Stages of hemorrhoids: 1, 2, 3 and 4 degrees

Diseases develop gradually: from the initial symptoms to complications, a long period of time passes. The development of hemorrhoids takes from several months to years. The complexity of the course is judged by the degrees (stages) of development. In medical practice, it is customary to distinguish four stages of hemorrhoids.

The first stage of the disease

The first is the initial stage of the disease. Hemorrhoids of the 1st stage are not very pronounced. Hemorrhoids are located inside the skin and are inaccessible to the naked eye. This is the reason for the patient's delay in seeking medical help.

Initial symptoms

At the beginning of development, the disease does not manifest itself in any way. Patients do not notice the small inconveniences accompanying the bowel movement. Hemorrhoids are discovered by chance, during the annual prophylactic examinations or when trying to diagnose another disease.

Symptoms:

• inconvenience during bowel movements;
• sensations of heaviness in the anus, soreness;
• mucous or bloody discharge during bowel movements;
• feeling of incomplete bowel movement;
• burning and itching sensations in the rectum;
• excessive gassing;
• a feeling of a foreign object in the anus.

Each sign arises individually and grows slowly.

Diagnosis

With an early degree of hemorrhoids, palpation of the anus or examination using a special mirror to study the internal state of the rectum at a depth of over 10 centimeters is prescribed. An analysis of feces for bloody spots is being taken.

Initial stage therapy

The early stages are treated. At first, a combined method of therapeutic measures is used. It includes parallel treatment with medicines and folk methods. Sometimes sclerotherapy is performed with injections.

It is recommended to adjust the patient's lifestyle:

• increased physical activity;
• making daily jogging, walking;
• a change in the nature of food - an increase in the consumption of milk and food with plant fibers, a decrease in the consumption of fats, seasonings, fried.

A mixed course of treatment is prescribed with suppositories, ointments and in tablet form.

To tone up the vascular system and change blood flow, use: Posterisan, Detralex, Proctosedil. To get rid of itching and burning sensations, bloody discharge - candles (Gepatrombin, Prostopin, Relief Ultra) and ointment (Heparin, Levomekol, Bezornil), relieving inflammation and soreness, regenerating tissue structures. Anestezin, Ultraproct, Lidocaine are capable of relieving pain.

The doctor prescribes therapy based on the results of the patient's analyzes. With the permission of the proctologist, you can simultaneously treat the disease with recipes of traditional medicine. At home they use:

• vegetable candles,
• herbal decoctions and tinctures,
• ointments,
• preparations based on bee waste products,
• sitz baths,
• microclysters and so on.

The second stage of the disease

The problem is identified on its own as early as stage 2. Hemorrhoids of the 2nd degree are characterized by pronounced symptoms of the initial stage. The release of hemorrhoidal cones after bowel movement is recorded. Bloody discharge is acceptable.

The prolapse can self-adjust back and heal. Do not postpone a consultation with a proctologist, as the disease progresses.

Symptoms of the second stage

At the second stage, the manifestation of symptoms - burning and itching sensations, soreness in the rectum - increases. With cracks in the anus, the soreness becomes sharper, there is more bloody discharge, there is a feeling of the presence of a foreign object in the anus, an unfinished bowel cleansing. In the absence of attachments, the bumps may not come out of the anus.

Prescribed therapy

Hemorrhoids of the second stage are healed by medicines - suppositories, ointments, injections, pills, as well as folk remedies. The use of traditional medicine improves the quality of treatment, but is not able to become an alternative to drugs. If such treatment is ineffective and it is not possible to do without surgery, therapy is used minimally invasive methods of eliminating the cause of the disease (dearterization, infrared coagulation, hardening and ligation with latex rings, cryodestruction).

The means of preventing the disease can improve the patient's well-being: a balanced diet and the prevention of fixation of fecal masses.

