isn't willing to offer you some sort of relief in the meantime before the surgery, A&E seems a good option.

littlebug

I've a vague recollection of seeing something on the telly where the person cut the fingers of (small) surgical gloves, filled with water, tied a knot and the top and made ice fingers with a nice rounded tip for easy insertion :cool: (without the glove bit of course)

(MODS- if that constitutes dodgy med advice just delete me).

I had them after one of my children and I'm not joking it was worse than childbirth itself. Weetabix and oranges make things easier.

LegacyUser

Why not get GP to refer you to a private consultant - skip the long public waiting list, bite the bullet and pay the one off consultants fee and as soon as he starts suggesting treatment inform him you have no VHI and you'll have to be treated publically.

Its the quickest way to be seen in this country if you dont have health insurance. The longest part is waiting to see the consultant, if you see one privately you may see one next week. Plus he may be able to prescribe relief there and then.

The hospitals dont approve of people mixing and matching the private and public system that way but the consultants do it all the time.

LegacyUser

Hi

Yes, I have been given proctesydl suppositories and cream and no effect - I am drinking loads of water and don't eat processed foods - I think I will phone my doctor again and see what she can do, I have had enough.

Thanks for the advice - its good to know I'm not alone.

LegacyUser

I had the operation and the recovery is worse than the problem ever was for the first few weeks at least.

I changed my diet -- was recommended not to wash my hair in the shower as the shampoo could run down and irritate the area. I tried everything and ended up with the op.

I would recommend the private route to get it sorted, even thought like I said the recovery is really bad.

That was after my first baby. the pile returned after my second but thankfully causes me no pain so I dont need anything done with it.

Best of luck op.

I know it sounds disgusting but I put frozen cool pops on it to ease the discomfort.. obviously throwing them out after.

LegacyUser

Hi all,

Well I have just been to my doctor and he whilst I was there made an appointment for me to see the consultant next Tuesday.

I am being taken in to get a biopsy done, so we'll see how it goes. Thank you for all your responses.

A very sore poster :-)

LegacyUser

Oh boy can I sympathise with you! I had piles a few years back and was in agony for weeks. Was in a very stressful job, very long hours, lots of driving and climbing up ladders etc. I remember driving home one evening and I thought I was going to pass out with the pain. I was in a cold sweat and felt so sick. I stopped off and went into a chemist and begged her to give me something but she couldn't give me the good stuff without a prescription.

So I got home and a neighbour who was a nurse came over and had a look (all embarrassment goes out the window when you're in so much pain). She filled a rubber glove, the medical kind, with icy water and stuck a finger you know where. If hurt going in but my god the relief!! As it was a Friday night i couldn't get to a doctor until the Monday.

I was sick all weekend, hot and cold sweats, vomiting etc. Thought I was dying. Anyway, went into the doctor first thing Monday morning, he had a look and said he couldn't believe I left it so long to see him and how on earth was I coping with the pain. Turns out I had a very bad infection down there in the piles (lots of them by the way, talk about a bunch of grapes)

So i ended up on antibiotics for a few weeks and with tubes and tubes of different creams. Thank God they went away and so far (fingers crossed) they haven't come back with a vengeance, every now and again I kind of feel them coming back and straight away i start with the cream and drink gallons of water and then I'm ok.

So my point is, don't put off going back to your doctor and try anything and everything to ease the pain, don't sit down, lie on your front as much as possible, drink plenty of water but myabe hold off on the high fibre foods because if your number twos (sorry!) get big and hard it'll be agony.

You're not alone!!!

The Ritz

I have all the sympathy in the world for you !

Take the advice about high fibre diet, you really need not to have to strain or try to pass hard stools when you have this condition. You could try sitting in a bath as hot as your skin can bear - if you have a clot in a pile (which causes utter and total agony) it helps open the blood vessels and provides pretty instant relief - if you're having a bad "episode" do this a few times a day, it really helps to dissolve the clot.

There is a cream and suppositories called Germoloids - made by Bayer, who make Germoline, and it's really effective in terms of pain killing. I get it over the counter when I'm in the UK or the North, I don't think it's on the market here but you could enquire in Boots.



I had a few agonising episodes with this condition, including surgery and a rupture so I am really sorry for your predicament. Hope you get sorted out.


Ritz.