Piles, or hemorrhoids, are enlarged veins found either externally or internally around the anus.
Piles can be rather painful and can make your daily life difficult and uncomfortable.
The steps below will help you naturally treat piles; however, if you don't experience relief from piles within four to seven days, you should consult your physician.
✅ Avoid medicinal laxatives.
Laxatives can be habit forming and can also weaken the bowels, potentially leading to chronic constipation.
If you want to stimulate your bowels, try to change your diet or consider taking herbal supplements that have laxative properties
✅ Sitz bath 🛀
Fill your bathtub with about 6 inches (15 cm) of warm water and add a handful of Epsom salt to the mix, stirring it up so it dissolves.
Now sit in the bathtub with your knees flexed for fifteen minutes.
Flexing the knees will expose your anus to the water and the warm water will soothe the pain and the inflammation.
Repeat two to three times a day.
✅ Try a warm compress.
Get a clean, cotton wash towel and soak it in warm (but not hot) water. Apply the compress for about 10 to 15 minutes, directly on the pile. Repeat four to five times a day.
✅ Use ice.
Ice packs can help reduce the swelling of piles. You can use already-made ice packs or place some ice into a plastic bag and wrap in a piece of cloth.
Place it onto the hemorrhoid region.
Only use ice packs for five to ten minutes at a time.
Do not apply ice directly onto your skin because it can had adverse affects on your skin (like frostbite).
✅ Apply an astringent to the affected area.
👉 Witch hazel - is a natural antioxidant and astringent, which helps soothe the engorged hemorrhoids and makes them less sore.
It can be applied directly with cotton swabs. It also helps to reduce the itching of piles significantly.
Repeat as often as needed.
Try to apply witch hazel at least four to five times a day.
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👉 Warm olive oil - is an alternative to witch hazel. Olive oil also takes care of the dryness of the region by being a superb lubricant rich in antioxidants.
👉 Tea bag - You could also apply warm, wet tea bags to sooth the pain in the anal region. Take care to ensure that the tea bag is not too hot.
Tea contains a natural astringent which helps to reduce swelling, while the warmth of the tea bag works to relieve pain.
👉 Aloe vera gel - contains components that have been shown to inhibit infection and help in healing minor wounds.
You can use the gel straight from an aloe plant by taking a large leaf and cutting it open to release the gel.
Alternatively, you can purchase 100% all natural aloe vera gel from the drugstore.
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👉 Preparation H ointment - available in most grocery stores, contains petroleum jelly, mineral oil, shark liver oil and phenylephrine — the phenylephrine acts as a decongestant and helps shrink the hemorrhoid.
✅ Vegetables
Put those vegetables in your fridge to good use. Beetroot and carrots can be crushed to extract their juice.
A thick piece of cotton or a big gauze piece can be soaked in the juice and then applied on the swollen veins.
Initial research has shown beetroot can reduce high blood pressure and might help reduce swelling of the engorged hemorrhoids.
✅Consider taking herbal supplements.
There are different types of herbs that can act as natural laxatives. Some good options include:
👉 Psyllium: A natural bulking and softening agent. Adults can take between 1/2 and two teaspoons of psyllium (such as Metamucil) in 8 ounces of water once daily.
The psyllium should be added to the water, stirred and drunk immediately (the mixture thickens quickly).
You may want to start with 1/2 teaspoon and increase the dose by 1/2 teaspoon the next day if passing stool is still uncomfortable.
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👉 Flaxseeds: Add as a bulking agent to foods such as cereals, salads, soups and smoothies.
Adding two to three tablespoons of flaxseed daily can ease the passage of stools.
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✅ Explore natural relief remedies. You might have a few things in your kitchen that you didn't know could help with piles. Here are some ideas:
👉 Baking soda - can be applied as a powder or as a paste on the swollen veins (use one tablespoon of baking soda and mix with water).
Make sure to only leave it on for 15 minutes as the paste could dry out the area and worsen the situation.
👉 A mixture of ginger and honey - boiled to make a decoction (an extraction through boiling) and then spiced with a dash of sweet lime and mint leaves helps detoxify the body and cool the system.
It will ensure a good blood supply to the piles.
👉 Three teaspoons of honey - boiled with two teaspoons of pepper and two teaspoons of fennel along with 500 millimeters of water makes an excellent decoction that can be consumed over the day.
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👉 Use essential oils - To make a mixture, add two to four drops of the essential oil of your choice to 2 ml of a base oil, such as castor or almond oil.
Mix well and apply directly on external piles.
You can use one oil or up to two to three oils in your mixture.
✔ Lavender oil can help relieve pain and itching.
✔ Cypress oil is used to sooth and help heal the tissues.
✔ Tea tree oil is used as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory oil.
✔ Avocado oil can be used as a base or added to other oils. It moisturizes, soothes and accelerates healing.
