Hello all, I've been dealing with grade 3-4 external hemorroids for years now and am at the point where I want them gone. It is affecting my life and I have to plan around them. I've read so many scary stories on here that I'm really debating if it's worth just continuing to deal with the roids or taking the plunge to get them removed.
My daily routine revolves around having a BM at night which is about 25 minutes and then another 20+ minutes of waiting for the discharge/blood to slow down...then I bundle up a wad of toilet paper and try to get to sleep. Sometimes having to get up to swap the TP due to soaking through..sorry TMI. It's rather hard to walk after a BM so that's why I time it at night so i can go right to bed after. FYI I never have the urge to go. I'm not exactly constipated I just don't ever feel the urge.
There have been phases of extreme pain that kept me up for hours after a BM and requiring a sitz bath but lately it's mostly just uncomfortable after a BM. Then by the next morning I'm almost back to normal and the cycle repeats.
I've had banding multiple times with little effect. My GP has recommended surgery but I can't bring myself to it. It's hard to plan for months of downtime especially in the summer months 
I'd like some opinions on what to do. Thank you in advance!
If you read enough of horror stories here, you will realize that a lot of the people here has suffered from hemorrhoid for years until they had to do something about it.
What I am trying to say is, it will NEVER become better. It only gets worst. It is a matter of when you want to intervene. And from someone who had something done recently I would say the earlier you do something about it the less painful it will be. At stage 3-4 roids, you will need to go for either stapler or hemorhoidectomy. See what the DR says. Stapler is a lot less complicated and the recovery will be much less painful.
Good luck.
Christopher, hi again 
OMG, you have it bad..it sounds almost as bad as if you were already recovering from a hemorrhoidectomy. After reading this pot. seems to me that if u have been able to deal with these nasty hems all these yrs, then it will be worth it if you go through with the hemorrhoidectomy.
Please take care of youself, and in case you haven't noticed, I already replied to your response from my post (Part 8).
I wish you only the best & hope to hear from you soon - take care 
Hi,
I suffered from hems for about 10 years. Got the surgery done about 2 months ago and wish I'd done it earlier. The recovery wasn't great but there are much worse things you could go through.
I also wrote a post on this forum about my recovery post haemorrhoidectomy, I was back at work and riding my bike 2 weeks after the procedure.
Feel free to yell out with any questions regarding the surgery, happy to answer them all.
Cheers.