I’m afraid I have to post on a pretty gross topic here, so will include spoiler blurs in places.
I’ve had hemorrhoids for years, but for a long time, they were minor enough that I didn’t need to address them in any way. However, I recently had a bout where the previously very small external hemorrhoid I had (which would often disappear) got unusually big. It reduced itself after a while, but a week ago, it swelled up again, got to a very big size, bigger than it ever was, and it has stayed that way. I now have an enlargement just outside my anus about the size of a grape, big enough to cover the opening.
Since then, pretty much every time I’ve gone to the toilet, it has been quite painful
when the feces touches the hemorrhoid, often excruciatingly so. To the point where I feel pressure in my abdomen (or even my chest?), am left gasping for breath, and my heart races - the kind of pain that seems like it would be unbearable for more than a short period of time.
On Saturday, I first went to the pharmacy and got an ointment, something similar to Preparation H. It helped a little to calm down the irritation, but it did little or nothing to reduce the swelling. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor, who performed a quick examination. He scheduled me to see a visiting proctologist - on Thursday next week. That person will presumably decide on what treatment will ultimately be necessary. In the meanime, the doctor prescribed me a pill called detralex and an anal suppository called Faktu. I have been taking them regularly, but haven’t seen much improvement since Tuesday. The external hemorrhoid is still more or less as big as ever.
What is most disturbing is that, while on Wednesday it was a mite easier to go to the toilet, yesterday it was very painful even to pass gas, the evacuation of which has also been an effort (let alone to defecate - I passed practically no feces yesterday) unless I did so standing up. Today in the morning it was as bad, although in the afternoon, I was able to pass a very little bit of feces with relatively little pain).
Based on my description so far, how much cause for concern is there? Imagine that I remained in this state until Thursday’s appointment at the proctologist’s and that the swelling of the hemorrhoid did not go down until then. I don’t know how long I can hold in whatever is currently in my bowels and whatever will accrue in my bowels till then. I obviously can’t be completely constipated for at least 6 days. If I make efforts to evacuate my bowels, going from the level of pain and exertion I’ve had over the past week, do I have cause to be afraid that I might get a heart attack or arrythmia or something? (I recently read that Elvis Presley, who died while on the toilet, had his official cause of death listed as a cardiac arrythmia and that it was speculated to have caused by having trouble evacuating his bowels due to a colon problem or something, although that is only one explanation)?
What should I do? Should I keep trying to evacuate what I can and wait until the proctologist’s verdict on Thursday, or should there be more of a sense of urgency - should I go to the hospital tomorrow and ask if, based on the facts so far, surgery or other more radical treatment than the drugs I’ve been taking so far aren’t a pressing need?
Were I not to go to the hospital, I am committed to attending an event in another town to which I would travel tomorrow in late afternoon/evening, sleep over in a tent, and come back on Sunday afternoon/evening. Would this be risky in my condition?