Connect
Chronic Hemorrhoids
Good day,
I am looking for suggestions for doctors who specialize in chronic / complex hemorrhoid cases for my husband or suggestion for what to do next.
We live in NY, but are willing to travel to find someone who can help. To provide a bit of background. It started around 2 years ago, my husband who is in his late 30’s has some bladder / urinary problem and saw a urologist. Also around this time he also started to experience GI issues with severe constipation. The urologist said the urinary issues were from the constipation and nothing else. He saw a gastro who put him on different meds that caused severe diarrhea which we believe resulted in his hemorrhoids. Since then his gastro issues have gotten better and he follows a strict diet and generally has not had any issues with his bowel movements anymore. However, he has had hemorrhoids consistently since that point, which have continued to get worse with no explanation. Additionally, they get worse and swell when lying down, which is unusual. He is extremely carful with what he does, but continues to experience significant pain everyday. Overall this condition is effecting his quality of life greatly. We have been to multiple colorectal doctors, around 5 so far, and many of them are dismissive of his symptoms. One of them he has been seeing for a while, however, has verbalized he does not know what is causing his pain or why the hemorrhoids continue to get worse. He has internal and external hemorrhoids and has banding and sclerotherapy with limited long term success. He has tried creams, ointments, cushions, sitz baths, new office chairs, medication, stretching, stress relief and nothing has really helped at all. We went to a vascular doctor as well, but the ultrasound was clear. He also has a pelvic floor disorder and has been trying pelvic floor physical therapy, which seems to be helping the pelvic floor issues a bit, but is not helping the hemorrhoids at all. They continue to get worse with no explanation that we can understand.
Any recommendations or advice for a specialized provider / doctor or anything in general would be greatly appreciated. We are willing to try anything to help him feel better and at least improve his quality of life and reduce his pain. Thank you
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.
Connect
I would suggest you look at Dr. Andrew Chung's Youtube channel as it has a wealth of information regarding hemorrhoids, etc. Channel is called "Your Friendly Proctologist."
Thank you and yes we have been reviewing his YouTube channel. I appreciate the suggestion.
@leerose - I'm sorry to hear your husband is having to manage all these symptoms with his chronic hemorrhoids.
Tagging Connect members who've talked about hemorrhoids to see if they have input on what to do next for your husband with his chronic hemorrhoids or what doctor he might see @trt55 @rashida @fotula @riflemanz64 @deevon @judy75.
You mentioned, leerose, that overall, this condition is affecting your husband's quality of life greatly. Will you talk more about how the chronic hemorrhoids are affecting his quality of life?
Thank you for the response. He has difficulty sitting and standing without pain and discomfort, which affect his ability to purse any of his normal hobbies. Additionally, over the last few months he started to have increased pain and swelling when lying down as well, which makes it hard for him to even relax or go to sleep at night. Generally he wakes up, works from home during the day with a lot of break and then tries to go to bed early since it takes him a while to fall asleep because of the pain. So far nothing has really helped his pain or discomfort. He does take Valium suppositories at night to help, but he is not supposed to take it every day.
Thank you again for your response and help!
I've dealt for a few years with internal hemorrhoids. Which caused pain and swelling after going to the bathroom.
Before one surgeons appointment he had me use a fleet enema before the appointment which was a big mistake
Doctors that suggest stool softeners is another mistake
Pain relievers that cause constipation .. mistake
For a while I used prune juice and natural suppositories.
But what seem to work is just getting the right bowel movement. Too soft or hard caused pain and swelling. And keeping an eye on swelling and letting swelling go down afterwards.
Then finding a doctor who could do banding well. In fact one of his last bandings seemed more difficult. And when I got home I noticed a definite improvement on the outside. I wonder if that one hemorrhoid had just been causing me the most grief, maybe because of it's location.
I was also diagnosed with Hereditary Hemochromatosis at that time so maybe you might get an Iron panel blood test
Tests Included:
Serum Iron: Measures the amount of iron circulating in the blood.
Ferritin: Measures the body's stored iron reserves.
Transferrin Saturation: Calculates the percentage of iron bound to transferrin, a protein that transports iron in the blood.
Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC): Measures the total amount of transferrin available to bind iron.
Also at the worst I had difficulty urinating without aggravating the hemorrhoids sometimes even causing bleeding.
I also tried a 3 or 4 Kessey treatments in Portland OR. I didn't complete the treatments but they helped greatly when all other doctors were only suggesting surgery.