How to Care for Anal Fissures Postpartum

Due to the incredible pushing involved in bringing forth a new life, many women suffer from anal fissures and hemorrhoids postpartum. A consistent daily regimen of nutrition, good hygiene and exercise can help reduce the discomfort associated with an anal fissure.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Inflatable Pillows Ring
• Blow Dryers
• Witch Hazel Pads
• Water Bottles

1. Avoid constipation. Eat a diet high in fiber and whole grains, with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day.

2. Exercise, even if it is just a brisk 10-minute walk. Exercise helps to increase blood flow.

3. Place hemorrhoid pads on your sanitary napkin. Witch hazel is the main ingredient in most hemorrhoid pads and helps decrease swelling in skin tissue. Put 3 to 5 pads onto your sanitary napkin, so they are right against your rectum, and change them as often as you change the napkin. Use hemorrhoid pads in place of toilet paper, if toilet paper is too painful.

4. Cleanse your rectal area thoroughly after each bowel movement. Use a peri-bottle after you have a bowel movement. Your birthing facility should provide you with one, but if they don't you can buy one at a pharmacy. It is simply a squirt bottle you fill with lukewarm water. Squirt the water on your anus after you have a bowel movement. Pat the area dry, or air-dry if it is too sensitive to use toilet paper or use hemorrhoid pads to cleanse the rectum.

5. Air-dry your rectal area. When you have privacy, lie on your bed without panties or the sanitary napkin. Place towels under you to absorb any vaginal discharge (layer several towels if the discharge is heavy). Lie with your knees bent and feet flat. Let your rectum dry naturally or hold a hair dryer 10 to 12 inches away on the lowest setting. A hair dryer will speed the drying and the heat will feel good.

6. Alternate between sitting and walking. Walking can be good exercise to increase blood flow and speed healing, but don't overdo it in the first weeks of recovery. If you start to feel pain, change your position.

7. Sit in a warm bath three or four times a day. Most birthing facilities will provide you with a sitz bath that will rest on a toilet seat or you can buy one from a pharmacy. You may also soak in a warm tub, but get the advice of your doctor first. The warm water will soothe the rectal area and help to cleanse your hemorrhoids.

8. Apply a topical spray to your hemorrhoids. Some facilities or doctors will provide you with numbing spray or other hemorrhoid topical creams, and give you a prescription for refills. You can also buy an over-the-counter version of topical spray or hemorrhoid creams at the pharmacy. Ask your doctor or midwife for advice on which products are most effective.

9. Sit on a pillow or inflatable ring. Again, you may be given a ring from your birthing facility and they are available at most pharmacies. Sit only for short periods of time, as the ring can decrease blood circulation to the rectal area and slow healing.

10. Apply ice or heat. Some women swear by ice packs, others need the heating pad. Alternate between ice and heat to find what works best for you.

11. Do Kegel exercises. You perform Kegels by simply tightening your pelvic floor muscles. Pretend as if you are trying to stop a stream of urine. Do 10 or 12 Kegels every time you feed the baby to increase blood flow in the rectal area. Not only will you decrease your risk for hemorrhoids, but you will also be strengthening the muscles in your pelvic floor and vaginal area.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid waiting when you have to go to the bathroom and don't linger on the toilet; place as little pressure on your rectal area as possible. If all else fails, ask your care provider about stool softeners.
• Avoid lifting heavy objects, as this will put strain on your rectal area.
• If you have to pick up your children, do a Kegel, hold it and then lift. Always lift using your legs and not your back and buttocks.
• Consult your doctor or midwife if attempts to alleviate pain and discomfort do not work. Chances are the fissure is due to hemorrhoids, but a checkup is always recommended to eliminate other possible problems.

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[mirkor]

on 7/31/2008 You might also find some useful information about anal fissure home treatment ot this page:

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on 11/22/2005 Use soft fiber (like Metamucil, Smooth Texture, or Fiber One tablets). Your goal is to keep the overall stool soft, but not liquid.

Do take so many fiber additives that most of your stool is the supplement, as this may increase abrasion due to stool volume. Follow the directions on the labels.

Use witch hazel pads to gently clean the external rectal area. Tucks or Equate are equally fine. Note that the pads in Equate are actually thin material.

Apply hemorrhoidal ointment to the area, and slightly inside the anus. Use petrolatum-based ointment, not the creme.

Oddly, prescription Proctosol sometimes seems to work no better than over-the-counter products like Preparation-H or the Equate brands. Proctosol batches vary. If the batch is thick like paste, it works well. If it is thin like a creme, you got an ineffective batch.

Insert a hemorrhoidal suppository into your rectum, to get more medicine to the area (Anusol, Preparation-H).

Keep your suppositories cool, so they are not melted when you need them.

Remove the suppository from the wrapper before you apply the ointment, so that your fingers are not slippery when you open the package.

I developed my fissure while in the Marine Corps. My childhood was plagued with constipation, and my mother occasionally had to give me an enema to clear my colon.

The straining eventually caught up with me when I stopped growing, and it has worsened the past two decades.

We did not know that children prone to constipation actually need to avoid products containing fine flour.
(For example, white bread, pizza-dough, cookies, biscuits, and crackers).

Gas-producing vegetables (onions, garlic, cabbage, and broccoli) produce gas which aids the passage of stool.

Food goes from your stomach into the small intestine in a soup-like form, to aid transfer into your bloodstream. Your large intestine is tasked with removal of the excess water from that soup.

You need the fiber to retain some water, so that the feces is not hard as clay when being stored in your colon.

Too bad we don't learn about this from our parents or school. The internet is a major help, here.

If you have frequent constipation, you should try to include higher-fiber vegetables in your diet, depending less on fiber supplements.

Dark-green vegetables (Romaine lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, green beans, and pulpy fruits) are your best bets.

Metamucil tends to be sweetened with refined sugar, which will spike your blood-sugar. Sugar Free versions use aspartame, which is composed of 10% wood alcohol.

Reportedly, if aspartame combines with nitrites (in sausage and hot dogs), they create a chemical which may produce brain tumors.

Healthy Choice and Michelena's have low-carb meals which contain higher-fiber vegetables. Cauliflower reportedly has more vitamin C than oranges.