Home remedies for piles that work: the 7
1. Sit in warm water (the sitz bath)
UK health service: "take a warm bath to ease itching and pain."
A wide tub or basin with warm (not hot) water, deep enough to cover the bottom when you sit. 10 to 15 minutes, two or three times a day, and after passing stool. No soap, no salt needed. Pat dry after. This is the single most useful thing for pain and itching, and it costs nothing. The old books prescribe warmth for the dry, painful kind of piles too; see below.
2. Ice pack wrapped in a towel
UK health service: an ice pack wrapped in a towel "to ease discomfort".
For the throbbing, swollen kind. A few minutes at a time, always with a cloth between ice and skin. Many people find warm water for itching and ice for throbbing, and use both in a day.
3. Paracetamol, and only paracetamol
UK health service: "take paracetamol if piles hurt." And two warnings: "do not take painkillers that contain codeine, as they can cause constipation", and "do not take ibuprofen if your piles are bleeding".
Check the strip. Many "strong" painkillers sold at the counter contain codeine; that is the one that makes the next toilet visit worse.
4. Fibre and water, every day
UK health service: "drink lots of fluid and eat plenty of fibre to keep your poo soft."
This is the remedy that stops the next flare. Atta not maida, a full katori of dal, a big sabzi, fruit with skin, 1.5 to 2 litres of fluid. The numbers and the plate are in our piles diet chart.
5. Isabgol in a full glass of water
The UK page says a chemist can give "laxatives to help constipation and soften poo". The home version of that is isabgol. The US medicine guide's rules: a full glass of liquid, about 240 ml, every time; mix just before drinking and drink at once; keep it 3 hours away from aspirin and some other medicines. One dose at night to start. The full method is in constipation and piles.
6. Clean, dry, pat
UK health service: keep the area "clean and dry" and "pat (rather than rub) it dry". From its piles page: "do not wipe your bottom too hard after you poo".
Wash with plain water after going, then pat dry with a soft cloth. Rubbing with dry paper on swollen skin is a small injury four times a day.
7. Chaas with lunch
From the old books, not the UK page. The Ashtanga Hridaya (Chikitsa Sthana 8, verse 42) says piles uprooted with takra, which is chaas, do not grow back; Charaka lists buttermilk among the foods for constipated bowels. One part dahi, four parts water, a pinch of rock salt and roasted cumin, one glass with lunch. The verses, the recipe and who should not are in buttermilk for piles.
One more from the UK page: "gently push a pile back inside if you can." If a pile has slipped out after going, wash your hands, use a little water, and ease it back with a fingertip. If it will not go, or it hurts badly, leave it and see a doctor.
How to get relief from piles pain tonight
Time | Do this |
|---|---|
Now | Warm water sit, 15 minutes. Pat dry. Paracetamol if it hurts (no codeine; no ibuprofen if bleeding). |
If it throbs | Ice pack in a towel, 5 minutes. |
Dinner | Light, warm, soft: khichdi or dal-rice with a sabzi. No fried food, no alcohol. |
Bedtime | Isabgol in a full glass of water. A glass of water after. |
Morning | Go when the urge comes. Footstool under the feet. No pushing. Warm water sit after. Pat dry. |
Lunch | Dal, sabzi, atta roti, salad, chaas. |
Piles home remedy myths: the 5
Image: a forwarded message on a phone, toothpaste, a mystery paste, a cream tube tagged "6 months?", red crosses
If it is not on a health page or in an old book, it is a forward.
Myth 1: Toothpaste, or any paste not meant for skin
Toothpaste is made for teeth. On swollen, broken skin it stings and can make the skin raw. It is on no health page and in no old book. Warm water does what people hope toothpaste will do, without the burn.
Myth 2: Strong home mixtures rubbed on the piles
Lime, garlic paste, raw turmeric packs, "hot" oils. The skin there is thin and already sore. Anything that stings on your hand will hurt far more there, and can leave a wound that then needs a doctor. The old books' outside treatment for the dry kind is warmth and oil, not anything sharp.
