Hemorrhoids and 29 weeks pregnant!?

I’ve been pretty lucky with having minimal symptoms so far, but within this past week I noticed that I have gotten hemorrhoids. I know what they are, that they are common with pregnancy, and how to treat them (ease the discomfort). My question is this … in a non-pregnant person, hemorrhoids typically last around 2 weeks then the swelling goes down causing them to be no more. Is this true in pregnant women too? Do I just deal with them for a couple weeks, then they’ll go away? I’ve read conflicting medical articles saying that some stay around until after the baby is born while others are able to be shrunken using cream to make the birth easier. I don’t know about dealing with annoying hemorrhoids for the next 11 weeks.

I’ve had problems with hemherrhoids with both of my pregnancies. It wasn’t excruciating, but with my first I had them from about 5 months on. Sometimes they hurt alot and sometimes they didn’t bother me much at all. Everyone told me how painful they would be during and after delivery, but they must have gone away becasue I never noticed them during or after delivery.

I used witch hazel on a cotton pad and wiped every time I went to the bathroom. And the preparation H suppositories work wonders when they are really bad, much better than the cream.

Hemorrhoid tag – treatment?

I asked my gyno about a hemorrhoid tag that i’ve had for a year, and she told me that it won’t go away on its own and they only way to get rid of it is surgery. Is this true? It’s not painful, but I do feel self-conscious about it.

There are several different treatment options available for hemorrhoid tags or swellings, and not all of them are surgical.

First, you can try some things yourself – probiotic foods (like yogurt), stool softener (NOT laxative), switch to moist wipes (unscented baby wipes) instead of toilet paper, increase fiber, increase how much water you drink, sitz baths with epsom salts. Avoid using aspirin for a painkiller. If these simple measures don’t help, the next step is to consult a doctor about other options. Don’t use steroid creams or pads/wipes without speaking to your doctor – things like cortisone can weaken the skin and make the hemorrhoid worse.

Infrared coagulation, often mistakenly called “laser” treatment, is a non-surgical procedure. Basically, a doctor inserts a small probe next to the base of the hemorrhoid tissue that is inflamed and infrared light is used to form a clot. The clot cuts bloodflow to the swelling, and it shrinks back down. Advantages are that it is relatively comfortable (performed in-office, no anaesthesia as it is above the pain nerves – you would just feel some pressure) and has very little recovery time or activity limitations. Disadvantages are that it usually requires somewhere between 5 to 10 treatments 3 to 5 weeks apart, and you may or may not see improvement with the first 1 or 2 treatments. It is also more effective in some cases when paired with drug therapy or probiotic use to normalize the gut. It does not work well for people who are on blood thinners.

Rubberband (or Baron) Ligation is slightly more uncomfortable than the infrared coagulation, and about as effective. Advantages are that it generally requires only 1 or 2 treatment sessions, and is more widely available. It works basically by putting a rubber band around the base of the hemorrhoid tissue and waiting for it to fall off. Anaesthesia is sometimes used, but not always.

Hemorrhoidectomy is the surgery your doctor mentioned. It has about a 2 week recovery time, and does require anaesthesia.

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