3 posts shown.
Michael Torres80 said:I’m heading to see my doctor in a few days because I’ve been seeing blood in my stool for quite a while now... back when I wasn't eating very well, there was just some on the toilet paper, but now it’s actually in the stool itself. Today, when I went to the bathroom, it was incredibly painful, and there were streaks of blood in the stool... I'm honestly terrified that it might be Stage 4 and that I'll have to undergo surgery..
Can anyone tell me what a hemorrhoid exam is actually like, and does it hurt?
My issue is that whenever I have a harder bowel movement, the blood shows up right then
but I don't understand why it's appearing in the stool now instead of just on the paper??
Before I started going to the gym, and when I was eating a diet low in fiber, I used to frequently see blood on the paper when wiping... and I haven't had any blood on the paper for about two years, but now it's showing up in the stool, so I just can't make sense of it
There are many different reasons why you might see blood in your stool, and unfortunately, no one can give you a definitive answer based solely on what you’ve described here. It would certainly be wise to schedule a specialist appointment to determine the actual cause—whether it's hemorrhoids, polyps, a fissure, or something more serious... Since you haven't mentioned any other symptoms besides the bleeding, I find it unlikely that you are dealing with Stage 4 hemorrhoids, because if you were, believe me, you would definitely notice it. For instance, I once experienced bleeding so intense it was practically pouring out, and I couldn't stop it at all (that was due to a combination of several things, not just hemorrhoids). I can describe how it felt when I dealt with Stage III-IV hemorrhoids, a polyp, a fissure, and damaged intestinal walls, which might help calm your nerves a little bit. At that time, I literally could not walk, stand, or sit; it felt as though my intestines were protruding, and my anus felt as swollen as a child's small fist. You cannot push Stage 4 hemorrhoids back inside; they stay external all the time, and trust me, you would know if they were there. Stage 3 hemorrhoids may prolapse during a bowel movement, but you can physically push them back in. As for the examination, it really depends on how much you can relax and what the doctor manages to observe. The initial check for hemorrhoids is most often done with a proctoscope, and from there, the doctor will decide on the next steps and whether a colonoscopy is necessary. During my last proctoscope exam, it lasted less than a minute because the pain was so severe and the bleeding was so heavy that the doctor couldn't get a clear view. In any case, the best course of action is to find a reputable proctologist, book your appointment, and follow whatever instructions they provide. Best of luck...
Aaron Sanchez4 said:What now? I was actually preparing to go in for an exam with them myself.
Aaron Sanchez4 ...I really don't want to tell you whether you should see him or stay away. My own hard-earned lesson from everything I have endured over these last few months is that I will never again turn to a private practice for something that seems even remotely trivial. A hospital is still a hospital, after all, and if—God forbid—something were to get complicated during a procedure, I know I would always find exactly what I need within the hospital system. Up until this point, I have actually handled about 70% of my exams and surgeries privately, mostly because it feels "faster" and I always harbored this expectation that if I pay, I will receive better, more attentive care. Now, Dr. Domagoj Ivanovic is a truly charming physician; he is the kind of doctor who listens, offers comfort, holds your hand, calms your nerves, and is always smiling while answering every single question... and honestly, that is exactly the kind of doctor everyone wants, and people are absolutely thrilled with them. If he had taken proper care of me post-operatively, if he had truly listened whenever I told him I was feeling unwell, and if he had finally looked after me properly at the hospital where he works, I would be calling him the number one doctor in the entire US. However, my current doctor—the one who took over after Dr. Domagoj Ivanovic made such a mess of things—isn't chatty or smiling at all; he is quite cold and reserved, but I have to admit that unlike Dr. Ivanovic, who listens without actually hearing, this doctor truly hears me when I express a concern. About four years ago, I dealt with second-degree hemorrhoids and opted for rubber band ligation. In my case, it didn't help at all, and things just continued to spiral downward despite following a reduced diet, ensuring soft stools every day, and maintaining a daily exercise routine. I have heard that Dr. Fila is quite good, and I know he performs ligations as well. He performed a second-degree ligation for a relative of mine three years ago, and nothing has returned since; he was absolutely delighted with the results. I have also heard that at KB Merkur, Dr. Kocman and Dr. Jadrijevic, who heads the department, are excellent. As for the major hospitals like Mount Sinai, I’ve heard Dr. Kovačević, Dr. Glavan, and Dr. Doko, the department head, are quite good there too. Ultimately, the choice is yours: whether you entrust yourself to Dr. Domagoj Ivanovic or seek out someone else. Regardless, I wish you the very best in choosing both your physician and your method, and I truly hope you can finally move past these ten years of suffering...