Myth 3: Holding the stool so it does not hurt
The most harmful one, because it feels sensible. Holding it dries the stool, so the next visit is harder and hurts more, and the pile swells again. The UK page: "do not ignore the urge to poo." Charaka lists "suppression of natural urges" among the causes of piles. Soften the stool instead; the warm water sit before going helps the pain.
Myth 4: A cream for months, without ever being examined
A chemist's cream for pain and itching is fine for a few days. But a tube bought again and again for months means two things: the real cause, hard stool, is not being fixed, and nobody has checked that it is piles at all. Bleeding from the bottom has other causes. The UK page's rule: if there is no improvement after 7 days of home treatment, see a doctor.
Myth 5: "Just stop the mirchi"
A trial of 50 people with piles gave them a chilli capsule one week and a placebo another, and measured bleeding, swelling, itching, pain and burning for 48 hours. No difference. If chilli burns you, stop it. But stopping chilli while eating maida and drinking no water fixes nothing. The full story is in foods to avoid in piles.
Ayurvedic home remedies for piles: what the old books say
Warmth for the dry, painful kind. Charaka's chapter on piles (Chikitsa Sthana 14, verses 39–43) begins the treatment of dry, hard, painful piles with fomentation: oil applied to the area and warm poultices. In plain words: warmth and oil, not cold and not anything sharp. The warm water sit is the home version.
Chaas. The Ashtanga Hridaya (Chikitsa Sthana 8/42): piles uprooted with takra do not grow back. Daily, with meals, for a week to a month (8/37–38).
Soft food, strong digestion. Charaka's foods for constipated bowels: soft cooked grains, curd, buttermilk, leafy vegetables. Curd-and-rice for bleeding piles. And remove the causes: holding the urge, straining, no exercise, day sleep, heavy and stale food.
What the old books do not say: anything about rubbing household pastes on the piles.
Where home care stops
See a doctor if (UK health service): symptoms are getting worse or there is "no improvement after 7 days of treatment at home"; you keep getting piles; or you notice a change around the anus that is unusual for you.
Urgently if: a very high temperature, feeling hot and shivery and unwell, or pus leaking from the piles. Emergency if: non-stop or heavy bleeding, or severe pain.
And before any home course: bleeding with weight loss, dark or black stool, a change in bowel habit, or first-time bleeding over 40 needs a check. The UK page also says plainly: "Treatment does not always prevent piles coming back." The habits are what prevent that.
What a doctor can do beyond home care, from the same page: creams and laxatives from a chemist; without surgery, a band placed around the pile to make it drop off, an injection to shrink it, a gentle electric current, or an infrared light; with surgery, cutting the pile out, stapling it back inside, or stitching off its blood supply. We will cover these in a later blog on piles treatment.
Home remedies for piles: warm water, ice in a towel, paracetamol, fibre, isabgol, pat not rub, chaas. Nothing from a forward.
Ayuvya's Pyl Ease is made from Ayurvedic herbs to support people with piles, and comes with a piles diet chart built on the seven above. See Pyl Ease. If you have any of the warning signs, see a doctor first.
Sources
- NHS (UK). Piles (haemorrhoids): treatment: self-care (warm bath, ice pack in a towel, paracetamol, clean and dry, pat not rub, push back gently, fibre and fluid), what to avoid (codeine, ibuprofen when bleeding), pharmacist options, hospital treatments, "treatment does not always prevent piles coming back". nhs.uk
- NHS 111 Wales. Haemorrhoids (piles): do not ignore the urge; do not wipe too hard; when to see a GP; urgent and emergency signs. 111.wales.nhs.uk
- MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine). Psyllium: liquid amount, mixing, medicine gap. medlineplus.gov
- Charaka Samhita, Chikitsa Sthana, chapter 14 (Arsha Chikitsa): verses 39–43 on fomentation with oil and warm poultices for dry piles; foods for constipated bowels; causes including suppression of urges. carakasamhitaonline.com
- Ashtanga Hridaya, Chikitsa Sthana, chapter 8: verses 37, 38 and 42 on takra. English rendering at Easy Ayurveda. easyayurveda.com
- Altomare DF and colleagues. Red hot chili pepper and hemorrhoids: the explosion of a myth. Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, 2006, as summarised by Unbound Medicine. unboundmedicine.com
