Piles are enlarged and swollen blood vessels (veins) in or around the rectum and anus. Piles are broadly classified as internal (piles inside the rectum and anus) and external (piles that are under the skin around the anus.
     Piles are very common in general population and especially among pregnant women.
     Symptoms related to piles may vary depending upon the site of piles, duration of complaint, and general health of the person. However, the symptoms generally associated with piles are:
1. Pain or ache around the anus and lower bowel that can be very severe at times
2. Itching of the area (called as pruritus ani)
3. Bleeding along with stools. This will be bright red blood, not usually mixed with the motion, but often seen on the toilet paper
4. A feeling of something coming down, or a bulge or lump at the anus.
5. If a hemorrhoid at the outside of the anus gets a blood clot in it (thrombosed external pile) it leads to a particularly tender, hard lump.
Although the precise cause of piles is not known, problem with piles tend to be associated with factors that raises the pressure inside the abdomen such as chronic constipation, chronic cough, pregnancy, etc. The other factors that are associated with piles are aging, faulty bowl function due to overuse of laxatives or enemas, obesity, people with heavy lifting jobs, etc.
     The important issue that has been confirmed in studies is this problem tends to run in families indicating that there are certain genetic traits that are transmitted form parents and grandparents that make an individual prone to have piles.
     Homoeopathic medicines are very effective in management of piles and symptoms associated with it such as pain, bleeding, itching etc. The point to be emphasized is that the relief of symptoms is obtained with absolute gentleness and without invasion or surgery of any kind. Moreover the condition has high relapse rate following surgical treatment, as it does not touches the root causes like genetic tendencies or habitual constipation. Homoeopathy medicines working at root level can modify these genetic tendencies thus reducing chance of relapse and recurrence of the condition significantly.

Suggested Investigations- Routine Blood, Stool, Proctoscopy