“I’ve already spread the word”

Matthew U - Suffolk

For the last 15+ years, I have suffered with haemorrhoids with them becoming increasingly worse to stage 3. For those not in the know this is when they prolapse and have to be manually retracted, not pleasant, not fun and highly disruptive to everyday activities. I have had 4 bandings which all resulted in a lot of pain and not a lot of relief, if any it was short-lived.

So finally, after wanting a second opinion and seeing Mr James Pitt (eXroid Colorectal Surgeon), I was advised of this new treatment only recently allowed in the UK which involved electrotherapy, having not heard but desperate for a solution I instantly started searching for information. It looked to have been around for a while and mostly tested with great success in the states, so this made me contact eXroid who booked me in very swiftly for treatment.

Come the treatment day I was a little anxious but very hopefully, these things had controlled my life for so long I just wanted it to end, I was welcomed into a friendly clinic and greeted by the Dr who asked if I had any questions and knew what was about to happen. I asked exactly what happens and what I should expect which I was told although may see great progress with 1 treatment it is common for my type of piles to require a second treatment down the line.

So on with the treatment and its usual embarrassing part but by now, it’s something you just have to take a deep breath and deal with if you wish to get better, your pride will come back after I promise. With the device being uncomfortable but tolerable we began, it felt like a slight sting but nothing intolerable, in fact, the tingling on my left thigh (where they have you lay on a conductive pad to ground the body) was more prominent, it tingles a lot but not painfully like a burn. With the treatment beginning they next test your threshold for how high a current you can tolerate, I managed to 14 being my limit, this worked out 7 mins 4 secs per haemorrhoid and I had 2 to be treated, I thought this would be the longest 14 mins of my life but that’s where good doctors and nurses know to step in that bit further and began chatting to me, asking questions and distracting me.

Before I knew it, all was done and I could clean up and get dressed, everything felt fine apart from a slight ache back there but can hardly blame my body for that. I drove home in the car without issue, had a lie down when I got home just to be cautious and carried on with my day. The ache remained, similar to previous bandings but nowhere near as powerful just dull. The next day I dreaded a BM, but when that time came, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no pain at all, I had very slight swelling after and this was only day 1 after treatment 1. I went about my day ignoring the ache when I could but really suffering no other issues from treatment or from the haemorrhoids themselves unlike prior when I would suffer swelling long after a BM and also after a short walk.

Today is day 2, I still have this ache but not concerned yet, another BM with only minimal swelling I think less than previous but will try not to obsess over it as still early days and recovery is between 4-6 weeks to know the full extent of what the first treatment has done, the haemorrhoids shrink over time so don’t expect the first couple of days to be your end result. I have already spread the word in groups I am part of for GI issues as I know all too well many people suffer in silence due to embarrassment and fear without knowing about this procedure, I am very happy with my treatment and fingers crossed everything continues to go well with increasing improvement.

I can’t thank Dr James Pitt and eXroid enough for bringing this procedure to the UK and I will most certainly be supplying an update in a months’ time of how things have been.