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INTERNAL PILES. Symptoms

Categories: Digestive Organs

The two prominent symptoms are bleeding and
pain. The bleeding is usually dark. It may be slight and appear as streaks

upon the feces or toilet paper; it may be moderate and ooze from the anus

for some time after a stool, or it may be so profuse as to cause the

patient to faint from loss of blood while the "bowels are moving." Death

may follow in such a case unless the bleeding is stopped. The blood may

look fresh and fluid o
if retained for some time, it looks like coffee

grounds, sometimes mixed with mucus and pus. Patients who bleed profusely

become pale and bloodless, and are very nervous and gloomy and they

believe they are suffering from cancer or some other incurable trouble.

The first the patient notices he has internal piles is when a small lump

appears at the end of the bowel during a stool and returns spontaneously;

afterwards the lump again protrudes after the stool and others may appear.

They become larger and larger, come down oftener and no longer return

spontaneously, but must be replaced after each stool. As a result of this

handling, they grow sensitive, swollen, inflamed and ulcerated, and the

sphincter muscle becomes irritable. Later on one or more of the piles are

caught in the grasp of the sphincter muscle and rapidly increases in size.

It is then hard to relieve them, and when returned they act as foreign

bodies, excite irritation and they are almost constantly expelled and the

same procedure goes on at each stool. The sphincter muscle contracts so

tightly around them as to cause strangulation and unless properly treated

they become gangrenous and slough off.







Recovery, Pain, etc. The pain is not great in the early stages, but when

the muscle grasps and contracts the pile or piles it becomes terrible and

constant. Piles rarely end fatally. Palliative treatment does not afford a

permanent cure. They frequently return, but by care and diet many can be

kept from returning so frequently. They should be treated upon their first

appearance when the chances of a permanent cure without an operation are

much better.



PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Internal Piles. What to do first. The cause

should be removed. Restore a displaced womb. Regulate the bowels, liver,

diet, and habits. Much can be accomplished by these measures if properly

used, in allaying inflammation diminishing pain and reducing the size of

the piles. These measures will not cure them if they are large, overgrown

and protruding. When the piles are inflamed, strangulated or ulcerated,

the patient should remain in bed in a recumbent position and hot

fomentations of hops, etc., and hot poultices, of flaxseed, slippery elm,

bread and milk, the ice bag, or soothing applications and astringent

remedies, should be applied to the parts. In some cases cold applications

are the best. The cold or astringent applications give the best results

where the piles are simply inflamed and the sphincter muscle does not act

spasmodically, jerkily. But when the piles are strangulated, "choked

tight" by the sphincter muscle, hot fomentations, poultices and soothing

remedies give the most relief, because they reduce spasmodic contractions

of the muscle and allay the pain. Instead of the poultices and

fomentations, the "sitz" bath can be used. Put in the steaming water,

hops, catnip, tansy, pennyroyal, etc., and the steam arising will

frequently give great relief. This can be given frequently; ten to twenty

drops of laudanum can be added to the poultices when the piles are very

painful.



1. For inflamed piles, the following combinations may be used:--



Gum Camphor 1 dram

Calomel 12 grains

Vaselin 1 ounce



Mix thoroughly and apply freely around the anus and in the rectum on the

piles.



The external parts should always be bathed with hot water, thoroughly,

before using.



2. Gum Camphor 2 drams

Chloretone 1 dram

Menthol 20 grains

Ointment of Zinc Oxide 1 ounce



Mix and apply directly to the piles.



3. When there is a slight bleeding, water of witch-hazel extract, one to

two ounces to be injected into the rectum. This witch-hazel water freely

used is good for external piles also. This is good and well recommended.







4. If the protruded pile is inflamed and hard to push back, the following

is good and recommended highly:--



Chloretone 1 dram

Iodoform 1 dram

Gum Camphor 1 dram

Petrolatum 1 ounce



Mix and use as a salve.



5. An ointment composed of equal parts of fine-cut tobacco and raisins,

seedless, chopped fine and mixed with enough lard, makes a good ointment

to apply on both external and internal piles.



6. Tea of white oak bark, boiled down so as to be strong, and mixed with

lard and applied frequently, is good as an astringent, but not for the

very painful kind. It will take down the swelling.



7. Take a rectal injection of cold water before the regular daily stool.

This will soften the feces and decrease the congestion.



Preventive Treatment. This is very important and includes habits and

diet and other diseases. If the patient is thin and pale give tonics.

Correct any disease of any neighboring organ. Attend to any disease that

may be present.



For Constipation. Take a small dose of salts or hunyadi water so as to

have one semi-solid stool daily. If necessary remove any feces that may

even then be retained, by injections of soap suds or warm water containing

oil. Discontinue injections as soon as a daily full stool can be had

without it.



Habits. Full-blooded people should not use upholstered chairs as the heat

of the body relaxes the tissues of the rectum. A cane seated chair is best

or an air cushion with a hollow center. It is best to rest in bed, if

possible, after stool for the rest relieves the congestion and soreness.

An abundance of out-door exercise, when the piles are not present, or bad,

consisting of walking or simple gymnastics may usually be indulged in;

violent gymnastics and horseback riding must be avoided. A daily stool

must be secured.



Diet. Such patients should avoid alcoholic beverages, spiced foods,

strong coffee, and tea, cheese, cabbage, and old beans.



Foods Allowed. Potatoes, carrots, spinach, asparagus, and even salads,

since they stimulate intestinal action and thus aid in keeping the stool

soft. Stewed fruits, including grapes, oranges, pears, and apples. Water

is the best to drink. Meats: tender broiled, boiled or baked beef--do not

eat the inside part to any great amount. Other meats, but no pork or ham,

fresh fish, chicken. The foods should not be too highly seasoned; vinegar

is not to be used to any extent and this excludes pickles, etc.



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