site banner
PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   2443 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 18, 2024

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

CW: gross

Treatments for hemorrhoids that don't cost a fortune?

This is my impressions of hemorrhoid removal treatment, having experienced all three.

Top Tier: Aluminum Potassium Sulfate and Tannic Acid injection (ALTA) is a new method of non invasive hemorrhoid removal that's very popular in Japan but not used in the west for some reason. Nearly painless compared to other methods, reasonable effectiveness (like 95% at worst) and extremely safe. Only works on internal hemorrhoids though.

Mid Tier: Banding procedure. Basically the doc will use a wide syringe to pop a rubber band around your hemorrhoid that hurts like hell for the first half hour and then maybe a week of feeling a weird tightness before the band falls off. Procedure is done with only topical anesthetic, doesn't take that long. No serious complication risk.

Avoid Tier: Surgical removal. The lowest reoccurrence rate, but highest likelihood of complications. Very painful, weeks of recovery time. The worst that can happen is damaging the system responsible for fecal continence (life ruining). Only use as a last resort.

For prevention, this is the most actionable advice:

  • Squat when doing bowel movement. Get a stool to elevate feet.
  • Never push, never hold your breath. just hold the squatting position and relax. Do not force yourself to evacuate everything in one session.
  • Supplement fiber. Don't need to get the whole DV in. Psyllium husk powder is recommended, but it is unpleasant for me. My preferred intake is to dissolve 1tbsp (6g of fiber) into a small amount of water to create a flavorless gelatin consistency and then eat with spoon.
  • Rye bread is very high in fiber

For temporary relief:

  • Hot water bath before bed
  • Sleeping on side instead of back to remove pressure from tailbone
  • Dr butlers hemorrhoid and fissure cream. I like this one because it has a lot of lidocaine.

Anusol. What a name. But yeah, that. Also increase your fiber to avoid recurrence.

If your hemorrhoids are caused by your diet, adjust your diet. Likewise do what you can to reduce straining. Fiber intake. Fluid intake. Exercise. A squatty potty (no really they work!).

Here's google AI's list of risk factors. Modify what you can. If it is caused by most of these (ex: excess straining), any treatment is going to not matter much because of the likelihood of recurrence.

Straining during bowel movements

Sitting on the toilet for long periods of time

Chronic constipation or diarrhea

A low-fiber diet

Weakening of the supporting tissues in the anus and rectum, which can happen with aging and pregnancy

Frequently lifting heavy objects

Being obese

Anal intercourse

Certain diseases, such as cirrhosis

Family history of hemorrhoids

The sitting on the toilet thing is real. I haven't had hemorrhoids, but breaking the habit of sitting there on my phone got rid of a precursor case of itchy-ass from inflamed veins. Also cutting out coffee -> no coffee shits -> happier asshole.

Shocked Google AI would say something negative about anal sex tbh. That's basically blasphemy.

Frequently lifting heavy objects

You're telling me that the gym did this to me?

Yes absolutely depending on what you are doing.

In America diet/obesity is the more likely cause, but if you are deadlifting like crazy or something else which fucks with your abdominal pressure yeah could easily happen.

Just use hydrocortisone cream and suppositories?

Thank you.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats