Hemrrhoids with Chemo???

TinaC
TinaC Member Posts: 7
in Colorectal Cancer #1
My mom is 58 years old. She had a colon resection on January 25 and has had 3 rounds of chemo Folfiri plus Avastin. She has not had any nausea or diarrhea at all and has just felt a bit tired. However, she has immense pain from some very large hemrroids, both internal and external. She is in a ton of pain from them and has spent the last week in the hospital because of the pain. This has never been a problem for her in the past. Her oncologist (who is HORRIBLE btw) tells her that this is from chemo and if she bleeds too much from them, she will need a transfusion and will need to stop chemo. He has already "lessened" the amount of chemo, according to my mother but I am unsure if she understood him as I had to go to work today and was not with her. My question is has this ever happened to anyone else? I am SOOO terrified of stopping chemo as she has liver mets and some lymph involvement. I want her to fight this but she doesn't seem to be doing very well. She hasn't even left her house since the surgery other than for doctor's appointments. I am so scared. Does anyone have any advice for me?

Comments

  • Lovekitties
    Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member
    #2
    Hi Tina
    Has your mother seen anyone other than her onc?

    Seems to me it might be time to see a gastro doc who can better judge the cause and treatment for the problems, and it never hurts to get another opinion.

    It also never hurts to change docs either. If the onc she has is as you say horrible, then if at all possible seek out another.

    Hugs,

    Marie
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    #3
    Lovekitties said:

    Hi Tina
    Has your mother seen anyone other than her onc?

    Seems to me it might be time to see a gastro doc who can better judge the cause and treatment for the problems, and it never hurts to get another opinion.

    It also never hurts to change docs either. If the onc she has is as you say horrible, then if at all possible seek out another.

    Hugs,

    Marie

    I was very constipated and
    I was very constipated and had hemmiroids. I ensured I took ducolax on chem week. It hurt so bad and I had to strain so much all I could was cry. I also used kid suppositories I didn't have to go to the hospital but know of that have. I missed a month of chemo and I gad liver mets. I was okay.
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #4
    I developed an anal fissure
    and the pain was blinding. I was told it would not resolve until I was done with chemo - it healed about 3 months after stopping, so yes, the 5FU can cause all sorts of problems "down there". I was given a variety of creams to help soothe (didn't help much.)

    If your mom is not happy with her onc, she needs to see about changing.
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #5
    abrub said:

    I developed an anal fissure
    and the pain was blinding. I was told it would not resolve until I was done with chemo - it healed about 3 months after stopping, so yes, the 5FU can cause all sorts of problems "down there". I was given a variety of creams to help soothe (didn't help much.)

    If your mom is not happy with her onc, she needs to see about changing.

    Im in folfiri and terrible Roids!
    Specially 4days during and after infusion , day 5 or 6 gets some relief , it's completely normal!.
    Hugs!
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #6
    Yep, me too
    Hi,

    I'm surprised your mom is actually in the hospital over them. I guess they can be that bad. I have been living with severe hemmorhoids and anal fissure for the past few months. I want to cry each time I go- I'm not always constipated- actually it's soft or even diarrhea much of the time, but still hurts- feels like fire mixed with cut glass coming out (doesn't that create a lovely mental picture? lol!)
    I use suppositories and hemmorhoid ointment and ointment for pain, along with always using hemmorhoid moistened wipes every time. Some days it gets better, then usually when I have chemo it gets worse again because the antinausea meds they give in the IV cause constipation. Just when things were healing up again, the stool gets hard and cuts me again (or at least that's what it feels like). There's definitely blood in the stool & I think it's from the fissures and hemmorhoids together.
    I'm on the forever chemo plan, so no real chance of stopping this awful cycle.
    It is definitely my absolute worst thing that I deal with physically now (plus when I feel the urge, I have about 30 seconds to get to a bathroom or I will have an accident- an accident that is painful at the same time- definitely no fun).

