The Weird Myth Surrounding Piles and Allergic Conjunctivitis in Ghana

The weekends are finally here just what we were all looking forward to, time to take a break from work and spend some time with families and friends, hang out, play some games, watch a movie, visit the beach and do all sorts of fun stuff.

Even as we embrace the weekend and make a tall to-do list to brighten the days ahead we ought to be particular about our health and continue to protect ourselves as well as our family members in the best way we can. And so I would still be coming around to share health tips with you and I do hope you enjoy the read.

I am sure you found the title of my post today very intriguing and perhaps mystified when you read it, especially if you know what these two conditions are. You are probably wondering if I made a mistake somewhere and so you sought to read to find out what I really meant, well, unfortunately, there's no error anywhere and it is just as I mentioned in the title.

In Ghana, local herbal medicine practitioners have found a way to attribute everything that has to do with itching to piles although they have nothing in common due to the high rate of illiteracy many people have come to believe this and would even go to the extent of challenging you as a doctor or medical practitioner that what they are experiencing is as a result of piles.

"Koko", as is known in Ghana here is the local name for piles, piles according to NHS are lumps that can be found in and around the anal region. The common causes are holding back the urge to defecate for long periods, constipation, cleaning the bottom with hard objects, etc.

The interesting thing about the condition is that it doesn't even give any symptoms and unless they have their blood supply cut off, one may be able to tell by the blood or mucous in their stool. Or the itchiness they may feel at their bottom. Unfortunately, this itchiness has been capitalized on to generalize itching in the body and on the eye to piles.

It may interest you very so often I meet patients who come in severe cases of allergic conjunctivitis some of which have escalated to vernal conjunctivitis and others with keratitis as a secondary condition and yet these individuals will tell you that they were informed that piles are in their system and so to treat the allergy they took herbal concoctions to treat pile and are only coming to the hospital because now it seems not to work.

I always find it weird too the same way you may probably be shocked about this and so I always spend time trying to explain and educate these individuals so they can get rid of this false information and actually seek the right treatment whenever they experience any of these issues. I decided to share this here because whiles this may be common in Ghana here it could also be going on in other countries, you never know hence the need to clarify.

Piles have no relation to allergic conjunctivitis anywhere, allergic conjunctivitis comes about when the eye comes into contact with an allergen and as such reacts to it. The reaction causes inflammation in the eye resulting in the conjunctiva vessels getting engorged with blood and becoming very red and painful. Other symptoms include burning sensation and tearing.

To treat this your Optometrist would give you some antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers as well as some steroids or NSAIDs depending on the integrity of your epithelium. Things should calm down quickly for you to be ok so long as the stimuli or allergen is getting rid of. In the system, allergic reactions could be quite disturbing and even life-threatening in some cases and may require emergency care.

Piles are in no way life-threatening and would not go away just because you got rid of an allergen that was making you itch. And so I am hoping that my countrymen on the blockchain reading this would share with their families and friends so together we can root out this wrong ideology implanted in the indigenous people so they could be helped as and when the need arises for both conditions.

I am in no way condemning herbal medicine because there are licensed practitioners who have been schooled and know what they are doing, in countries like Korea and China these unorthodox methods work magic for their health however the quacks propagating wrong information which ends up having a detrimental effect on the health of patients is what I am against and I hope that all that would soon stop.

I have seen patients loss their sight to the use of herbal drugs on the eyes and when you investigate you find out that these quacks caused that and then once they have collected the money they run and go and repeat it somewhere else. Let's be safe, let's protect our health and our eyes. Let's seek professional counsel when we have problems, and we would always be safe.

I thank you once again for your time and for reading, I do wish you a blissful weekend, stay safe and stay blessed. Cheers!