Dr Fergal McNamara

Good morning, David.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's very, very taboo.

Even I work as a GP as well as as running the hemorrhoid clinic.

And even, you know, in the quiet of the doctor patient consultation, people are very reluctant.

They'll often leave it till the end or they won't tell you at all.

People, yeah, they're very uncomfortable with it.

Absolutely, absolutely.

I mean, it's estimated that roughly 50% of the population will suffer with them at some point in their life.

That's going everything from, you know, someone who's had one episode to someone who suffers all the time.

But there's a lot of options out there now and, yeah.

And like a lot of people do, a lot of people are aware of the symptoms.

They can get over the counter stuff, so they will kind of, but if you're getting bleeding and we can talk about it, they really do need to come and see a doctor.

OK, so I suppose in simplest terms, it's a swelling in the back passage that can cause pain, itching, a bit of prolapse or a bit of bleeding.

To put a bit more flesh on that, we have venous cushions or clumps of veins, so to speak, that are in the lower anal canal.

They're normal.

They help us go to the toilet.