Painful but not serious, hemorrhoidal attacks would affect one in two adults from the age of fifty. But by the way, what is this part of our anatomy for?
Intermittent or permanent, hemorrhoidal attacks can ruin your life! Without any seriousness – they never degenerate into abscesses or tumors – they should not be a subject of concern but they are on the other hand to be monitored … with your doctor.
And this is the most sensitive point of this little physical problem: how to talk about it without embarrassment and without shame? And yet, it is a fairly well-shared evil: it is estimated that from the age of fifty, one in two adults suffers from time to time or more regularly from hemorrhoidal attacks. Crises concern either internal hemorrhoids, vascularized tissues inside the anus, or external hemorrhoids in which thrombosis forms.
Closure of the anal canal
But by the way, what are hemorrhoids for? For internal hemorrhoids, the answer exists: “They participate in the closing of the anal canal which retains excrement”, specifies Dr. Philippe Godeberge, gastroenterologist. They are therefore one of the elements that participate in the regulation of transit and the evacuation of stools.
On the other hand, the “faculty” recognizes that we do not know very well what purpose external hemorrhoids serve. If not to make us suffer, when for reasons related to the effort to have a bowel movement, the length of time spent on the toilet or certain postures or sports that have an impact on the anus, such as cycling or riding, a thrombosis is formed there locally.
But it is not because we do not know what they are used for, underlines Dr Philippe Godeberge, that we should not, because of excessive modesty, be concerned about it and consult to be prescribe treatment.
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