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Chronic hemorrhoids and its symptoms

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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Chronic hemorrhoids - a disease that is characterized by pain in the anus, but not always. When this disease takes a person into his claws, with the internal form of hemorrhoids, the patient may not even guess. What is he sick? And then the disease is asymptomatic in a chronic form. What is the chronic form of hemorrhoids and how to recognize it?

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Prevalence of chronic hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids are a common disorder. It is widely believed that chronic hemorrhoids are caused by chronic constipation. In a study of epidemiology, scientists evaluated and compared hemorrhoids with the epidemiology of constipation. Analysis based on 4 sources of the National Health Survey of the United States, the National Survey of Hospital Discharges, and the National Diseases and Therapeutic Estimates Index, as well as a study by scientists in England and Wales, showed that 10 million people in the United States complain of chronic hemorrhoids, its prevalence rate is 4.4%.

In both sexes, the peak in prevalence was noted at the age of 45-65 years, followed by a decrease in the frequency after the age of 65 years. The development of chronic hemorrhoids under the age of 20 years was unusual. White skin was affected more often by this disease than black, and higher prevalence rates were associated with higher socioeconomic status.

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

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Constipation as a disease that causes hemorrhoids?

It is a medical question whether hemorrhoids are provoked by chronic constipation. In particular, do constipation provoke bleeding from the anus? Yes, it is constipation that causes hemorrhoidal bleeding. To help constipation (as its hallmark) comes and hard dehydrated feces.

It scratches the rectum and it bleeds. If hemorrhoids have already formed, they can break, become damaged, scratch and become infected.

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Symptoms of chronic hemorrhoids

Some people have hemorrhoids, in which they have swollen, inflamed veins in the area of the anus or rectum, these symptoms progress for 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 contrary, develops around the edge of the patient's anus.

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

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Chronic external hemorrhoids

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

Chronic internal hemorrhoids are inflamed, bulging veins in the lower part of the rectum. Although they may protrude from the anus, they do not always appear externally. Thus, some people do not know that they have hemorrhoids. When symptoms are already clearly visible, they often include bleeding, pain, and itching.

Any bleeding may be obvious when it is seen in a person’s stool or when it appears on toilet paper after a bowel movement. When the 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. They include long-term constipation and diarrhea, stress during bowel movements, and too little fiber in the diet. Pregnancy can also contribute to the problem, as well as sitting on the toilet for long periods of time. Sometimes women may develop hemorrhoids as a result of pressure on the veins during labor, but such cases are often temporary.

As a rule, people use non-prescription drugs such as creams and sitz baths at home to treat hemorrhoids. Unfortunately, this treatment may not work for chronic cases. Medical treatment of chronic hemorrhoids often include measures aimed at disabling the blood supply to the vein.

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Precursors of chronic hemorrhoids

It happens that the person has chronic hemorrhoids, he learns only after bleeding from the anus. Because in most cases, hemorrhoids can proceed without any symptoms. Forerunners may not be. But when they occur, it is pain, itching and discomfort in the anus, as well as traces of bleeding on toilet paper or toilet. Nodes characteristic of hemorrhoids may occur later.

Bleeding, once or permanently, is the symptom after which you should immediately be alert - it is a sign of a chronic form of hemorrhoids. When hemorrhoids become chronic, bleeding also becomes chronic - it is possible to determine from them that the body is not all in order.

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Consequences of chronic hemorrhoids

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Anemia

If bleeding occurs during hemorrhoids, it 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 anemia develops more and more. In this case, unnoticed. The patient may find anemia in himself when he has done a blood test, he may not pay attention to other signs of anemia - dizziness, weakness, fatigue, drowsiness.

Anemia is one of the most serious complications of chronic hemorrhoids with bleeding from the anus, because 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 to humans due to severe blood loss and the risk of infection.

Pains

Pain in the part of the body where the anus is located is another common consequence of the chronic course of hemorrhoids. These pains may be permanent or impermanent. They may increase with bowel movements or physical exertion, or when walking or sitting simply. Pain arises due to the passage of feces through the rectum, causing her shell to become irritated. The pains may not be very strong, but then they can worsen if chronic hemorrhoids are not treated.

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Itching

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

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Hemorrhoids

They can also be an unpleasant and painful consequence of hemorrhoids. It is also a sign of hemorrhoids in its chronic form. It is a pity that these nodes are not always detected by visual examination, often you need to apply not only visual inspection and palpation method, but also other methods of examination of the rectum and colon, for example, retromanoscopy or irrigoscopy, or colonoscopy.

These diagnostic methods will enable the doctor to see the state of the rectum and colon and identify the processes that occur in it.

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