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✅ Making Dietary Changes
👉 Eat more fiber. Preventing difficult or straining bowel movements by softening the stool is a major method of both preventing and getting rid of piles.
Fiber is very important in this regard. It helps keep water in the stool and bulks it up so that the stool passes through the rectum and anus more easily and, in the case of hemorrhoids, with less pain.
Good sources of fiber include:
Whole grains, including brown rice, corn and oatmeal.
Fruits, especially cherries, blueberries, plums, prunes, apricots, raspberries and strawberries.
Vegetables, such as leafy vegetables like Swiss chard, collard greens, spinach, lettuces, beet greens.
Beans and legumes. Note: Eating beans and legumes can increase intestinal gas.
👉 Drink more water. An adequate consumption of water cannot be emphasized enough.
A minimum of eight to 10 8 glasses per day is recommended. Sufficient water intake helps keep the bowel movement soft and keeps the area well hydrated and lubricated. Not to mention water is good for your skin, hair, nails, and organs, too.
✅ Get more vitamin C.
Vitamin C can tone and shrink veins, keeping them from becoming lax, prolapsing, or bleeding easily.
Vitamin C along with anthocyanins helps keep your veins strong and can protect against straining or tearing in the anus.[21]
Citrus and other fruits often also contain bioflavonoids, which help strengthen your veins.
Fruits rich in flavonoids are lemons and limes, apples and tomatoes. Anthocyanin-rich foods include onions, red cabbage and carrots and fruits like berries, grapes and cherries.
All varieties of berries, owing to their anti-inflammatory properties and being rich in vitamin C and flavonoids, ensure smooth passage for the stool. They're also excellent sources of antioxidants.
✅ Know what foods to avoid.
✔ Piles can easily be aggravated by certain foods. For example, heavily seasoned food with spices and chilies must be avoided at all costs as it can greatly increase the discomfort and bleeding of piles.
✔ Processed food, canned food, and food with preservatives should also be avoided as they are very low in fiber and typically contain chemical additives that can aggravate the condition of piles.
✔ Fatty or deep fried food like meat, fast food, and french fries can also intensify the symptoms of piles due to their poor fiber, high-fat content and chemical additives involved.
✅ Making Lifestyle Changes
👉 Don’t strain. Straining is one of the main causes of hemorrhoids. Allow gravity to help, but let your bowels do most of the work. If nothing happens, put it off for an hour or so, but most importantly, don’t strain!
👉 Try to routinize your bowel movements. See if you can arrange a regular time to use the bathroom without interruptions.
Regular bowel movements at around the same time every day tend to make bowel movements easier. Moreover, having regular bowel movements is a great predictor of overall good health.
👉 Don’t wait once you feel the urge to have a bowel movement. Go as soon as you can, but don’t sit for too long waiting since sitting is associated with an increased risk of hemorrhoids.
👉 Use baby wipes to clean yourself after a bowel movement.
👉 Wear cotton underwear. Avoid wearing thongs which may irritate the tissue surrounding the piles.
👉 Exercise.
The exercise can be aerobic, endurance, cardiovascular or just walking. The idea is that body movement can help keep your bowels moving by essentially massaging them.
In other words, as your body moves, your internal organs move and get massaged as well. This can help with circulation to the piles and also help keep your bowels regular in general.
It is essential that a healthy circulation be maintained in the piles, which are nothing but engorged anal veins. If the blood supply reduces, they might become gangrenous and lead to an emergency.
👉 Avoid sitting for long periods of time. Not sitting for long periods of time can be beneficial for people who suffer from hemorrhoids.
Sitting can actually develop excessive intra-abdominal pressure and may aggravate the hemorrhoids. If you have a desk job, get up every hour and go for a short walk.
👉 Find a foam cushion or a doughnut cushion (a coccyx cushion) to sit on if you do need to sit for a bit of time. This can help relieve some of the pressure.
👉 Cut back on alcohol. Alcohol is one of the first things you should cut down on because it dehydrates you and causes your stools to be hard.
Alcohol use can negatively affect piles and will not only hamper the chances of recovery but can increase the bleeding as well. It has been proven that prolonged use of alcohol leads to portal hypertension (swelling of the liver) and hemorrhoids.
Try to limit yourself to a maximum of one to two drinks per day. This is the recommended amount, but you might want to try to drink even less than that if you are currently battling piles.
NOTE - If you don’t experience relief from piles within four to seven days, make sure you see your physician. Complications of piles are rare, but anemia from blood loss and strangulated (twisted) piles can occur.
Do not try too many remedies at one time. Try one and follow religiously for more than three months.
Natural remedies are the best and watch your diet, less starch and more greens, exercise is good, especially walking and remember, say no to smoking and alcohol.
HLF🌴
