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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Blood In Stools, Hard Stools. History Of Sigmoidoscopy. Reason For Blood?

Hello,

About 4 to 6 weeks ago I had a bowel movement with what looked like bright blood in the stool and the water was a bit red. I had eaten a bowl of tomatos the night before and thought that was what I was seeing. Other than the what looked like blood the stool was normal. I have been increasing my fiber intake in the form of large amoounts of vegetables for diiner nad psyllium seed husks in water at bedtime. I have not seen anything that looked at all like blood since. Last night I passed a hard stool with straining and some difficulty. In the morning I one very normal bowel movement followed by a second about 10 minutes later. In the second bowel movement there was what looked like blood in the middle of the stool about the size of my little finger. I had a serrocult kit that I was planning on completing to send to the lab today so I used one one of the wooden sticks and took a sample of the red area and applied hydrogen peroxide as a way to determine if it was indeed blood. The H2O3 foamed and bubbled as it would on a bleeding wound. I completed the serrocult card and applied H2O3 to the samples and the control panels. The controlled panels turned blue as did the samples from the red area of the stool. The other two samples did not turn blue. I assumed that this was indeed blood in my stool. I had a third bowel movement 15 minutes later and no sign of anything resembling blood. I had a sigmoidoscopy two years ago and it was fine. Any thoughts on the source of this blood? The blood was bright red. I am of course very concerned. I would appreciate any thoughts you may be able to share. Thank you. R
Mon, 8 Jul 2013
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic

The presence of blood in the stool would be concerning to anyone.

It can occur for a number of reasons such as :
(1)related to straining or hard stool
(2) hemorrhoids - normally seen as bright red blood on wiping
(3) polyps or outgrowths in the colon
(4) diverticular disease
(5)cancer of the colon
(6)fissure of a anus-this would be painful

Whenever blood is seen in the stool , investigations need to be done to rule out the more serious causes.
You should consider visiting your doctor for an assessment, he or she would likely suggest a study to take a look at the intestines such as barium study or colonoscopy.
Colonscopy would be better because if any suspicious areas seen a biopsy can be done at the same time.

I hope this helps
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Blood In Stools, Hard Stools. History Of Sigmoidoscopy. Reason For Blood?

Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic The presence of blood in the stool would be concerning to anyone. It can occur for a number of reasons such as : (1)related to straining or hard stool (2) hemorrhoids - normally seen as bright red blood on wiping (3) polyps or outgrowths in the colon (4) diverticular disease (5)cancer of the colon (6)fissure of a anus-this would be painful Whenever blood is seen in the stool , investigations need to be done to rule out the more serious causes. You should consider visiting your doctor for an assessment, he or she would likely suggest a study to take a look at the intestines such as barium study or colonoscopy. Colonscopy would be better because if any suspicious areas seen a biopsy can be done at the same time. I hope this helps