Chronic hemorrhoids and their symptoms

Chronic hemorrhoids are a disease that is characterized by pain in the anus, but not always. When this disease takes a person in its clutches, with internal hemorrhoids, the patient may not even guess. That he is sick. And then the disease is asymptomatic in chronic form. What is chronic hemorrhoids and how to recognize it?

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Prevalence of chronic hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are a common disorder. Chronic hemorrhoids are widely believed to be caused by chronic constipation. In an epidemiology study, researchers evaluated and compared hemorrhoids with the epidemiology of constipation. An analysis based on 4 sources of the United States National Health Interview Survey, the National Hospital Discharge Survey, and the National Disease and Therapy Index, as well as a study conducted by researchers in England and Wales, showed that 10 million people in the United States complain of chronic hemorrhoids, a prevalence rate of 4.4%.

In both sexes, peak prevalence was noted at ages 45–65 years, with a subsequent decline in incidence after age 65. Development of chronic hemorrhoids before age 20 was unusual. Whites were more commonly affected than blacks, and higher prevalence rates were associated with higher socioeconomic status.

This was in contrast to the epidemiology of constipation, which showed a steady increase in prevalence after age 65 and was more common in blacks and in families with low income or low social status. The data presented illustrate the differences in the epidemiological causes of hemorrhoids and constipation, documenting a causal relationship between constipation and hemorrhoids.

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Constipation as a disease that provokes hemorrhoids?

This is a medical question, whether hemorrhoids are provoked by chronic constipation. In particular, does constipation provoke bleeding from the anus? Yes, constipation is a factor that provokes hemorrhoidal bleeding. Hard dehydrated feces also help constipation (as its distinctive feature).

It scratches the rectum, causing it to bleed. If hemorrhoids have already formed, they can rupture, become damaged, scratched, and infected.

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Symptoms of chronic hemorrhoids

Some people have hemorrhoids, in which they have swollen, inflamed veins in the anus or rectum, these symptoms progress over a short period of time and then do not return. Other symptoms do not leave a person for a long period of time and return again and again. Chronic hemorrhoids can be internal, developing inside the rectum and sometimes protruding from it. Chronic external hemorrhoids, on the other hand, develop around the edge of the patient's anus.

In most cases, hemorrhoids are added problems that only occur occasionally. In such cases, a person may experience episodic hemorrhoid symptoms and not have to experience them again for many years. In fact, some people who deal with hemorrhoids once may not always suffer from them again. With chronic hemorrhoids, however, symptoms may last longer than two weeks or a month.

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Chronic external hemorrhoids

When a person is diagnosed (or not diagnosed) with chronic external hemorrhoids, they may suffer from inflamed, swollen veins that appear under the skin around the rim of the anus. In many cases, external hemorrhoids present as itching, and some people notice a burning sensation during an attack. In fact, some people complain of pain, not just discomfort, when they have hemorrhoids. Chronic external hemorrhoids can cause bleeding, and some people notice mucus and blood in the anal area.

Chronic internal hemorrhoids are inflamed, bulging veins in the lower rectum. Although they may protrude from the anus, they are not always visible. As a result, some people do not know they have hemorrhoids. When symptoms are clearly visible, they often include bleeding, pain, and itching.

Any bleeding may be obvious when it is visible in a person's stool or when it appears on toilet paper after a bowel movement. When veins do not protrude from the anus, they do not cause pain.

There are many factors that can contribute to the development of chronic hemorrhoids. These include long-term constipation and diarrhea, straining during bowel movements, and too little fiber in the diet. Pregnancy can also contribute to the problem, as can sitting on the toilet for long periods of time. Sometimes women can develop hemorrhoids as a result of pressure on the veins during childbirth, but such cases are often temporary.

Typically, people use over-the-counter home remedies such as creams and sitz baths to treat cases of hemorrhoids. Unfortunately, such treatments may not work for chronic cases. Medical treatments for chronic hemorrhoids often involve measures to cut off the blood supply to the vein.

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Precursors of chronic hemorrhoids

It happens that a person finds out that he has chronic hemorrhoids only after bleeding from the anus. Because in most cases, hemorrhoids can proceed without any symptoms. There may be no precursors. But when they appear, it is pain, itching and discomfort in the anus, as well as traces of bleeding on toilet paper or the toilet. Nodes characteristic of hemorrhoids can appear later.

It is bleeding, single or constant, that is the sign after which you should immediately be wary - this is a sign of chronic hemorrhoids. When hemorrhoids become chronic, bleeding also becomes chronic - it can be used to determine that not everything is in order with the body.

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Consequences of chronic hemorrhoids

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Anemia

If bleeding occurs with hemorrhoids, this can lead to anemia - a disease characterized by anemia. When the patient tries not to pay attention to this symptom (bleeding from the anus), then the anemia develops more and more. And unnoticed. The patient can discover anemia when he does a blood test, he can ignore other signs of anemia - dizziness, weakness, fatigue, drowsiness.

Anemia is one of the most serious complications of chronic hemorrhoids with bleeding from the anus, as it can deprive a person of the ability to work and the desire to live a normal life.

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Bleeding

Another consequence of chronic hemorrhoids can be bleeding, which gradually increases and becomes more frequent. This can be dangerous for a person due to severe blood loss and the risk of infection.

Pain

Pain in the area of the body where the anus is located is another common consequence of chronic hemorrhoids. This pain can be constant or intermittent. It can intensify during bowel movements or physical activity, or simply by walking or sitting. The pain occurs due to the passage of feces through the rectum, which irritates its lining. The pain may not be very severe, but then it can intensify if chronic hemorrhoids are not treated.

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Itching

Itching is a very uncomfortable symptom of chronic hemorrhoids. Itching may indicate not only irritation of the anus or perineum due to hemorrhoid manifestations - it can also be a sign of bacterial infections. And the irritant itself is feces or mucus that comes out of the anus. This mucus is secreted by the glands of the mucous membrane of the anal area. Itching is especially aggravated during the prolapse of hemorrhoids from the rectum to the outside.

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Hemorrhoids

They can also be an unpleasant and painful consequence of hemorrhoids. This is also a sign of hemorrhoids in their chronic form. It is a pity that these nodes are not always detected during a visual examination, often it is necessary to use not only a visual examination and palpation method, but also other methods of examining the rectum and colon, for example, retromanoscopy or irrigoscopy, or colonoscopy.

These diagnostic methods will allow the doctor to see the condition of the rectum and colon and identify the processes occurring in it.

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