What are the symptoms of hemorrhoids?
There are the two kinds of anal canal nerves: visceral nerves, which are above the dentate line, and under where you would find somatic nerves. Visceral nerves never feel pain, they are like the nerves in the intestine, and only pressure is what they can feel. This makes internal hemorrhoid painless. The somatic nerves can feel pain just like nerves in the skin.
The anal canal swells when the anal cushion enlarges because of an internal hemorrhoid. Sometimes the rectal lining protrudes from the inside of the anus and loses its normal position. This refers to as prolapsing internal hemorrhoid. This can cause bleeding and pain particularly when using the toilet, and especially when the stool is in contact with the hemorrhoid. The lining that has protrude from the inside emits liquid that lubricates the anus and the skin surrounding it. The rectal lining that came out returns to the anal canal as time passes, but you can push it back to the inside using your finger. If this is done, there is no assurance that it won’t came back again, usually in your next bowel movement it will prolapse again.
A condition called incarceration of the hemorrhoid happens when the hemorrhoid that prolapses cannot be pushed back inside. Squeezing pressure of the anal sphincter can cut off the blood supply of incarcerated hemorrhoid. This requires immediate treatment.
Doctors use a grading system to determine how severe the hemorrhoid is.
• First-degree Hemorrhoid – Bleeding but does not protrude
• Second-degree Hemorrhoid – Prolapsing hemorrhoid but the rectal lining returns inside of the anus on its own
• Third-degree Hemorrhoid -Hemorrhoid must be pushed by a finger to be able to bring it back inside the anus
• Fourth-degree Hemorrhoid -Pushing the hemorrhoid back does not work.
The last degree may also include thrombosed hemorrhoid a condition wherein blood clots takes place or the rectal lining that was pulled out was too much.
The symptoms of external hemorrhoid are very different from the symptoms of internet hemorrhoid.
External hemorrhoid are lumps at the anus, the symptoms of internal hemorrhoid are rarely seen in this condition. A major problem of this type of hemorrhoid is blood clots inside the anus. This is called thrombosis. This causes an extreme pain on the anal lump. It may heal by scarring and leave a skin tagged outside the anus. Most often the tag skin is large which makes cleaning the anus difficult and sometimes can cause irritations.