New here. Bleeding from bum
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:13 pm
Hello everyone,
Thank you for this forum. Thank you for accepting questions from people like me who don't know what we have yet, that is exceptionally kind of you all to do because a lot of forums don't allow that until diagnosis is confirmed. So thank you really and truly, because I am scared and the fear has been consuming my life for a while and it's nice to have some people to talk to about this.
So back in June of this year, for two weeks I was bleeding from rectum. I knew it wasn't a hemorrhoid this time because there was a good bit of bright red blood in the toilet which never happened from a hemorrhoid. It startled me. It would happen every time after a bowel movement. There would even be blood smears on my underwear. Not soaking in blood by any means. Just smeared. So I am assuming that everytime I went poop, it would take a while for the bleeding to stop which is why it was on my underwear. I wasn't gushing blood or anything. It's hard to describe the amount of blood, although I do have pictures if there is any way I can put them up, please let me know. But I will try to describe by using comparassions I seen from other people's stories online. I seen where some people described the whole bowl of toilet water was full of blood. That wasn't the case with mine. In my case, it seemed as though the stool passed first and the stream of blood followed right behind it. It didn't color the whole toilet bowl of water but it definitely wasn't just a little bit of blood either. A few drops would also drip from rectum onto the floor when I stood up to wipe. There was no blood in the stool or wraped around the stool itself. I'm not saying which is bad or which is worse, just simply giving details because I'm sure details help. Also, there was no pain when I passed it. After two weeks, it stopped.
The reasons why I didn't get it checked at that time was because I was going through extreme stress. The stress started in may, it is of a personal issue that caused me much grief. When the bleeding started happening in June (a month after severe stressful incident), I was in another town when it happened 500 miles from home visiting family. My cousin was dying from a disease he had since childhood. My other cousin was getting married. It was a long hard trip in the car to and from phyiscally wise. Right when we got back, I got sick with strep throat for a MONTH that my poor son gave to me. He got sick during the trip and passed it onto me on the way home. So yeah, it lasted a full month for me. It was horrible. Then soon after that, I developed a skin access that was heck painful that I had to have drained. Then not one, but two back teeth removed. In between all of this, my grandfather who actually raised me got diagnosed with cancer (bladder cancer). Then in September we had to evacuate from the hurricane (we live in North Carolina). We were stranded out of state for 3 weeks, we could not get back home. So I had a lot of things going on in the last few months which I could *not* *catch* *a* *break*. In the mean time of all of this, I was getting massive crippling panic attacks, heart palpatations which I hadn't had in YEARS.
In the middle of September, during the evacuation is when it happened again. This time, the same type of bleeding but this one only lasted after one bowel movement instead of two weeks. At this time I need to mention that I developed a small ache back in June when all of this first started happening. I felt something, like a pinch or an ache but it was so vague. It has never caused me signifcant pain but hence, the pressure was there. It was has not stopped. So I decided to go to the emergency room. I was getting scared. I went to the ER a few days after the episode and said look, I have been having some bleeding and some pain in my very lower left abdomen on left side, you could almost say it's my upper left pelvic area and so the ER doc did a CT scan with contrast. They put that dye in me. It was an actual more detailed report than I expected from an ER but then again, I can't be sure of that. Basically, the report said everything was unremarkable. No enlarged lymph nodes. No accute inflamatory process on the abdomen or pelvis is what it said at the end. It also noted a "fibroid uterus" that I didn't know that I had. It also listed all of my organs in my mid body, such as my heart, lungs, all that being normal. It even noted my appendix was absent which would be correct since I had an appendectomy. Anyway.
My blood work-. I should mention my white blood count has been out of the normal range for the last few years. It is always between 11 and 16 (normal range is 4 thru 10). Anyway, the current blood work from that ER visit, which was a CBC. My WBC was normal suprisingly, at a 10.5 but of course I know that is still the high end of normal. Anyway, that was my ER visit.
The bleeding happened again on Oct 1st and as the same in September, it only lasted after one bowl movement instead of the two weeks it happened in June. And I really freaked that time, I just mentally couldn't handle anything anymore. We had JUST gotten back home after 3 weeks of being evacuated. So I went to the ER again. They did blood work and my blood work came back normal again. Both doctors said I needed a colonoscopy though of course. Finally I was able to start looking for GI doctors.
I finally found one. The colonoscopy was scheduled for yesterday. To make an incredibly long story short. I did the prep perfectly. But I drank water before the procedure because my paperwork did NOT say I wasn't allowed to and I wasn't to have the colonoscopy. I was in my hospital gown and everything. I had to go back home. Needless to say this has been very upsetting because I was terrified of getting the colonoscopy the whole time only because I am scared to be put under. I am not going to lie, I was already having a little mistrust with the GI doctor that I choose, and this just sealed the deal. I don't understand how they cannot have stated on the instructions *not* to have anything to drink after midnight.
Now here I am, the next day. Not knowing what to do. I am going to cut this off now because I had no idea how long this was going to be. I also I am getting tired to write anymore. I won't be upset at all if no one reads or responds. It helps just getting it off my chest.
My questions are:
If the bleeds are from polyps, does that mean they are turning cancerous? And if so, since all of this started in June, 4 months ago, does that mean it is growing fast?
More background history: Have GERD for the last 5 years. Had thin stoles before but then would return to normal. Have on and off high blood pressure. Took Ib profin for years (NSAIDS). I am so mad at myself for that. I will never, ever take them again. Ever. Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this forum. Thank you for accepting questions from people like me who don't know what we have yet, that is exceptionally kind of you all to do because a lot of forums don't allow that until diagnosis is confirmed. So thank you really and truly, because I am scared and the fear has been consuming my life for a while and it's nice to have some people to talk to about this.
So back in June of this year, for two weeks I was bleeding from rectum. I knew it wasn't a hemorrhoid this time because there was a good bit of bright red blood in the toilet which never happened from a hemorrhoid. It startled me. It would happen every time after a bowel movement. There would even be blood smears on my underwear. Not soaking in blood by any means. Just smeared. So I am assuming that everytime I went poop, it would take a while for the bleeding to stop which is why it was on my underwear. I wasn't gushing blood or anything. It's hard to describe the amount of blood, although I do have pictures if there is any way I can put them up, please let me know. But I will try to describe by using comparassions I seen from other people's stories online. I seen where some people described the whole bowl of toilet water was full of blood. That wasn't the case with mine. In my case, it seemed as though the stool passed first and the stream of blood followed right behind it. It didn't color the whole toilet bowl of water but it definitely wasn't just a little bit of blood either. A few drops would also drip from rectum onto the floor when I stood up to wipe. There was no blood in the stool or wraped around the stool itself. I'm not saying which is bad or which is worse, just simply giving details because I'm sure details help. Also, there was no pain when I passed it. After two weeks, it stopped.
The reasons why I didn't get it checked at that time was because I was going through extreme stress. The stress started in may, it is of a personal issue that caused me much grief. When the bleeding started happening in June (a month after severe stressful incident), I was in another town when it happened 500 miles from home visiting family. My cousin was dying from a disease he had since childhood. My other cousin was getting married. It was a long hard trip in the car to and from phyiscally wise. Right when we got back, I got sick with strep throat for a MONTH that my poor son gave to me. He got sick during the trip and passed it onto me on the way home. So yeah, it lasted a full month for me. It was horrible. