External Hemorrhoids Treatment for the Symptoms
External hemorrhoids have the worst symptoms, mainly due to location. They originate from below the dentate line, which is the line that separates external skin from internal mucus membrane.
There’s a large and sensitive nerve band right below the dentate line. External hemorrhoids often sit right on top of it. In other words, that inflamed thing is screaming up a high-bandwidth channel straight to your brain. No wonder it’s painful!
It’s a good thing that there are so many treatment options as close as your freezer, bathroom and home medicine cabinet. If you’re stuck with external hemorrhoid agony and just can’t get to a pharmacy right now, draw a couple inches of water hot as you can stand in the bathtub. Sit in it for about twenty minutes at a time, three to four times per day.
Follow up with a towel-wrapped ice pack for maximum relief. Just remember to never put bare ice on your skin. Take the appropriate number of ibuprofen tablets to get maximum pain and inflammatory relief.
Once you can get to a drugstore, the whole plethora of creams and ointments opens up for you. For quick external hemorrhoid relief, look for a cream with a topical anesthetic in it. Look on the drug information chart, usually on the side of the box.
Other common ingredients include vasoconstrictors, astringents and corticosteroids. Vasoconstrictors are medications that shrink blood vessels, making them invaluable for external hemorrhoids.
Again, ask your pharmacist for help picking one if you currently take any other long term medications. Pharmacist advice is given for free, unlike doctor appointments. You may as well take advantage of it.
Astringents include ingredients like witch hazel or aloe vera gel. These mild medications make the skin on and around the external hemorrhoid dry up and cool down, giving lots of symptom relief very fast.
The most common corticosteroid used in external hemorrhoid treatment is hydrocortisone. These medications decrease inflammation pretty fast. They’re useful as an emergency relief measure, but never apply a cortisone cream on a regular basis. Corticosteroids (-cortisone medications) make the muscle walls thinner if used for long periods. If the muscles around your anal sphincter get thinner and weaker, it only makes the hemorrhoid problem worse.
Another great article on your blog! I always like read your blog so I always come back for more.
I must say great article and well thought of as some hemorrhoids articles are the same but this was a good solid read!