Dear forum members,
I have been following your discussions for about six months now, but only now, as my ordeal finally nears its end, have I decided to log in and share my story with you all. I will attempt to be as brief as possible, though I suspect that may prove difficult... To begin, I feel it is important to mention that the creams, tablets, natural remedies, and everything else you recommend here might not work for everyone; please do not lose heart or feel frustrated if they don't help you while they seem to work for someone else. Furthermore, anyone making a recommendation should realize that every individual organism "reacts" differently to the same therapies, and one shouldn't pressure others by insisting their suggestion is the absolute best thing on the market or a guaranteed fix. In my case, I truly believe there isn't a cream, suppository, natural remedy, or pill I haven't already tried, and yet, nothing has provided relief...
The sole reason I am writing this post is to draw attention to the Butterfly Clinic and Dr. Ivanovic, whom I see receiving quite a bit of praise on this forum. To be perfectly honest, it was because of the posts shared here that I actually went to see him for a consultation, choosing the DG HAL et RAR method in hopes of resolving my issues.
During the initial examination, it was determined that I had stage III-IV hemorrhoids, fragile walls with hemorrhoidal bleeding, prolapse, an anal fissure, and a rectal polyp. An operative procedure was performed to ligate a branch of the lower hemorrhoidal artery using ultrasound Doppler, along with rectorectal repair. This also included a polypectomy of a fibroepithelial polyp and excision of the anal fissure, followed by sutures. Finally, I was prescribed a week of complete rest. As soon as I was discharged home, I developed a fever—peaking at 103.8°F—which lingered with me for a full month. Since then, over the last four months, I have undergone a total of five surgical procedures, all thanks to the charming and perpetually smiling Dr. Ivanovic.
Initially, Dr. Ivanovic from the Butterfly Clinic allowed me to remain completely blocked for seven days—literally, for seven days, absolutely nothing would pass, not even gas or stool—and he constantly tried to soothe me with charming anecdotes, insisting that things would move along and that all my symptoms, including the fever, were perfectly normal. After a week of misery, averaging only two hours of sleep per night (I lost 15 pounds, yet my abdomen swelled up as if I were five months pregnant), he sent me to his facility, KB Merkur, for an emergency enema. It wasn't until the second attempt that they managed to administer a plug made from stool and blood from the polyp, which ended up sticking to the wall. I should mention that during this time, I couldn't even urinate properly due to the swelling and the blockage, and because of the intense pain and cramping over the final two or three days, I couldn't eat or drink anything. Throughout that week, I sent countless messages and calls to the doctor telling him I was doing poorly; I even stopped by a local clinic one evening, but he didn't take much action beyond charmingly patronizing me with reassurances that everything would be fine. During that exam, he performed a dilation and gave me an IV drip containing a cocktail of anti-spasmodics and sedatives. Following the first enema, I felt two rice-sized grains near my anus that were incredibly painful and appeared white. He messaged me saying they were likely just irritation from the enema and told me to apply Betrion cream. After sending yet more messages and calls, I returned to him for another exam, where he merely brushed his hand quickly over those two lumps and told me it was just minor local inflammation that would clear up with the cream. In the meantime, I also caught a cold (my husband and I both had fevers, though his lasted only one day). That evening, as my nose started running, my temperature spiked to 101.3°F, and the next day it settled back into the 98-100°F range. Because of the fever, my primary care physician wanted to send me to the ER, but Dr. Ivanovic, when I returned for the second time regarding those two small, pus-filled lumps, insisted there was no need for the ER. He claimed it was all normal, that fever is expected after such surgeries, and since I had a cold, the temperature was surely just from that—he even joked that if I went to the ER, they would just laugh at me. Meanwhile, after the first enema, I had a few days of bowel movements before becoming constipated again. Ten days after the first enema, my mother called the clinic and begged the nurse to have Dr. Ivanovic call me (since I am far too proud to call myself), but I was still not well. I still had the fever and was once again completely blocked. I arranged to see Dr. Ivanovic on Saturday at the Butterfly Clinic (since he would be traveling outside the US the following week), but the clinic was closed and he didn't