Brief Answer:
As detailed below.

Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query, albeit short and specific.
To recapitulate: Female/78 - using preparation H - want to know know how to treat a hemorrhoid - which has given discomfort for a couple of days...

Please provide some details for me to assist you better:
- What sort of discomfort is felt? Is it mild throbbing pain?
- If the pain continuous or occurs only after passing bowel movement say for half an hour?
- Is there any bleeding?
- Had you been examined and diagnosed in past?

My thoughts and advise:
- If there is a discomfort or pain the most probable cause is a fissure in ano and rarely an inflamed or thrombosed dilated vein called hemorrhoid.
- Fissure in ano: causes pain on passing bowel movement and can persist for half an hour or more, follows passing hard motion.
- Hemorrhoid is painless unless thrombosed, can bleed on/after passing BM; can be prolapsing and reducible on its own or manually.

The treatment remains almost same in initial period and consists of:
- Sitz bath in a tub with warm water, before and after passing BM.
- Mild laxative to keep the stool soft.
- Avoid the foods and beverages known for you to instigate or enhance the problem.
- Actual per-rectal examination, proctoscopy if tolerable give the proper diagnosis so that further management can be decided to get a possible cure.
- Local applications actually may not helped unless one knows the exact diagnosis and the one with steroids has a potential chance of making the skin thin. Hence best avoided till diagnosis is certain.

I hope this answer helps you, please feel free to ask for further relevant queries if you feel that there is a gap of communication.

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