What causes hemorrhoids, what are its first symptoms and signs?

Content

  • What is hemorrhoids
  • Symptoms of onset
  • Signs of hemorrhoids
  • Causes of hemorrhoids
  • Classification
  • Disease complications
  • Who to contact?
  • Diagnosis of the disease

The disease can affect both women and the strong half of humanity. Moral principles and manhood can delay a visit to a doctor, but only timely referral to a specialist will help avoid complex consequences. Acquired means armed. If you understand the specifics of the disease and undergo a course of treatment, you can forget about any manifestations of hemorrhoids forever.

What is hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids – a very common disease that occurs due to the pathology of hemorrhoidal veins in the lower part of the rectum, as a result of forming internal or external nodes. The result is pain, thrombosis and the formation of nodes, accompanied by bleeding. Normally, the blood vessels have the correct diameter, with a good tone of the walls. Under the action of some factors, the vessels are deformed and varicose veins develop. As a result, a blood clot may be formed due to impaired blood movement, causing inflammation and pain. During intestinal emptying, fecal masses, by the friction method, cause injury to the mucous membrane of the nodule, causing bleeding. Persistent discharge of blood leads to anemia. Spasms of the anal sphincter entail pressure on the node, causing discomfort,

Symptoms of onset

In order to detect the first symptoms of the disease in time, it is necessary to monitor the state of health and the state of your body. Initially, the symptoms resemble the usual disorder of the gastrointestinal tract or poisoning, so it does not immediately raise suspicions about more serious violations.

It is worth paying attention to the constant sensation of a foreign body in the rectum, which does not pass even after emptying and brings a little discomfort.

 

The area between the buttocks may experience discomfort in the form of itching and burning. Discharges of mucus, blood, as well as irritation and redness of the skin around the anus, are alarming symptoms that you should pay attention to, because people do not always look at their feces, and the exit of the colon is in an inaccessible place for visual inspection.

After a period of time, the symptoms become more pronounced, pain is added during and after defecation. To dull it, a person tries to refrain from going to the toilet, and begins to suffer from constipation, which later becomes chronic. Common symptoms include weakness, irritability, bloating and fever.

The disease proceeds gradually, when the first signs appear, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor.

Signs of hemorrhoids

The most important symptom of the disease is the appearance of hemorrhoids, which may be outside, near the anus or inside, in the rectum. Blood secretions that were absent in the initial stages are pronounced and almost always indicate the formation of hemorrhoids.

 

It is easier to notice external nodules due to tactile contact after a toilet, or during self-examination because of suspicion of hemorrhoids. Recognize the appearance of internal nodes can only be using special equipment. Initially, they are located in the colon itself and do not cause much discomfort. Without carrying out medical procedures, they increase in size and fall out after emptying, in the later stages at any time, causing enormous discomfort in the patient.

Causes of hemorrhoids

With symptoms of the disease, the man wonders what led to such a violation. The main factor leading to this pathology is the impaired blood flow and the weakening of the vessels in the pelvic region. As mentioned above, weak blood vessels and low tone of their walls are the main and very important cause of blood clots, which leads to the onset of the disease. The development of this pathology is affected by:

  • Heredity. If one of your parents was previously diagnosed with hemorrhoids, you must be especially careful about your health and periodically undergo a course of examinations at the clinic.
  • Sedentary lifestyle. Sitting work, watching TV or a computer for a long time, working as a truck driver – this way of life entails stagnation of blood in the vessels that are in the pelvis, reducing its outflow, thereby disrupting the state of the walls of blood vessels.
  • Bad habits. Men are more prone to drinking and smoking than women. Harmful toxins that are in the composition of alcohol or tobacco, adversely affect the blood vessels of the whole body.
  • Improper nutrition. Quick snacks on the go, junk and fatty foods, food “dry rations” entail a general disturbance of digestion, giving excellent soil for the development of the disease. That is why married men get sick less often.
  • Frequent exercise. When lifting large weights, not only the abdominal muscles, but also the buttock muscles, along with the muscles of the anal sphincter, tighten, which entails pressure on the vessels in the pelvis.
  • Unconventional sex. Due to the permanent location of the foreign body in the lower part of the rectum, physical deformation of the mucous membrane occurs, cracks and inflammation appear, which negatively affects the circulatory system. Later, during a bowel movement, infection may be introduced into the blood through the wounds that have formed.

