What Your BMI Can Tell You About Your Health
Does BMI really hold the key to understanding your health, or is it simply a number? Here’s what your BMI can and can’t reveal about your health and what to do when it’s telling you you’re at risk.
Severe Hemorrhoids? We Can Help
No one wants to talk about hemorrhoids — which is why so many people try to solve the problem in the privacy of their own home. And if you have a mild case, sitz baths and over-the-counter creams and ointments may shrink your hemorrhoids and relieve your discomfort.
When those remedies don’t work, we have a treatment that will.
At Metropolitan Gastroenterology Consultants in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Darrien Gaston specializes in diagnosing and treating hemorrhoids quickly and completely.
He understands that talking about your anus is as uncomfortable as the hemorrhoids themselves, so he makes every effort to respect your dignity and privacy as he helps you get rid of your nagging source of pain and bleeding.
Things to try at home for hemorrhoids
When you have hemorrhoids — swollen veins that create bulging lumps around your anus — you may experience pain, bleeding, and itching. But hemorrhoids aren’t always visible. If they exist internally, you may not have symptoms at all.
Minor external hemorrhoids typically go away on their own in a couple of weeks, but you can speed up that natural process by lending a helping hand. Try:
- A sitz bath: soak your anal area in a warm water and Epsom salts for about 20 minutes
- Cold compresses: wrap ice in a cloth and apply to the area to reduce swelling
- Aloe vera: this soothing gel relieves burning and itching
- Witch hazel: a natural anti-inflammatory, this ointment reduces itching and burning
- OTC creams: prepared ointments may bring relief and shrink your hemorrhoids
- Stool softeners: prevent further straining during bowel movements
If these remedies resolve your hemorrhoids, there’s no need to seek medical care. Hemorrhoids are rarely a cause for concern, but they can be extremely uncomfortable. If at-home treatments don’t work, it’s time to come see Dr. Gaston for professional treatment.
Professional treatments for hemorrhoids
Severe hemorrhoids often resist at-home treatments and cause ongoing pain and bleeding. In this case, Dr. Gaston uses an advanced treatment called the CRH O’Regan System. This treatment wraps small rubber bands around your hemorrhoids to cut off the blood supply so they eventually shrivel and fall off.
Unlike earlier methods of banding, the CRH O’Regan System doesn’t use painful metal clips to grab your hemorrhoids, which often causes bleeding.
And unlike a hemorrhoidectomy, the traditional surgical procedure used to cut hemorrhoids out, the CRH O’Regan System is a nonsurgical treatment.
With the CRH O’Regan System, Dr. Gaston can get rid of internal and external hemorrhoids without:
- Bowel preparation
- Sedation
- Fasting
- Bleeding
- Pain
- Downtime
Here’s how it works.
Using a slender tube with a scope, Dr. Gaston guides the instrument to the base of your hemorrhoid, uses gentle suction to pull it into the tube, then releases the rubber band so it tightens underneath the swollen tissue. He retracts the instrument, and you’re free to go home.
The CRH O’Regan System treatment is painless, complete in under a minute, and 99% effective. Within a week, your hemorrhoid falls off, and most people don’t even realize it when it does.
If you’ve tried to resolve your hemorrhoid problems on your own with no success, call or click to book an appointment with Dr. Gaston. He can deliver more than temporary relief — he can banish your hemorrhoids for good.
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