{"id":31757,"date":"2014-04-15T00:10:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T07:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=31757"},"modified":"2014-04-14T12:40:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T19:40:18","slug":"everyone-hemorrhoids-causes-inflamed-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/everyone-hemorrhoids-causes-inflamed-version\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyone Has Hemorrhoids, and What Causes The Inflamed Version"},"content":{"rendered":"
Our resident medical expert, Scott, and a buddy of his recently started The Medicine Journal<\/a>, where you can learn all sorts of interesting facts about all things medical related. Below is a sample article from their site.<\/div>\n

\"hemorrhoids\"<\/a>Much like bathroom-humor at the dinner table, hemorrhoids can be a taboo subject.\u00a0 The truth is, everyone has them.\u00a0 Their job is to protect your anal sphincter muscles (the ones that open and close your anus) and to help keep your anus closed when you have moments of increased abdominal pressure, like when you\u2019re coughing.\u00a0 They become a problem for us when they become inflamed.\u00a0 Once this happens they\u2019re known as piles.\u00a0 Popular culture has led to “hemorrhoids” and “piles” to be interchangeable in common vernacular.\u00a0\u00a0 By the age of 50, about half of the US population will have dealt with these inflamed itchy protrusions from your anus. \u00a0Because most people with piles get curious about why their butt itches, let\u2019s take a closer look at what they are, what causes them to become inflamed, and how we can prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n

Your anus is controlled by one of the many sphincter muscles within the body.\u00a0 Sphincters are muscles that form like a doughnut around the many openings within the body, like the entrance and exit of your stomach. Those would be the lower esophageal sphincter and pylori sphincter respectively.\u00a0 When sphincters relax, they allow the entrance or release of liquids and solids.\u00a0 Normally sphincters are constricted which keeps those liquids and solids from leaving their respective positions within the body.\u00a0 No one likes the acid from your stomach coming back up and making your chest feel like it\u2019s on fire!<\/p>\n

As mentioned before, your anal sphincter is cushioned by hemorrhoids.\u00a0 Hemorrhoids themselves are made up of what are known as modified squamous epithelium.\u00a0 These highly vascular cushions reside along the anal canal in three main areas-\u00a0 the left, right and back of the canal.\u00a0 They are made up of elastic connective tissue and smooth muscles.\u00a0 Many of them do not contain muscular walls like arteries and veins do. \u00a0Because of this, they are technically known as sinusoids (a small blood vessel like a capillary) and can swell up due to blood not being able to leave.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re relaxed, they provide about 15-20% of the pressure keeping your anal canal closed.\u00a0 When you have an increase in abdominal pressure, like when sneezing, the blood going back to your heart through your inferior vena cava is reduced.\u00a0 This causes these vascular cushions to swell up with blood pushing on your sphincter, and thus, help prevent the infamous anal-leakage. It\u2019s also thought that hemorrhoids are responsible for helping us determine the exact content of what\u2019s coming out, like gas versus a solid bowel movement.<\/p>\n

\"6-Diagram-of-the-Rectum\"<\/a>When your hemorrhoids begin to swell up chronically, they begin to cause problems.\u00a0 This is when they become known as piles.\u00a0 Once they are piles, they can cause symptoms like hard lumps that can be painful and itchy, the feeling like you still have to go to the bathroom after you\u2019ve already gone, and mucous discharge or bright red blood while defecating.<\/p>\n

Anything that causes an increase in your abdominal pressure can cause your hemorrhoids to become chronically inflamed.\u00a0 Thus, there risk factors for piles-\u00a0 things like being pregnant, chronic constipation, lifting heavy weights, straining when passing stool, being obese, and increasing age. \u00a0Some studies have even suggested the tendency to develop piles is inherited.<\/p>\n

You have two types of piles, internal and external.\u00a0 A line known as the dentate line is what differentiates them.\u00a0 Located below the dentate line is external piles.\u00a0 These are covered by a type of skin called Anoderm that contain nerve fibers, specifically fibers connected to the pudendal nerve.\u00a0 The cause of the itchy pain is revealed!<\/p>\n

Internal hemorrhoids are broken down in to 4 classifications.\u00a0 1st<\/sup> degree protrude only into the anal canal.\u00a0 2nd<\/sup> degree protrude outside the canal but go back in spontaneously.\u00a0 3rd<\/sup> degree require you to push them back in manually, and 4th<\/sup> degree don\u2019t go back in to your canal no matter what you do.<\/p>\n

The treatment for your piles depends on severity.\u00a0 If only minor, your doctor may choose to simply treat the symptoms,\u00a0 administering things like corticosteroids to reduce inflammation, laxatives if constipated, pain medication and anti-itch creams, as well as advising you to attempt not to strain while on the toilet, and to use simple pads to help with irritation.<\/p>\n

If your pile is more cumbersome, your doctor can choose to remove or reduce the pile.\u00a0 They can do this in a variety of ways.\u00a0 Banding involves placing an elastic band around the base, cutting off blood-flow to the pile.\u00a0 After a few days, it will die and simply fall off.\u00a0 They can inject medications into the pile causing it to shrink, known as sclerotherapy.\u00a0 \u00a0Surgery is also an option.\u00a0 They can remove the pile (hemorrhoidectomy), or staple shut the blood-flow to the pile itself.<\/p>\n

In the end (pun intended) we all have hemorrhoids.\u00a0 Scratch your bums with pride knowing that 50% of us will have theirs inflame by the time we\u2019re 50.\u00a0 Let\u2019s just hope it\u2019s only a minor inflammation, because no one wants a Doctor cutting anything off down there!<\/p>\n

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Google Play Music<\/a>, Feed<\/a>), as well as:<\/p>\n