Classification

Depending on the location of hemorrhoids, three types of disease are distributed:

  1. Internal. Nodes are located on the inside of the rectum. They develop gradually and outwardly do not manifest themselves. A person feels a little discomfort when moving and emptying. Detected during scheduled inspection.
  2. External. Also called anal. Nodes are located near the anus and are visible during normal visual inspection. Cause a strong discomfort and not a pleasant feeling to the patient.
  3. Combined. Combines both internal and external hemorrhoids at the same time. It is considered the most severe form. It comes due to neglect of the disease and not carrying out timely treatment.

 

In addition to three types, hemorrhoids have four stages of the disease, depending on the stage of development of pathologies:

Stage I: characterizes the onset of the disease, mild symptoms, no suspicion of the disease.

Stage II: increased pain, nodules periodically fall out, with local exposure, are inserted back.

Stage III: the difference from the previous one is that the nodules fall out not only during emptying, but also during exercise, it is impossible to insert yourself.

Stage IV: the nodules are constantly outside the colon, bleeding. This stage requires surgery.

Disease complications

If for any reason the patient does not consult a doctor, or does not undergo treatment and does not follow the recommendations, hemorrhoids will soon begin to progress, which will lead to serious consequences.

As a result of a significant sphincter spasm, thrombosis of hemorrhoidal nodules begins to develop. Symptoms of this disorder are general weakness, frequent dizziness, and possible loss of consciousness.

Without further treatment, thrombosis develops into paraproctitis. The disease is a purulent inflammation of the lower part of the rectum, which entails the gradual destruction of the mucous surface, as well as muscle tissue. Without special treatment with antibiotics, except for critical anemia (due to permanent blood loss), it is fraught with blood infection and can be fatal.

Who to contact?

Having identified the first alarming symptoms of the disease, it is necessary to contact a specialist in this area, a proctologist (since 1977 – coloproctologist). A doctor dealing with diseases in the anorectal area, thanks to diagnostic procedures, can make the correct diagnosis. After all, symptoms similar to hemorrhoids are also manifested in rectal fissures, various tumors, etc.

Due to the physiological characteristics of the male body, the symptoms of hemorrhoids are similar to other “male” diseases and resemble disorders in the prostate gland. Therefore, you should also visit the office of the urologist.

Before visiting the doctor, you need to undergo some procedures for a better examination and more accurate analyzes:

  • If the patient suffers from constipation for more than 3 days, it is necessary to drink castor oil, or a pharmacy laxative.
  • In the diet exclude foods that cause bloating and gas.
  • In the evening, before the day of inspection, you should do 2 enemas, with an interval of 1.5 hours.
  • The same procedure should be performed in the morning, immediately after waking up.
  • It is not recommended to eat before taking, you can drink a weak tea or water with lemon.

Examination by the proctologist is painless if there are no large cracks and wounds in the rectum.

Diagnosis of the disease

After completing all the necessary procedures, go to the doctor. First of all, the proctologist will conduct a visual and tactile inspection, using his fingers. This is a mandatory procedure for any diseases of the rectum and gives the first information about the pathology. The next procedure will be anoscopy – a review of the colon with a rectal speculum. For a full and deep examination, the specialist, with the help of medical equipment, conducts sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, as well as irrigoscopy. These procedures make it possible to fully examine the inside of the rectum and lower sigmoid colon. To determine the location and volume of hemorrhoidal nodules. To the complete history of the patient should add stool tests to detect blood and other impurities, and a complete blood count to determine the level of hemoglobin.