Living With Hemorrhoids Since 2018: What Actually Worked for Me
I've been dealing with hemorrhoids since 2018. I built Hemoride because I needed it — not because I read a market report and thought "health app." This is a short version of what worked for me over the years, what didn't, and the small routine I've landed on that keeps flare-ups rare instead of constant.
Everything here is my personal experience. It isn't medical advice. Bodies are different, and what worked for me might not work for you. Please read the disclaimer at the bottom and see a doctor for anything that looks like the red flags I list there.
How it started — and why it kept coming back
The first real flare hit in 2018. It caught me off guard the way it catches most people off guard — a little bleeding, then a lot of discomfort, then a week where sitting was genuinely awful. I did what most people do: white-knuckled through it, tried a cream from the pharmacy, and hoped it would go away. It did. And then it came back. And then it came back again.
For a chunk of those years I was also driving professionally. Long stretches behind the wheel, few real breaks, and the classic road-life stack: coffee instead of water, gas-station food instead of fiber, delaying bathroom stops because a stop is a hassle. Every time I'd finish a heavy driving stretch, a flare would show up two or three days later. It took me longer than I want to admit to connect the dots.
That's the frustrating thing about hemorrhoids — the trigger and the payoff aren't always on the same day. You have a bad-hydration, low-fiber, long-sitting Tuesday, and Friday morning you're paying for it. Without writing anything down, the pattern is invisible. That's basically the origin story of this app.
The routine that actually worked for me
The mental shift that helped most was separating two very different jobs: prevention and rescue. Prevention is the boring daily stuff that keeps you out of flares. Rescue is what you reach for when one hits anyway. Trying to use the same tools for both jobs is why people feel like nothing works.
Prevention — fiber, water, and gentle cleansing
The single biggest change I made was consistent psyllium. I take sugar-free Metamucil twice a day. For me, timing didn't matter as much as consistency — either before or after a meal is fine, as long as I actually take it. What matters is the big glass of water with it, and then more water through the day. Psyllium without enough water is worse than no psyllium; it forms drier, harder stools. I aim to always have a bottle within reach.
The other prevention piece is a handheld bidet sprayer. Switching away from dry toilet paper was one of those changes I underestimated until I did it. Cleaner, gentler, and it stops the low-grade irritation that adds up over the week. It's inexpensive, installs on a standard toilet in about ten minutes, and it's the one thing I recommend to people that always comes back as "why didn't I do this years ago."
Rescue — Mayinglong Musk Ointment
For actual flare-ups, the one product I keep in the medicine cabinet is Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoid Ointment. When I feel a flare starting, I apply it per the package instructions, and for me the pain and swelling calm down noticeably within about one to two hours. I've tried plenty of things over the years. This is the one that consistently helps me get through a bad day without derailing my whole week.
It's a traditional Chinese OTC product. It is not FDA-approved in the US, it has a strong distinctive smell, and my experience is not clinical evidence. I wrote a longer, honest review of it as a separate guide because it comes up so often. If you want the full breakdown — ingredients, cons, caveats, counterfeits — start there.
My exact rescue routine when a flare starts
Apply Mayinglong per label. Warm sitz bath for 10–15 minutes. Extra water for the rest of the day. Skip anything spicy or alcoholic that evening. Bidet only, no dry paper. Bed on my side with a pillow between the knees. This handles most of my flares within a couple of days.
The sitting-days = flare-days pattern
Once I started actually tracking daily — how much fiber, how much water, how many hours seated, whether I had a bowel movement, and whether I had symptoms — the pattern jumped out inside a couple of weeks. Long sitting days, especially in a vehicle, were the single biggest predictor of a flare two to four days later. Not spicy food. Not stress. Sitting.
That's not a revolutionary insight — every colorectal guide mentions prolonged sitting as a risk factor. But knowing it in the abstract and seeing it in your own log are completely different. The log made it obvious that on days I had to sit a lot, I needed to compensate: extra water, an actual walk break every hour I could manage, more fiber that evening, and Mayinglong ready in case. That kind of proactive adjustment cut my flare frequency dramatically.
If you drive for a living, or you have a desk job that eats 10+ hours a day, you already know sitting is the enemy. The trick is that most people don't feel the damage until days later, so the connection stays fuzzy. Track a few weeks. It stops being fuzzy.
Why I built Hemoride
I didn't want another generic "symptom diary" that took ten taps to log a bowel movement. I wanted something so simple that on a rough day, when I'm not in the mood to open an app, I'd still open it. Fast entries. Real numbers on fiber and water. Bristol scale for stools. A history I could actually export and hand to a doctor. And no account, no data leaving my phone.
That's what Hemoride is. It's a free tool that reflects the routine I wish I'd had in 2018, with the specific data points that would have shown me my triggers years earlier. You don't have to sign up for anything. Everything stays on your device. If it helps you connect a dot faster than I did, that's the whole point.
The three products I actually use
I get asked "what do you actually use" more than any other question, so here they are, with short honest notes. These are products I use myself. Nothing here is sponsored.
- Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoid Ointment — my rescue cream. Applied per label at the first sign of a flare, relief within about 1–2 hours for me. Details, ingredients, and caveats are in the full review linked below.
- Sugar-free Metamucil (psyllium husk) — twice a day, before or after meals, with a big glass of water. Consistency matters way more than timing.
- Handheld bidet sprayer — installed on the toilet, replaces dry paper. Cheap, easy to install, quietly one of the most useful changes I've made.
Each of those has its own product page with more detail:
- Hemorrhoid rescue cream: /product/hemorrhoid-cream
- Psyllium fiber supplement: /product/psyllium-husk
- Handheld bidet sprayer: /product/bidet-sprayer
This is my experience, not medical advice
I'm not a clinician. What worked for me is one person's data point. If you're pregnant, on blood thinners, have inflammatory bowel disease, or are dealing with heavy or persistent bleeding, talk to a doctor before adopting anyone's routine — including mine.
When I stop DIY-ing and go see a doctor
The whole point of self-care is that it handles the ordinary stuff. It doesn't handle everything. My personal rule of thumb, which I'd suggest for anyone: if any of these show up, stop self-treating and get evaluated.
- Heavy bleeding (more than streaks on paper), or bleeding that continues between bowel movements.
- Severe pain that isn't responding to sitz baths, cold, and OTC options within a few days.
- Fever, chills, dizziness, or feeling systemically unwell alongside symptoms.
- Black or tarry stools — that points to bleeding somewhere higher and is not a hemorrhoid situation.
- A hard, growing, or discoloring lump that appeared suddenly.
- Anything that hasn't clearly improved after about a week of consistent home care.
- First-time rectal bleeding, especially if you're over 40 or have a family history of colorectal cancer.
Bringing tracked symptom data to the appointment makes the visit noticeably shorter and more useful. That's not a sales pitch — it's true even if you track in a Notes app. There's a whole guide on prepping for that appointment linked below.