Question: Dear Dr. I have to have a EXCISION OF HEMORRHOIDS in a few weeks. I'am some what apprehensive having this done, but I have to, because even after having my inner hemorrhoids injected a few weeks ago, they still bleed and I still strain passing my stoles through my inner and outer hemorrhoidal tissues. My doctor said there is nothing more I can do because the injections did not work and the only thing left to do now is to take them out. My doctor advised me that after the surgerical procedure is done and the numbing medication wears off its going to be extremely painful for a week or two,and the pain will gradually subside. But the big problem for me is I can't take opiate pain meds. for pain they make me sick . I looked into the medication called, TRAMADOL, but I can't take that either because I take a SSRI-LEXAPRO, for my depression/anxiety. Dr. can you suggest any other pain meds. that can possibly take to REACH that pain level to get me through the worst of it. My doctor in passing said,"on a scale of 0 to 10 and 10 being the most painful, it's going to be close to 10". He also said, "we'll try to figure something out to help you get through the most painful time". Thank you, and looking forward to hearing from you. XXXXXXX

Dear Dr. XXXXXXX in addition to using the anaesthetic gel and laxatives during bowel movements, during the course of the day and night, are there pain relievers outside of using NSAIDS and tylonol , opoids and the pain medication,TRAMADOL, which I read (tramadol) can react with my SSRI,LEXAPRO, use with safe and good results? thank you and looking forward to your reply XXXXXXX