By: Dr. Zeel Sheth
The healthcare industries of developing countries like India have seen an enormous gain in the past few decades. Developing countries have taken up multi-track strategies, including preventative measures propagated by educational campaigns, to further this medical advancements. But that blessing can sometimes act as a vice when there is a vast, unfiltered sea of information available on the internet with unrestricted access by the patients searching their symptoms and not being able to resist the non-regulated self treatments.
Surgery has been my ultimate passion. From how to use my scalpel to when to not use it, to the glory of the theatre and its humility, my surgical residency taught me everything. While it did teach me how to help those who need it, what it failed to educate me on was how to be of assistance to those who would hesitate to ask for your help.
While ignorance can be blissful, it seldom helps when it is related to your health issues. There are numerous diseases or problems that people are still embarrassed to talk about or share because of the social construct. We have reached the Moon quite literally, but our people on Earth are still suffering in silence because they are ashamed of admitting to what is bothering them.
According to the literature, the incidence of anorectal diseases in the general population is around 5-15%, and can reach up to 44% during pregnancy. While hemorrhoids are not gender specific, women are more prone to develop hemorrhoids and are less likely to seek treatment for the same.
Accepting the problem is the first step towards finding the solution. Since, certain colo-anal diseases like hemorrhoids or fistulas, are not the so-called glamorous health issues, patients tend to slip it under the rug and ignore it until it legitimately becomes a pain in the arse.
They are considered taboos because there are numerous myths around them, such as hemorrhoids result from poor health hygiene or are, related to bad gut health, or are caused by unnatural activities and many other such misconceptions.
Female patients are the most common victims to such myths. Factually, hemorrhoidal cushions are bound to enlarge during pregnancy and it’s an expected bodily response. But because of the hesitancy, females fail to express their issues and concerns to a specialist and end up suffering, in the hope that they will disappear on their own while their disease keeps worsening.
My constant efforts are to provide medical reasons to explain the causes of these conditions to fight these myths and create an environment where healthy discussions can be partaken.
It is said when you fail to listen to your body, it will force you to listen to it and it won’t be on your terms. Any health problem should not be ignored ,especially, just because it’s not fun to talk about it.
We need to understand and accept as humans,
that our colons and anus, are also a part of our bodies and they require equal care as the other organs.
In this century, where we are so mentally evolved and technologically advanced, we need to be able to shatter these taboos and myths around these health conditions and just be able to discuss it with our doctors so they can provide an accurate diagnosis and a timely treatment.
So let me ask you the important question:
In your health journey, How Can I Help?
Dr Zeel Sheth Agrawal, is a Minimal Access Surgeon with her primary focus on Colorectal Surgery and Proctology. Dr Sheth, is a dual degree holder in General Surgery along with a Fellowship in Minimal Access Surgery and Proctology. She has additional training in Advanced Colo-rectal Surgery at AMC, Seoul. An author to multiple publications along with a chapter in a Textbook of Surgery, she is practicing as a Consultant Surgeon in Bengaluru, India. She completed her medical school and her post graduation in General Surgery from Smt.NHL MMC, Ahmedabad. Her being a female health enthusiast, she strives to create a welcoming environment for all her patients, to discuss their health issues.
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