Piles: Relief from pain with 7 easy tips
Piles/Hemorrhoids/Bleeding Anus, call it whatever you may feel appropriate, is spreading rampantly across today’s youth (yes it’s no more limited to preggers and elders only)! So without any further wait, let’s dive into 7 tips that will make your life easy (that is if you are suffering from piles!)…
TIP NO 1. DO NOT STRAIN
Yeah, I know that this one you have heard like a million times. And trust me, I know it hurts when you strain or apply pressure. You are trying your best not to do it, but sometimes the feeling of “unfinished business” may tempt you to sit a little longer and maybe strain just a little bit.
Don’t Do It!
Easier for me to say, what do I know, right? Well yes, but that is why presenting tip no. 2
TIP NO 2. UP YOUR FIBER GAME
A seemingly innocent habit of taking stool softeners can become an addiction in no time. And you don’t want to become dependent on these things like your grandma was dependent on isabgol, do you now? What you can do instead is make dietary fibers a habit! Did you know that dietary fiber will help make the passing of stools easy by adding to its bulk?
Easy Breezy sources of dietary fiber-
- Fruits: All fruits (especially with skin) contain both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber (both are good for you). So can’t eat an apple a day? No worries, eat any fruit you like a half banana here, 4 dates there, a spoon full of berries/raisins (manuka) on breakfast cereal, and half a cup of orange juice with pulp in the afternoon; these are all examples of 1 serving of fruit, they all count! Make it a habit of eating at least 2 fruits servings a day!
- Vegetables: Leafy vegetables are especially rich sources if dietary fiber. That being said, all vegetables are good sources of fiber. Some non-leafy vegetables that are high in fiber are-
- Gawar/Guar/Cluster Beans
- Bhindi/Okra/Ladies Finger
- Carrots, Radishes, Beet Root
- Eggplant/Brinjal
- Ghevda/Farasbee/French Beans
- Cauliflower, Broccoli
- Lauki/Bottle Gourd
3. Beans & Sprouts: Lima Beans (Pavta), Double Bee (Fava Beans), Rajma (Kidney beans), Black Beans, Mung beans, Matki (Moth Beans), Chickpeas (Chana). Whole or sprouted, these are all great sources of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber.
4. Whole Grains: Don’t be fooled by brown looking bread (that brown color could be a result of food color!), look for claims like “Whole grain/whole wheat”, “High Fiber” etc. Also choose high fiber cereals like Muesli over regular corn or choco flakes! Dalia (broken/bulger wheat) is an excellent source of fiber, and sheera/upma/kheer made with it is more nutritious than the same made with regular rava(semolina).
Also, brown/red/black rice is infinitely better than regular white rice, but instead of pushing you to eat it, I will leave it to your individual taste preferences :)
TIP NO. 3 OPTIMUM WATER INTAKE
When you are dehydrated, your body reabsorbs water from stool which makes it harder and you can probably recall from past experiences how much passing of a hard stool hurts! My recommendation is to drink at least 8 cups of fluids every day.
Want tips on how to stay optimally hydrated, READ THIS-
TIP NO. 4 SITZ BATH
Talking about water, have you heard of Sitz Bath?
It’s an old European custom of sitting in warm water only up to hips. This relieves pain in the hip area. This is supposed to help in piles as it not only cleanses the anus area and eases the pain, but also stops bleeding by accelerating the healing process. Read more about sitz bath here.
TIP NO. 5 PROBIOTICS
Yogurt/curd, buttermilk, kefir, pickles, kimchi, cheese, idli/dosai… what do ALL these things have in common?
They are all fermented!
This fermentation process increases the number of “good bacteria” in the food, which upon ingestion helps make your digestive system stronger. And a stronger and healthier digestive system pretty much means bye bye piles symptoms 👋👋👋
TIP NO. 6 WARM MILK with GHEE
This is an ancient Ayurvedic practice of before going to bed drinking warm milk with 1 teaspoon Ghee added. This lubricates your gut and helps easy passing of stool. Now I do not have any ayurvedic authority or knowledge as such so can not guarantee anything, but as a child that often suffered from constipation, I can vouch that this remedy does really work like wonders!
TIP NO. 7 CHANGE OF ACTIVITY
Prolonged sitting or standing can make veins around anus area swell which makes things down there very uncomfortable. Which is why, even though things can get busy always take frequent breaks and walk around or sit (in case you were standing).
You absolutely do not have to follow ALL these tips, just pick the ones that suit you. Hope this helps even a little :)
If your symptoms are getting worse, consult with a Gastroenterologist.
You can consult a Gastroenterologist today, at DawaiBox.
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