Why Pregnant Women Get Hemorrhoids?
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| Why Pregnant Women Get Hemorrhoids? |
Last Updated: June 2026 | Medically Reviewed | Based on Clinical Research
If you're pregnant and dealing with hemorrhoids, you're not alone — and you're definitely not doing anything wrong. This is one of the most common (and least talked about) discomforts of pregnancy. Some estimates suggest that up to 50% of pregnant women deal with hemorrhoids at some point during their pregnancy or shortly after giving birth.
So why does pregnancy make hemorrhoids so much more likely? The honest answer is: your body is going through a lot, and several things happen at the same time that make hemorrhoids almost unavoidable for many women.
Your Baby Is Pushing on Everything
As your baby grows, your uterus gets bigger and heavier. By the third trimester, it's putting serious pressure on the veins in your lower body — including the veins around your rectum.
Think of it like pressing down on a garden hose. The blood that normally flows freely through those veins gets slowed down and starts to back up. When blood pools in the veins around the rectum, those veins swell up. That's what a hemorrhoid is — a swollen vein that gets stretched, irritated, and painful.
This pressure doesn't go away between bathroom trips. It's there all day, every day, getting stronger as the pregnancy progresses.
Your Hormones Are Working Against You
During pregnancy, your body produces much more progesterone than usual. Progesterone is necessary — it helps maintain the pregnancy — but it also relaxes the walls of your veins, making them more likely to swell.
At the same time, progesterone slows down your digestion. Food moves through your intestines more slowly, which means more water gets absorbed from your stool as it sits there — leaving you with harder, drier stools that are much more difficult to pass.
Harder stools mean more straining. And straining is one of the biggest triggers for hemorrhoids.
Constipation Is Almost Unavoidable
Constipation during pregnancy is extremely common — and it's a direct road to hemorrhoids. Between the progesterone slowing things down, iron supplements many pregnant women take (which are notorious for causing constipation), and the physical pressure of the growing uterus on the intestines, your digestive system is working under very difficult conditions.
When you're constipated, you sit on the toilet longer. You strain more. Every time you do that, you're putting extra pressure on the veins in your rectal area. Do that repeatedly over weeks and months, and hemorrhoids become almost inevitable.
Your Blood Volume Goes Up Significantly
During pregnancy, your body produces about 50% more blood than usual to support the baby. More blood in your system means more pressure inside your blood vessels — including the small, delicate veins around the rectum.
This increased blood volume, combined with the physical pressure from the uterus and the hormonal changes softening your vein walls, creates a situation where those rectal veins are under stress from multiple directions at once.
Pushing During Labor Can Trigger or Worsen Them
Even if you made it through most of your pregnancy without hemorrhoids, labor itself can cause them. The intense pushing during delivery puts enormous pressure on the veins in the pelvic area — sometimes causing hemorrhoids to appear within hours of giving birth.
This is why many women notice hemorrhoids for the first time right after delivery, even if they had no symptoms during pregnancy. It's not a sign that anything went wrong. It's simply the result of the physical effort your body went through.
What Can You Do About It?
The good news is that pregnancy-related hemorrhoids often improve significantly after delivery, once the pressure on those veins is gone. But you don't have to just suffer through it in the meantime. A few simple things can make a real difference:
- Stay hydrated — drink water consistently throughout the day to keep stools soft
- Eat fiber-rich foods — fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes help keep things moving
- Don't sit on the toilet too long — get up as soon as you're done, don't scroll your phone in there
- Move when you can — even short walks help stimulate digestion and reduce pelvic pressure
- Talk to your doctor before using any cream or medication — not all hemorrhoid treatments are safe during pregnancy
- Try a sitz bath — soaking in warm water for 10–15 minutes a few times a day can bring real relief
Conclusion
Pregnant women get hemorrhoids because their bodies are doing something extraordinary — and that process puts a lot of pressure on the veins in the lower body, slows down digestion, and creates the exact conditions where hemorrhoids thrive. It's not about what you're eating wrong or not doing right. It's biology.
The most important thing is to catch it early, manage the symptoms before they get worse, and know that for most women, things get significantly better after the baby arrives.
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📚 Medical sources
- Hemorrhoids during pregnancy — prevalence and overview
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Lohsiriwat, V. (2012). Hemorrhoids: From basic pathophysiology to clinical management. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 18(17), 2009–2017. - Progesterone and vein wall relaxation during pregnancy
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Alonso-Coello, P., et al. (2006). Fiber for the treatment of hemorrhoids complications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Gastroenterology, 101(1), 181–188.
