At my wits end (long post, apologies)
I am so fed up with this. Medical TMI warning for post, but this is a hemorrhoid group so I hope that's okay.
36 m (if that matters) and I have struggled with this most if not all of my life. As a kid we noticed blood in my stool; two colonoacopies later and all we know is fissures and polops. What caused it or how to treat it? Never told us, just live with it.
As an adult the real problems started in late 20s. I began having "flare-ups" as I started calling them. I would be fine for months and then the pain would start and last weeks or months. The worst one a few years ago was so bad I was in constant pain. Side-note, every muscle in your body seems to be connected to the anus; I couldn't walk, bend, cough, laugh, blink without being in pain. It was hell.
Aftet that flare-up I would have one every few months. Most of the day I'm fine but I'll have periods where it hurts so bad down there I can't think about anything else. Sometimes I can't sleep for the pain. My latest (which I'm currently in) started from a series of very hard stools (something else I can't pin down the cause of, my diet hasn't changed).
I have tried everything I can think of. No longer use toilet paper, only wipes. Preparation H is a joke, I can almost feel the hemorrhoids laugh at it. An Asian product I got off Amazon called Mayinglong (I may have seen it here) helps better than prep h but not much better. Sitz baths only soothe as long as I'm in it, and sometimes not even then (I honestly may have the water too hot on that, idk). Sometimes ibuprofen helps numb the pain, but not always.
Doctors I've been to basically said take a bath and live with it, I don't have insurance or money to go to a specialist.
The only thing Ive ever done that helped was I noticed a long period of calm when I was doing keto. Idk if that correlates, but maybe something about the inflammation.
I'm so tired of being in pain and so tired of dreading a bathroom visit. If anyone has any suggestions aside from a bath or prep h please let me know. Even if you just wanna tell me you understand and have had them this bad, at this point I just feel weak and crazy for being this affected by this. I hate it, absolutely hate it.
Sorry for the long post, literally writing in a moment of pain. Best wishes to everyone who sees this, hope we are all as comfortable as we can be!