Tips to manage haemorrhoids

Written in association with: Miss Sarah Mills
Published:
Edited by: Aoife Maguire

What tips can you recommend to manage haemorrhoids?

The main things to bear in mind while managing haemorrhoids are not to get dehydrated and to drink plenty of fluids. It is also important to take lots of fibre in the die therefore  you should eat lots of vegetables.

 

If you get haemorrhoids, you should treat the syptoms early on, before they progress.

 

If you get an acutely thrombosed haemorrhoid, you can treat it with some ice and local anaesthetic cream. If your problem is prolonged bleeding, it is really important to ensure that there is not another cause of bleeding by having a colonscopy or flexibile sigmoidcospy.

 

What are common symptoms of haemorrhoids?

Common symptoms include itching, soreness around the bottom, lumps around the bottom or sometimes a mucous discharge that makes them feel damp and gives them problems of perinal hygiene.

 

How can haemorrhoids be treated?

If your haemorrhoids are causing you ongoing symptoms, then you could investgate some other conservative methods of haemorrhoids including creams and suppositories. If your symptoms don’t resolve with this, you might want to think about having something slighlty more invasive, like banding or injection of your haemorrhoids.

 

Operations should be reserved for prolonged symptoms, that go on and cause you quite a lot of discomfort.

 

It’s common to get haemorrhoids around the time of pregnancy and childbirth. If you doget these during childbirth, you should use all of the methods previously mentioned in order to manage them.

 

Additionally, you should allow 6-8 weeks after the delivery for things to settle down, before you have any more invasive treatment.

 

By Miss Sarah Mills
Colorectal surgery

Miss Sarah Mills is a highly-reputable colorectal surgeon based in London. From her NHS base at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital she specialises in colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and haemmorhoids though her expertise is far wider. She is a JAG-accredited endoscopist and is developing a specialist practice in interventional endoscopy and cutting-edge techniques for treating complex polyps and early rectal cancers.

She has an active interest in surgical research and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. In 2022, she was appointed as the national training lead for JAG, the body that oversees endoscopy training and accreditation. You can see Miss Mills' medical data showing her surgical and endoscopy numbers and length of stay here: https://www.phin.org.uk

Miss Mills has an interest in Global Health and regularly leads and teaches courses in low and middle income countries in Africa. These include the SAFE OR course, a multidisciplinary course for theatre teams of surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses focussing on using non- technical skills such as communication, leadership, situational awareness, decision making and conflict resolution to improve patient safety and outcomes.

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