Hemorrhoids.

Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 06:38:14 GMT
Sender: HERB.TREARNPC.EGE.EDU.TR
From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: hemorrhoids

: I have recently developed screaming hemorrhoids. How humiliating - I never thought I could get something like that. I didn't even really know what they were!! I have to research how one gets rid of them ("without surgery" as the ads say.) Taking Dr. Andrew Weil's advice, I'm trying not to hate them too much, but rather to realize I have a health imbalance and need to find my way back. If you know of anything, I'd really appreciate hearing! (I started drinking aloe juice, and it may have been coincidence, but I felt really sick for a few days after that, and got better when I stopped. Think its a good idea to try aloe again when I'm feeling stronger?

NO! Aloe is a possible treatment for HOT type hemorrhoids, but they are far from the most common in the U.S. Cold type are associated with tiredness, painless hemorrhoids, worry. Aloe is very Cold in property, and will make your problem WORSE (as you have already noticed!).

The proper treatment is ordinarily Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang, which an acupunturist or East-Asian herbalist can supply. Eat warm, nourishing meals, NO FRUIT, FRUIT JUICE, SWEETS, OR DESSERTS! Soups are your friend.

--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com

From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: hemorrhoids

: In response to the above, can you clarify? I too am a hemorrhoid sufferer, but have never heard of hot and cold hemorrhoids! If hemorrhoids are caused due to straining on the pot, standing too long, and/or pregnancy, why would eating fruits and juice be a problem? Seems to me that these foods would loosen the stool and thereby cause less straining. Also, everything I have ever read on the subject of ingesting aloe tells me that it indeed *will* make you sick - nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps in some people.
: Please enlighten me.

Gladly. Hemorrhoids caused by straining, standing too long, or pregnancy are ALL due to the collapse of the Digestive energy (and subsequent prolapse of the anus, the end of the digestive tract). The anus is only the visible part--the entire Digestive system has become lax.

Eating fruit and fruit juice, while they do 'loosen the stool' do so by damaging the Digestive energy further. Aloe vera, as a very Cold substance, further damages Digestive energy in these cases, so the people who it makes sick ('some people') are those who have the deepest disruption of their Digestive harmony.

The proper course of action is to Boost Digestive energy by warm diet, avoidance of Cooling, Sweet, Juicy foods, proper rest, and herbs that support Digestive energy, and specifically that component that 'Raises' everything into place.

Hot-type hemorrhoids are very painful, bleed, and are associated with anger, hbp, high-fat diet, alcohol, lack of rest, high stress. They are a completely different animal, for which Cold laxatives like aloe are very soothing (they Clear some of the Heat that is driving the pattern).

This was all worked out very long ago (a thousand years). Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang was developed in the Song dynasty by a doctor who saw clearly what this [former] pattern represented, and created a very clever formula to treat it. Formulas for the latter pattern were developed later, say within the last 400 years.

Yin/Yang theory is not particularly Chinese--all traditional cultures would have identified these differences in something that we, in our modern generalizing, call 'hemorrhoids' (as if they were one pattern, rather than two).

--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com

From: Paul Iannone <p_iannone.POP.COM>
Subject: Re: hemorrhoids

: I'm sure all of this makes sense to you, but you are confusing me. What you describe as a Hot-type sounds like me all over. Probably due to stress. So, which is the proper diet for someone on the hot list?
: Please be specific, list types of foods etcetera.
: TIA

If you really have the Hot-type (which is entirely possible, of course), then diet is not really an enormous issue. You need to absolutely avoid coffee, alcohol, spicy foods, high fat diet, and constipating foods. Cold laxatives like aloe, foods like tofu, lettuce, and possibly fruits like banana and watermelon will be helpful. There are several OTC-patent Chinese herbal salves for direct topical application that are quite effective for this pattern.

--Paul || p_iannone.pop.com