    I'm kind of not knowing what to do now- neither my onc, colorectal surgeon, or regular primary care physician have any answers for me other than prescribing prescription strength supposititories and creams- they help somewhat but definitely don't help enough.

    So, it is unfortunate what your mom is experiencing, but I don't think it is that uncommon.
    Mine and your mom's cases may just be on the more extreme side.

    By the way, if you're unhappy w/ mom's onc, I'd urge her to agree to make an appt w/ another until you find someone better. Preferably this would be someone not all related to the group or office the current onc is in.

    Best wishes-
    Lisa
  • abrub
    abrub Member Posts: 2,174 Member
    #7
    lisa42 said:

    Yep, me too
    Hi,

    I'm surprised your mom is actually in the hospital over them. I guess they can be that bad. I have been living with severe hemmorhoids and anal fissure for the past few months. I want to cry each time I go- I'm not always constipated- actually it's soft or even diarrhea much of the time, but still hurts- feels like fire mixed with cut glass coming out (doesn't that create a lovely mental picture? lol!)
    I use suppositories and hemmorhoid ointment and ointment for pain, along with always using hemmorhoid moistened wipes every time. Some days it gets better, then usually when I have chemo it gets worse again because the antinausea meds they give in the IV cause constipation. Just when things were healing up again, the stool gets hard and cuts me again (or at least that's what it feels like). There's definitely blood in the stool & I think it's from the fissures and hemmorhoids together.
    I'm on the forever chemo plan, so no real chance of stopping this awful cycle.
    It is definitely my absolute worst thing that I deal with physically now (plus when I feel the urge, I have about 30 seconds to get to a bathroom or I will have an accident- an accident that is painful at the same time- definitely no fun).

    I'm kind of not knowing what to do now- neither my onc, colorectal surgeon, or regular primary care physician have any answers for me other than prescribing prescription strength supposititories and creams- they help somewhat but definitely don't help enough.

    So, it is unfortunate what your mom is experiencing, but I don't think it is that uncommon.
    Mine and your mom's cases may just be on the more extreme side.

    By the way, if you're unhappy w/ mom's onc, I'd urge her to agree to make an appt w/ another until you find someone better. Preferably this would be someone not all related to the group or office the current onc is in.

    Best wishes-
    Lisa

    Lisa - a suggestion that my surgeon had for the fissure
    My surgeon prescribed a cardizem cream, to be applied to the anus 3x/day for the fissure. You need a compounding pharmacy, as this is not a standard medication. His theory was that it would relax the anus a little, and lessen the pain of the fissure. I alternated that with Nupercainal.

    I can't honestly say it helped much (tho I don't know how much worse the pain would have been without it. However, I can attest to the accuracy of your description of the pain - absolutely perfect metaphor! I'd come out of the bathroom, and curl up in the fetal position, moaning or in tears, until the pain subsided a bit.

    You have my empathy.....
    Alice
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #8
    abrub said:

    Lisa - a suggestion that my surgeon had for the fissure
    My surgeon prescribed a cardizem cream, to be applied to the anus 3x/day for the fissure. You need a compounding pharmacy, as this is not a standard medication. His theory was that it would relax the anus a little, and lessen the pain of the fissure. I alternated that with Nupercainal.

    I can't honestly say it helped much (tho I don't know how much worse the pain would have been without it. However, I can attest to the accuracy of your description of the pain - absolutely perfect metaphor! I'd come out of the bathroom, and curl up in the fetal position, moaning or in tears, until the pain subsided a bit.

    You have my empathy.....
    Alice

    Alice/abrub
    Hi Alice,

    Thank you for the advice- I will mention those particular creams to my onc- can't hurt to try them. It is definitely awful- I don't know why- hope this doesn't sound terrible- but it actually makes comforted a wee bit to know I'm not the only who experienced the fire/cut glass feeling, lol! (nothing to really laugh about actually but it's better than crying!)

    Take care-
    Lisa

Discussion Boards