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Haemorrhoids- commonly called piles are grape-sized swellings in the anus. Small dilated blood vessels, which occur in the region of the anus the bowl exit. They are similar to varicose veins. They may cause irritation and some pain, or bleeding from the bowel particularly after the bowels have been opened. Some times also piles "comes down" and protrudes through the anus. Piles sometimes occur in pregnancy, due to increasing pressure caused by the growing child. These usually respond to home treatment should be analysed and treated by a competent physician.
Haemorrhoids or anal discomfort, which fails to respond to home treatment should be analysed and treated by a competent physician.
Some explain that piles or haemorrhoids, is a varicose and often inflamed condition of the veins about the lower end of the bowel. Hemorrhoids are external, internal or mixed. In external piles there is not much bleeding but a lot of pain, where as the internal piles consist in discharge of several ounces of dark blood. Pile is not a disease in the strictest sense of the term but a symptom.
There is an interesting note in the history, of piles. Historians say that a severe case of hemorrhoids kept Napoleon off his horse at waterloo, delaying the battle and lose him the war. Piles have figured in another war doctors have fought for years over exactly what they are and how they are caused.
In the past, some doctors blame piles on evolution: according to this theory, gravity tugs at the anus, pulling it out of shape. Others say that hemorrhoids are hereditary. Still others fault the body's basic design; years of use almost inevitably rupture the anal veins. All of these theories have on e thing in common; they believe that hemorrhoids are an unpleasant but practically inevitable feature of life. In short, they believe hemorrhoids are natural.
However, a British surgeon, has mustered huge army of evidence and routed all these theories. He presented studies showing that piles were 'rare' among rural Africans (so much for piles being natural), but in Urban Africa,' where western dietary customs have been adopted over recent years, piles were on the increase.
What is in the western diet that causes hemorrhoids or piles?
It is not what is in the diet; it is what is left out fiber. Fiber is the indigestible part of a food, the roughage that adds bulk to the stool. Natural foods such as vegetable, fruit and grams, are high in fiber, but refined 'western' foods such as sugar and white bread are low.
The typical diet of rural Africa relies heavily on natural foods; the natives who eat it pass large, soft stools- and almost never have piles. The typical western diet relies heavily on refined foods; those who eat it tend to pass small, hard stools.
However, they do not pass them easily. They push, they grunt, they strain. And straining day after day year after year punishes the anus with high, unnatural pressures. Haemorrhoids or piles are the result. Well, that tells you what causes piles.
But what are they?
One doctor explained it; "nothing more than a sliding downward of part of the anal lining" another doctor described that thick 'cushions' of tissue, veins and muscle in the anal canal allow it to be either wide open during defection or tightly closed before and afterward. The cushions are built to stay I the anal canal, but straining and bombardment by hard faeces can push them out the anal canal. It is these fallen cushions that doctors call hemorrhoids.
'Accepting this explanation' wrote another doctors'; it follows that piles are preventable……. By adding bran (the high fiber husk of wheat) to the diet to ensure the regular passage, without straining of a soft stool.
Great if you don't have piles. But what if you do?
Brain should always be added to the diet of a person suffering from haemorrhoids advised the doctors. By softening the stool, bran saves the irritated tissues of haemorrhoids from more wear and tear. However, bran is only a first step; all of the agreed.
Pile is not a disease, but a symptom medicine recognizes this since its practitioner agrees that it is caused primarily by constipation. The pressure applied in voiding a constipated bowel tends to distend the veins and the external piles may be swollen causing pain making it difficult for the patient to sit. The piles become enlarged and red and give off a thin, blood stained discharge.
If your piles are painful and especially if they are bleeding it is time to get advice from a competent physician. The best treatment is herbal, natural unani.
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