Symptoms of Hemorrhoids

Posts Tagged ‘hemorrhoidal cushions’

Are hemorrhoids symptoms caused by constipation? Yes to a great degree, they are. To fully understand how and why this does happen, it is probably best to start with an understanding of what each really means to your body. Everyone has heard of both of these conditions and probably knows something about constipation. Probably not many really know what hemorrhoids are or how hemorrhoids symptoms caused by constipation are connected.

Constipation happens when the waste material in your body moves much slower than is normal. Normal movements have no set criteria for every person. Each individual has their own unique body function which is 'normal' for them. If your bowels become so slow that they back up and elimination is difficult, this is considered constipation.

The causes of constipation are diet, inadequate exercise, muscle tone, age and nerve supply. The processing of your food begins in the mouth, then the stomach, then on to the small bowel and eventually the large bowel. The throat and stomach engage in a vigorous peristaltic action that mixes the food with secretions that create digestion. Peristalsis is the muscular action that moves waste or feces through your body.

Besides muscles and nerve action, your diet affects the functions of your bowels. Exercise stimulates the movement of food through the bowels and helps with muscle tone. Water provides the fluids necessary for ease in passing feces. The older one gets, the weaker the muscles and the less active the person becomes. All these factors can lead to constipation.

So, how is constipation connected to or even the cause of hemorrhoids? Constipation means a lot of straining to pass stools that have become dry and hard, like little rocks with hard edges. If you already have hemorrhoids, constipation definitely makes things a lot worse.

At the base of the lower bowel the sphincter and the hemorrhoidal cushions actually surround this area for the purpose of helping in pushing the waste material or stool through the rectum. During elimination, the cushions will fill with blood in order to help push the material out of the body. Constipation means a lot of straining and pushing fecal matter that has become hard and dry and will feel like it has jagged edges, especially if hemorrhoids already exist.

When the muscles contract from straining to pass feces, this inflates the hemorrhoidal cushions. These are like little balloons. Just like the balloon, they can be overstressed. Rather than bursting, these will become overstretched and then cannot go back to their normal size. This is in part what causes a hemorrhoid condition. Unless addressed promptly, hemorrhoids and constipation repeat this uncomfortable cycle over and over.