have the key. We spoke for literally five minutes in the hallway; he just calmed me down, smiled, and told me everything would be fine and entirely normal. He even asked me at the end if I felt better now that we had talked! He suggested I try drinking coffee, apple cider vinegar with honey and water, lemon in lukewarm water, mountain tea, or Prunella syrup; if those failed, he said he would arrange another enema for me at KB Merkur. On Sunday, I consumed all of those suggestions plus magnesium chloride granules, but I felt like I was going to burst from the cramps and pain, and there was still no sign of a bowel movement. That evening, I went to the ER, but my doctor there noted that because of the fever, I should go to Internal Medicine rather than surgery, and they found nothing... just slightly elevated CRP and white blood cell counts. For the constipation, they gave me a suppository, which also did nothing. I sent a message to Dr. Ivanovic stating I couldn't take it anymore and asked him to arrange the enema again. On Monday afternoon, I went for the second enema at KB Merkur. The cleansing process lasted from 3:00 PM Monday until noon Tuesday. I literally did not sleep for a single minute. On Tuesday evening, while showering, I felt a lump on my perineum. On Wednesday morning, I frantically messaged Dr. Ivanovic describing everything and asking what to do next. I called the Butterfly Clinic because the doctor hadn't responded, explaining the situation and pleading with them to tell him to contact me urgently. The nurse at the clinic told me it was probably just irritation from the enema and that the lump would subside. Dr. Ivanovic didn't get back to me until six days later (on Monday), messaging me to say he had only just received my message upon arriving back in the States. I should note that I did not send the message via Viber or WhatsApp; it was sent to his business number. Even if he had been in Tonga, he should have received it, unless his phone was turned off...
By Thursday, I found myself in the emergency room at a local hospital where they immediately performed an incision and drained a pocket of pus—the diagnosis was a 2x2cm perianal abscess. This was occurring in the exact same spot where those two tiny "grains of rice" had been, for which Dr. Ivanovic had only prescribed an antibiotic cream, claiming it was just a minor case of local inflammation. My fever vanished instantly after the procedure, despite having run a temperature every single day for a month because Dr. Ivanovic insisted, over and over again, that my condition was perfectly normal. Following the surgery for the abscess, I had to undergo two separate operations for a fistula that developed because the abscess wasn't caught in time, and finally, a fifth—hopefully my last—procedure to remove a seton, which was essentially a thread inserted to allow drainage from the fistula and prevent the channels from clogging and forming another abscess...
Instead of the week of rest Dr. Ivanovic recommended, I ended up being out of work for more than three months. Instead of one simple surgery, I endured five...
Now, don't get me wrong, Dr. Ivanovic is a very charming physician; he listens, he smiles, he tells you exactly what you want to hear, and he has a way of calming you down. As long as everything goes perfectly post-op, he would be considered the finest doctor in America. However, Butterfly Clinic is absolutely lacking in terms of equipment or medical aids that could assist if complications arise, aside from basic IV medications. They don't even carry a flexible rectal probe or a cleansing catheter, which is why I was forced to head over to KB Merkur instead...
Furthermore, besides my initial discharge summary, Dr. Ivanovic failed to document a single word regarding the subsequent developments or complications. In order for me to extend my medical leave, my primary care physician requested just two or three sentences explaining my condition and why I wasn't well enough to return to work. I actually had to go back and ask him to note that I had received IV fluids for spasms and sedation, that I had follow-up exams with him, and that I underwent cleansing procedures. Regarding the second cleansing, for instance, I have no paperwork whatsoever since I was admitted to KB Merkur as a self-pay patient, without a referral or any formal record of my visit...
To wrap things up, Butterfly Clinic offers a whole spectrum of pricing for DG HAL and RAR procedures... $3.00 cash WITHOUT A RECEIPT, $3.25 cash WITH A RECEIPT, and $3.75 installment plans for credit cards...
I apologize that this post has become so lengthy, regardless of how much I tried to condense it... This has simply been my experience with Dr. Ivanovic and the Butterfly Clinic. It hasn't happened again, and honestly, even if they paid me, I would never step foot in there ever again. I truly hope that sharing my journey with Dr. Ivanovic and the Butterfly Clinic might be of some help to someone else...