While it is not an exaggeration to say that when a woman is pregnant she is experiencing perhaps the most joyous episode of her life, it is also not wrong to say that pregnancy brings with it a lot of risks and difficulties which are sometimes difficult to cope with. One of the things that make pregnancy difficult and trying is having hemorrhoids. While hemorrhoids are fairly common among pregnant women, the truth is that the condition only makes difficult an already critical situation.

Symptoms of Hemorrhoids

To begin with, a hemorrhoid is a kind of varicose swelling that creates a kind of small swelling near the rectum. As a result of the swelling, a woman may experience difficulty eliminating. In fact, there are instances when a woman may exert too much pressure trying to rid her that the hemorrhoid may rupture, thus releasing blood or pus. In the same way, bacteria from the waste product may enter the wound and cause complications.

Aside from this, the following are the common symptoms of hemorrhoids:

1. There is itchiness in the rectum.

2. There is a burning pain in the rectum.

3. There is bleeding from the rectum especially during the process of elimination.

Treating Pregnancy-Related Hemorrhoids

In order to facilitate treatment, one must be vigilant about any kind of bleeding from the rectum during pregnancy. One must especially pay attention if the bleeding was not observed before. Once a doctor has confirmed that indeed one has pregnancy-related hemorrhoid, the following are the treatments commonly used:

1. The key to treatment of hemorrhoids is to be clean. In this regard, one must make sure that her rectal area is clean. One may use medicated hemorrhoid pads or moist swipes to keep the rectum clean. These are preferable to tissue paper because they are softer.

2. To avoid building up pressure on the hemorrhoid, one must avoid sitting on the hemorrhoid for a long time. Likewise, one must also avoid standing for too long as this will also contribute in building up pressure to the hemorrhoid. Instead, one must choose to lie down and rest.

3. If there is a need to lift heavy weights, one must avoid doing the chore herself because the force that one will generate will only cause the hemorrhoid to become irritated and painful.

4. Another way to treat hemorrhoid is to apply petroleum jelly around the area of the hemorrhoid to cool off the burning pain. Likewise, the petroleum jelly will act like a lubricant which will make bowel movement a lot easier.

5. One may opt top sit on an ice pack to provide some relief from the irritation or itchiness that one experiences from hemorrhoids.

6. If one cannot tolerate sitting on something cold, one may instead apply some warm substance on the hemorrhoid. This is made possible by dipping a towel in hot water and then pressing it against the hemorrhoid. However, one must be careful not to burst the hemorrhoid as it poses complications.