The purpose of medication treatment:

• Normalization of intestinal motor activity and bacterial composition. Use enzymes.
• Strengthening the vascular system. Venotonics (Detralex, Troxevasin) will help.
• Eliminate soreness. Pain relievers are used (Aurobin, Nefluan, Proctoglyvenol, Ultraproct).
• Elimination of thrombosis of hemorrhoid cones. Anticoagulant drugs (Hepatrombin, Proctosedil).
• Eliminate spotting. Adrenaline candles, thrombin, fibrinogen (Adroxon, Beriplast, Spongostan, Tachycomb).

The use of traditional medicine for hemorrhoids is carried out at home with herbal compresses, sitz baths.

The third degree of the disease

Hemorrhoids 3 degrees is a form of a disease with impaired blood circulation in the anus. The passage of blood becomes difficult and hemorrhoids appear. The bumps begin to grow and fall out of the anus.

Symptomatology and diagnosis

The basic sign of the third stage is the appearance of bloody blotches in the feces. There is increased pain during emptying, itching and burning sensations within the anus, spontaneous release of enlarged hemorrhoidal cones, which are adjusted with fingers. Development of anemia is possible.

Diagnostic methods include: palpation, sigmoidoscopy, anoscopy, laboratory examination of feces and clinical blood samples.

Complications of the third stage

In the absence of treatment for hemorrhoids at 3 stages, a number of complications arise:

1. Pinching of the leg of hemorrhoids, which leads to unbearable pain.
2. Blockage of the hemorrhoidal venous system.
3. Inflammatory process in pararectal tissue, causing chronic hemorrhoids. It is treated with an operation.
4. Heavy bleeding to prevent the removal of nodes.

Methods for eliminating the condition

Hemorrhoids with prolapse of hemorrhoidal cones are treated with minimally invasive methods - fixing the nodes with latex rings, dissecting the artery that feeds the hemorrhoids.

During surgical treatment, hemorrhoidal cones are dissected by dearterization. The method is well-known, not dangerous and not cheap.

The methods have a high risk of postoperative complications. Even the use of minimally invasive therapy does not guarantee the absence of negative postoperative events. There is a risk of infection in the wound. Postoperative antibiotic therapy is required.

The fourth stage of pathology

Stage four hemorrhoids completes the classification diseases by intensity. It is characterized by continuous soreness, discomfort, suffering of the patient. It is an increased severity and danger, combining external and internal hemorrhoids.

Final stage symptoms

Stage 4 symptoms:

• Inelasticity of the muscular tissues of the anus - the inability to reposition the hemorrhoidal cones. The bumps spontaneously come out in complete rest.
• The presence of continuous excruciating soreness.
• The presence of severe bleeding during bowel movements, which leads to anemia.
• The onset of continuous itching and burning sensations in the anus.
• The presence of spontaneous gas discharge and release of liquid feces.
• The formation of infringement, inflammation, thrombosis of the cones.

The only way out is immediate surgery. Medication will help relieve the postoperative condition.

Methodology of surgical treatment of grade 4 disease

Proctology distinguishes two types of surgical intervention:

1. Milligan-Morgan hemorrhoidectomy;
2. Operation by the Longo method.

Hemorrhoidectomy is performed in two ways: open and closed. During the first method, the wound formed after the elimination of the lump is not sutured, but overgrown on its own. In the second method, it is sewn up.

Longo's operation involves removing a portion of the rectum. In this case, the cones are not cut out, but pulled higher as a result of the dissection of the mucous membrane. The wound is held together with special staples. Cones treated in this way shrink and disappear.

Rehabilitation period

The first days after surgery are characterized by severe pain, which is eliminated by analgesics, discomfort delivered by the drainage tubes. The patient is forbidden to eat on the first day, then only water and pureed food is allowed. For attempts to prescribe enemas with oil. Accelerates the recovery process by taking baths with manganese and Methyluracil candles. Compliance with special dietary food is required. The recovery period lasts one and a half months.

The risks of surgery are known - bleeding, difficulty urinating, narrowing of the anus, the development of fistulas, the addition of infections, fecal or urinary incontinence.

Appointments are made only by the attending physician, based on the picture of the course of the disease. Do not get carried away with self-medication. Do not risk your own health and life.