I am getting ready to step out this summer for a high school reunion.  I want to go out and buy THE dress and wow the folks with….  I want to strut out and feel proud but first I have to get comfortable.  You see I suffer from hemorrhoids.   Sometimes the itch is crazy hard.

I have a neurogenic bowel and before my diagnosis I did not quite understand why my poop was as hard as rocks.  I could never figure out why it was like that, since I got the exercise and I tried to eat well.  I was always so constipated.  Reminds me of this joke;

Did you hear about the new TV show Constipation?  Sorry it has not come out yet. 

 First there is constipation and  then there was, and still are, hemorrhoids.   Hemorrhoids are sooo bothersome. I am no longer constipated.  Understanding that I have a neurogenic bowel and bladder helps me, because I can now stay on top of things.  I can now keep my hemorroids from getting worse.  My goal is for them to get better of course.

  I know what I need and what to do. 

  • I need to take my stool softener daily. I now take two a day.
  • I eat at regular times.
  • I drink plenty of water.
  • I carry along moist  towelettes.  Sometimes when I wipe to hard, I bleed.
  • Keep myself clean.  This helps with the itching and discomfort.

Before I understood that my constipation was a cronic condition for me,  I worried about taking any sort of medicine. I thought that if I took stool softerers on a regular basis , my body would become dependent on them.  I did not understand that with the neurogenic bowel, my gut just moved slowly. I have become proactive about my constipation. I still live with the years of hard, big bowel movements moving down and tearing my flesh because of the blood vessels became so big in that area.  I know there are over the counter creams and salves I can use, but I have not yet used them.  I am hoping that over time, the hemorroids will shrink down.

 The skinny on Hemorrhoids

  • They are veins in the rectum that swell under pressure such as straining to have a bowel movement.  Like I did when I was so constipated.
  • Waiting too long for a bowel movement.   What could have I done when I was so constipated? I think the kids call this "ground hogging."
  • Sitting on the toilet too long.  Give me a break, do you know how long it takes when someone is constipated?
  • They can develop from diarrhea also.  This surprises me.  I don't really understand that one.

PS, I got the dress!! Hotty Totty!!

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