Dr. Noorali Bharwani - Medicine Hat

THANK GOD for this article and everyone willing to come forward and talk about it. I have had this same severe intermittent pain for the past three years. It comes on slow but gets worse within a few minutes until it is excruciating. I have googled my symptoms every time I have an attack and nothing comes up that fits. It wasn’t until I typed in “pain lasts 15-30 minutes” that I found this. (phew!!!)

I am a post-menopausal, vegan, recently retired 59-year-old female. I have never had a colonoscopy although I had an OB/GYN tell me I had a rectal polyp back when I was in my late 20’s which was never treated or further investigated. I had an issue with hemorrhoids while pregnant in my 30’s. I have had my gallbladder removed, a c-section, and knee surgery from a skiing accident. High cholesterol was an issue until I changed my diet. I have had several occult blood tests that always come back negative. I don’t have any health issues currently (other than this pain in my butt). I never use artificial sweeteners or processed sugars other than a little agave and maple syrup here and there, and I rarely eat chocolate (and only dark when I do). I am not sexually active currently. I no longer menstruate so, no need for female hygiene products. Thinking back, it seems these attacks came about the same time the hot flashes went away. I would trade back for hot flashes in a hot second.

90% of the time I am fast asleep and I am awoken by a severe ache in my rectum. The first time it happened, I just froze in place and prayed for it to subside. The pain lasted about an hour. The second time, I tried an OTC anti-inflammatory with no relief. Over the past three years, I have had maybe a dozen attacks. All but one happened in the middle of the night. Yesterday it happened in the middle of the day. Thank God, I was home.

Because I had external hemorrhoids during my pregnancy I thought perhaps I had some internal hemorrhoids that were causing this pain even though, according to the medical websites, there is no pain with internal hemorrhoids. I purchased some Preparation H to try. I have used this for the past 4-5 attacks and it takes about 5-10 minutes, but it takes the pain away completely. Baths or pain killers didn’t help me. I haven’t tried reducing my sugar intake or magnesium supplements. I eat a lot of hot chili in my normal daily diet and am intrigued by the cayenne pepper supplementation. The suggestion of yoga poses sounds great! These are things I will definitely try. I also plan to talk to my physician about hycosamine.

These attacks come weeks and months apart with no apparent warning. There is no rhyme nor reason to them. I can’t pin it on ANYTHING. It is the most painful, frustrating, and humiliating thing in my life. I am, however, extremely relieved that I am not the only one suffering from this and, from what I have read here, it appears I am more fortunate than many.

If you are still suffering and haven’t found relief from anything else, I highly suggest a good OTC hemorrhoid analgesic. I use the internal applicator and give a good squeeze. It totally works for me. What we need is a doctor willing to do an in-depth study on this so we might get some answers and solutions. I would be the first to volunteer.