While some experience mild discomfort due to hemorrhoids, others suffer severely because of it, and they can’t even go to work or stand during flare ups. The condition might scare you when you see blood on your stool, and you might even associate it with cancer or other life-threatening conditions.
The pain experienced by people due to hemorrhoids is so bad, and it can be often summarized simply as excruciating. Suffers describe that it felt like someone is stabbing them. Horrible itching and burning with throbbing pains, even those adjectives are enough to scare you away and wish that you will not experience this in your lifetime. Sadly, half the population gets a hemorrhoid at 50, and you could be one of the victims, too.
People get hemorrhoids due to excessive straining when defecating, lifting heavy objects regularly, constipation and diarrhea, pregnancy, standing excessively, lack of physicality, and even anal intercourse as this practice often causes a flare-up. Experts also attribute the condition to excessive rubbing and vigorous cleaning around the anus, which is an extremely sensitive area.
In patients who have hemorrhoids, the veins in the lower rectum or anus protrude, and are inflamed and swollen. Aside from the swelling, patients can also feel a hard lump. This condition is a direct occurrence that happens after a blood clot forms. In some people, the symptoms go away fast. But in others, the condition may even last as long as they do not have it removed. Though not deadly, many people have suffered because of the pains inflicted by hemorrhoids, also known as piles.
The Role of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression on Hemorrhoids
According to experts, hemorrhoids are not directly caused simply by stress, anxiety, and depression. However, patients develop hemorrhoids only when their psychological conditions affect their digestive tract, which then leads to either diarrhea or constipation. As such, the hemorrhoids symptoms are worsened.
Link Between Alcohol and Hemorrhoids
Alcohol is also linked to hemorrhoids directly and indirectly. People who drink alcohol excessively more often have bowel movements. This happens as alcohol is a diuretic. Because alcohol can lead to dehydration, people who often consume alcohol may experience constipation, thereby making their toilet habits more problematic. The straining might lead to hemorrhoids.
In addition, drinking alcohol more than what is necessary will raise one’s blood pressure. And when this happens, blood pressure may increase, and the veins, even in the anal areal, will have to suffer, too.
Liver cirrhosis is the indirect link of hemorrhoids to alcohol. Alcoholics or those who already have a damaged liver have a higher risk of developing hemorrhoids. When the liver is scarred, the passage of blood is impeded. The blood supposed to return to the heart would then have to find another pathway, and this pressures the veins even more, increasing the risk of developing hemorrhoids.
The Effect of Drug Use on Hemorrhoids
Cocaine
Cocaine has different effects on the body. Studies show that regular users are excitable, restless, and even paranoid. The drug also stresses the body in different ways, leading to physiological changes, such as insomnia and other hallucinations that normally happen only in people with psychological problems.
But you might ask how cocaine use is related to hemorrhoids. Even short-term use of cocaine can lead to difficulty urinating and constipation. One of the major causes of hemorrhoids is constipation. As such, using cocaine can indirectly trigger hemorrhoids or make them more inflamed.
Another indirect link of cocaine use to hemorrhoids is the drug’s role in the cardiac system. Chronic cocaine use causes strokes, and abnormal rhythm of the heart. Before these dire effects manifest, the muscles and the veins are stressed at first, and since hemorrhoids or piles are simply inflamed vessels on the anus, they could be one of the first symptoms of a worsening cardiac system due to prolonged use of cocaine.
You should note also that cocaine affects the immune system, making people more prone to allergic reactions and even intestinal and stomach problems that could account also for hemorrhoids.
Marijuana and Cannabis
The terms marijuana and cannabis refer to the same drug. Meanwhile, botanically speaking, Cannabis refers to a flowering plant genus with three varieties. Cannabis is an acid-forming agent. As it converts the natural body pH from a healthy range to a more acid-forming one (meaning, below 7), many bodily functions are affected. The unhealthy change, or the acid-alkaline imbalance will weaken the veins and that may cause hemorrhoids as well.
Cigarette Smoking
When people smoke, all the systems in the body are undeniably affected, and even your digestive tract is not spared. Due to several factors, smoking affects the healing of hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids are inflamed veins. Remember that smoking raises your blood pressure because nicotine is an agent that constricts your veins. This affects also the vein in your anus, making it more irritated. When this happens, you are more predisposed to hemorrhoids as your veins in the anus can break easily even with just a mild exertion.
Meanwhile, smokers suffering from hemorrhoids should note that the effects of nicotine on the digestive system are just short, and stopping the habit completely can do wonders for hemorrhoid healing.
Lessening the Suffering Experienced Due to Hemorrhoids
Surgical procedures are almost always recommended for people who suffer extensively due to the condition, yet these procedures are not without pain and they may take ages to recuperate. It is still recommended that people make sacrifices on their own to minimize the pain so that they would not have to resort to such drastic procedures.
Avoiding coffee, alcohol, nicotine, staying active, and eating the right kinds of food that help make bowel movements easier are typically recommended.
The food we opt to eat or not ingest and the things we do and not do directly and indirectly affect our overall health and wellness. Though experts have definitely laid out the causes for having hemorrhoids, the several abuses you put yourself into might trigger or worsen your hemorrhoids, so try to make lifestyle changes and see how even little changes affect how you cope with the condition.
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