Hämorrhoiden is basically a German term for a digestive tract disease known as hemorrhoids. It mainly involves swelling or inflammation of blood vessels and tissues around the anus or the rectum. Hemorrhoids can either be internal which affect the lower rectum or external which are located under the skin near the anus. As for internal hemorrhoids they may shrink back into the rectum. They may also grow outside the rectum and that is when you are required to seek medical treatment. Medical experts state that everyone has hemorrhoids and they only become a medical condition once they swell. They generally cause itching, discomfort and bleeding during passage of stool. They are also very painful. Internal hemorrhoids however, do not cause pain and can only be noted by causing bleeding when passing stool. Hemorrhoids are likely to affect pregnant women and people between the ages of forty five and sixty five years.