Cycling with a hemorrhoid problem?
 

Unfortunately I got an annoying hemorrhoid problem that makes biking harder for me recently. I have suffered from them for past few years, but the last few months it has been really awful. Unfortunately taking long bike rides seems to irritate it more. The doctor gave me cream that helped me a lot and works better than Preperation H, but when the cream was gone the problem returned....bleeding, painful bowl movements, pain and discomfort sitting on the bike for long periods. I already got a well padded seat, so I added an extra pair of shorts to wear under the blue jeans I normally wear, but still I can experience pain down there when riding.

I still manage to get 100 miles a week average over the summer, but this summer it has really been bothering my hemmroids... but I still cycle anyway because I love riding my bike over the summer.

Any suggestions?

Recumbent?

Your area of concern is designed for stuff to comfortably move downstream, as they say. If you are in the habit of moving stuff upstream or against the grain, that could cause discomfort. Beyond that, skip the blue jeans and yes, ryd-a-bent:thumb:

Op....that's a bummer and I agree with shelbyfv.....get rid of the jeans

Had rhoids YEARS AGO and finally chose surgery. No big deal with the surgery and max ride has been 307 miles in 20 hours without issues.

That's what I was going to say.

The surgery is usually really short and you can go home once you get the post op pain under control. A few hours.

If anesthesia doesn't mention a block or spinal, mention it to them. I've seen people wake up screaming from this. I think it hurts.

Pretty temporary though, then you can heal up.

Get more cream?

As suggested before, recumbents negate many pains due to DF bikes.

I bought my bent when I had a cyst removed from a sensitive part of the male anatomy.

Cringe if you want my brothers but it is very common in men over a certain age.

Now my neck is healthier than it has been in three decades.

Bents are truly different to ride but super fun. Highly recommended.

BTW listen to the guys suggesting surgery. Roids can be fixed.

1 wipe Charlie's.
way of life...soothing

Wear silk padded cotton shorts. Stop wearing jeans.

They do make cycling jeans. https://potterracingproducts.com/sho...fic-race-pant/

Sounds like a pain in the butt.

I've never had a hard stool since I went vegan.
You don't need to go vegan, but take lots of those pysillium fiber

I decided to get more cream from the Doctor(refill prescription), it works better than preparation H over the counter. I guess I will have to live off of the cream for a while till I come up with a long term solution to the problem. Now that I been back on the cream much of the pain has gone away and I am enjoying riding the bike again. Doc also wants me to get a colonoscopy since my grandfather died of colon cancer in his 40's, but Doc is pretty sure that isn't it looks like just a hemmroid.

your doctor seems very anal about how they practice there work. Don't put the doctors recommendation on a rear burner, get it checked out ASAP.

I ended up having surgery after all. No cancer, but annoying hemrroids were getting worse and very painful with everything I tried to do. It eventually progressed to the point the creams no longer worked anymore and it was recommended that I had them surgically removed. At that point Endocrinologist took them out. Has made a night and difference in my everyday life, pain is gone now.

One of the best decisions I ever made was to make the surgery back in 1981. I've had no hem. issues since.

Surgery.

You can also look at prostate friendly saddles like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Hobson-Easyse...020337&sr=8-14

Also a word of advice from a hem sufferer:
Use toilet paper sparsely, that causes much of the irritation. Use a bidet or those fancy Japanese butt squirters that became popular during the great TP shortage of 2020.

Bit of an off the wall question just because you would want to avoid a recurrence: are you riding flat bar bikes a lot? I find that the posture of riding drop bar bikes puts less pressure on a certain part of my anatomy that may be relevant here.

Yes I ride flat handlebar hybrid and mountain bikes. I also have done heavy weight training for many years since I was a kid and a lot of straining in heavy deep squat positions. After some research I have been finding out heavy squats can cause hemrroids...oops I know now.

I knew there was a reason I'm not doing that stuff!

Most effective preventative for me has been eating about a ton of fiber every day, but I do find the leaning forward posture on bikes less stressful, and I also spend more time out of the saddle. I suspect YMMV.

Let us both hope for no recurrences.

'roids are not joke.

Actually got a boil/zit on my ass pretty close to the bung hole after riding in the rain last week and going too long without a shower afterwards, was camping and hiking the next day too. Bad combination... Too embarrassed to even have my wife look at it for me.

Ah an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure for sure!