Is ointment alone enough to treat hemorrhoids?

gossip

"If you have hemorrhoids, you can just control them with ointments."

The incidence of hemorrhoids is not low, and many patients often choose to buy related ointments to relieve or treat them, thinking that this is enough.

Rumor Analysis

This practice is not recommended.

Whether hemorrhoid ointment is effective or not depends on the specific situation. In most cases, using only ointment is not enough, and making do with it may delay the treatment.

In China, the incidence of hemorrhoids is not low. When hemorrhoids recur, many people just use hemorrhoid cream to "make do", thinking that this is enough. However, for the prevention and treatment of hemorrhoids, relying solely on hemorrhoid cream is far from enough. If you make do with it, it may delay the disease. Next, let's discuss how to deal with hemorrhoids correctly from the two perspectives of prevention and treatment.

How to prevent it?

Generally speaking, if you want to know how to prevent hemorrhoids, you must first know the cause of hemorrhoids, and then eliminate the cause, and you can naturally achieve the effect of prevention. So how do hemorrhoids occur? I don't know...
Although hemorrhoids are such a common disease, the pathogenesis of this disease has not been fully determined until now. However, according to the current more authoritative theory, hemorrhoids occur because of the downward movement of the anal cushions, which is caused by increased rectal pressure. The root cause of increased rectal pressure is upright walking.
In short: Being a human being, it is difficult to avoid the pain of hemorrhoids.

Copyrighted image library, unauthorized reproduction is not completely impossible. At least avoiding standing or sitting for long periods of time can help to a certain extent, which is also the advice given by every anorectal doctor. However, for hard-working workers, avoiding standing or sitting for long periods of time seems to be a luxury, so they can only settle for the second best, and they must stand up and move around every time they work for a period of time.
In addition to standing or sitting for long periods of time, there is another daily behavior that will greatly increase the pressure in the rectal cavity, that is, defecation. As the saying goes, everyone has a bowel movement, but each has his or her own tricks. Mastering the correct bowel movement technique will put you far ahead.
1

Never bring your cell phone, book or iPad into the toilet

It is difficult to find a theoretical basis for the appropriate time for defecation. But there is no doubt that the pressure in the rectal cavity is very high during the whole defecation process, so it may be important to shorten the time. In other words, anything that makes you linger in the toilet is a disaster.
2

Toilets are good, but use them in moderation

The structure and function of the human body are unified. Simply put, over the past millions of years, our ancestors have been squatting to defecate, and our body structure is particularly suitable for this posture, so we should try to squat if we can.
3

Don't squat on the toilet

Toilets are designed for people to sit on, not to be stepped on. If you squat on the toilet, it will get angry and the consequences will be serious. If this thing breaks, it will bring very bloody consequences.
4

Use wet toilet paper to wipe your butt

If you have hemorrhoids, it is not easy to wipe your butt clean. The ingredients in the stool will irritate the anus and cause various discomforts. Of course, you can clean your butt every time you defecate, if conditions permit. If this is not possible, then using wet toilet paper is also a very good choice.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized
5

Put a bottle of nitroglycerin in the toilet

For patients with coronary heart disease, this can save lives! For the elderly, the incidence of coronary heart disease is very high, and dry stools are also common. Straining to defecate is an important cause of angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. What's more dangerous is that very few people need to dress neatly and bring their belongings with them when going to the toilet at home, so it is very dangerous to have no medicine on hand when the disease occurs. Keeping a bottle of nitroglycerin in the toilet is definitely a great choice to save a life for a few dollars.
How to treat it?

As mentioned before, the root cause of hemorrhoids is walking upright, so even if we take all precautions, hemorrhoids will always come to us, so it is still necessary to understand how to treat hemorrhoids. Here are three very important and easily overlooked pieces of knowledge.
1

Medicine can't get rid of hemorrhoids

If the condition is not too serious, you can indeed choose drug treatment: for example, there is blood in the stool, which comes out during defecation, but stops bleeding after defecation; after defecation, hemorrhoids protrude from the anus, but shrink back by themselves after defecation. In this case, you can follow the doctor's advice to take drug treatment. There are many such drugs in the pharmacy. Whether it is hemorrhoid cream or hemorrhoid suppository, it is easy to buy and convenient to use.

This standard is easy to grasp, but remember! Bleeding from benign diseases such as hemorrhoids and anal fissures is bright red blood, and only occurs during bowel movements. It stops after bowel movements.

If there is old blood in the stool, that is, dark red, or the stool has turned completely black, then it is caused by other reasons. Do not hesitate, you must go to the hospital as soon as possible! This situation may be a small matter or a big matter, but you will definitely not be able to distinguish it at home, and you will not be able to judge it by calling a doctor. You must go to the hospital for a doctor to check it, so that you can be at ease.

2

The surgery is still necessary

Drug treatment has its limitations. You must go to the hospital in the following cases to let the doctor judge whether surgery is needed: the hemorrhoids protrude from the anus after defecation, and cannot shrink back by themselves after defecation, and need to be supported by hand to go back, or even severe edema, and can't be put back. In this case, a doctor is needed to judge. As for whether surgery is needed, everyone's situation is different, so you still need to let the doctor see it to know.

3

Be careful in extreme situations

If you feel hemorrhoids in your anus, which are very painful and lasting, and you can feel that the hemorrhoids are hard and round like a small ball, then it is most likely a thrombosed external hemorrhoid. In this case, topical medications are useless, so go to the hospital and ask a doctor to check it out. Surgery is often the best option.
If the hemorrhoids are protruding from the anus and cannot be pushed back in, and the swelling is getting worse and worse, causing continuous pain, then this is more consistent with the symptoms of incarcerated hemorrhoids. There is only one way to deal with it, which is to have surgery as soon as possible.
In addition, if the pain around the anus is very severe, continuous, and the pain range is quite large, and the skin feels hot when touched, then it is likely to be an anal abscess. Although this disease is different from hemorrhoids, people occasionally confuse it.

If perianal abscess is confirmed, the patient should put down everything he is doing without hesitation and undergo surgery without wasting any time.

This disease is a serious mixed infection. If the surgery is delayed by one day, the postoperative recovery will take a longer time.

in conclusion

The above long paragraph is not to encourage you to treat yourself as a doctor, but to emphasize that hemorrhoids are very complicated. Don't just apply hemorrhoid ointment on your own. If you have any questions, it's always a good idea to go to the hospital for a check-up.
In the case of severe pain around the anus, the condition is likely to be serious, and going to the hospital as soon as it occurs is the best option.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

The most frightening thing about being sick is "making do with it". Many illnesses are caused by delaying the treatment of minor illnesses. Such rumors often hit our laziness. Similar rumors include "If you have the flu, just hold on and it will get better by itself" and "If you have stomach discomfort, just warm your stomach and it will get better." In response to such statements, we must remember that when we are sick, we should not think that we can solve the problem by simply handling it. If there is a problem, we should seek diagnosis and treatment from a doctor in time to treat it as soon as possible and avoid further development of the disease.

Planning and production

Author: Sun Yifei, Director of the Medical Education History Research Office, Hebei Medical University

Review | Tang Qin, Chief Researcher, Science Popularization Department, Chinese Medical Association

Planning｜Ding Zong