Preparation H is actually useless. I looked into it. The "active ingredient" is shark oil which has, incredibly, zero medical evidence to support it.
Anusol and other brands like it, contain actual real medical ingredients, mostly a combination of a lube to keep the 'roid moist and prevent irritation, an antiinflammatory to soothe it, and (usually) lidocaine to numb it. Well worth using in my experience.
You CANNOT make a 'roid better by squeezing it, piercing it, or otherwise fucking around with it while it's "thrombosed" (i.e. lumpy and swollen). Even docs won't touch that, because while the thrombosis is happening, there's not a whole lot you can do except let nature take its course. Thrombosed 'roids are basically caused by blood clots, and they just have to get redissolved by your own body, which usually takes 7-10 days. Unfortunately cutting the clot out (which CAN be done in extreme cases - it's a 2 second op by a doctor) is not usually used because even though it provides immediate relief, the end result is that more clots will then form because of the injury, leaving you in an even worse situation.
Ultimately once the 'roid subsides, you CAN get it treated pretty easily. Hemorrhoids are basically varicose veins in the blood-vessel-rich tisssue of the anus. Like all varicose veins, they can throw a clot or flare up, but no cream in the universe will actually "fix" it... you require an actual medical procedure.
The easiest and best is "banding". You see your doc (usually a specialist proctologist) and they literally put a little special elastic band around the varicose area. This pinches the vein, cutting off blood flow, and killing the tissue above the band. That tissue falls off after a few days, taking the elastic band with it... and leaving a little bit of scar tissue in its place.
The scar tissue is not noticeable to look at or feel, but what it DOES do is provide a "reinforcement" of thicker tissue in the area where the varicose vein occurred. This stops any reoccurence for the rest of your life - at least in that spot. You'll inevitably get more 'roids as you age, but the more you get "banded" like this, the more spots of scar tissue you get... and the more reinforcement your ass tissue has. After about 6-10 bandings, you'll generally have enough extra reinforcement scar tissue, that no more varicoses can pop out. This makes you basically immune to getting any more 'roids, EVER... so it's well worth it. You can get it done under public medicare for free but this often means waiting a few months... paying $200 for private treatment generally gets it done without waiting.
There are other methods apart from banding - cryo-freezing being an example - but basically the message here is that it's easily treatable. The procedure takes 5 minutes including the time to say hi to your doctor and drop your pants. There is generally little to no discomfort - if the 'roid is very close to the sphincter, though, you WILL get a dull ache which will go away after about 6 hours. It's hard to tell in advance if a 'roid will be an "acher" or not, so plan to take the day off work just in case.
Actual full surgery (where they cut and remove the vein entirely) is not used any more by any decent doctor, because it's unnecessary and actually pretty ineffective, as well as leading to weeks of post-op pain. This is called hemorrhoidectomy and if your doc suggests this treatment it's a good sign he has no freakin clue what he's doing and to go see someone else. Hemorrhoidectomy is 20+ years out of date... very very old school.
There's actually not much you can do to prevent 'roids. Almost everyone gets them, and it's largely down to genetics. Anal sex has NOT been shown to cause them, although straining on the toilet bowl for long periods certainly does cause them. So don't spend more than a few minutes taking a crap... aim to be in and out as quick as you can.
The key is not to suffer and not to just use the creams and then forget about it when it subsides. They will NOT go away and the longer you leave it before gettng it banded or frozen, the bigger and more frequent you'll get bouts of painful thrombosis. So just get it treated, and after a few times your ass will be reinforced with spots of scar tissue and you'll never suffer again.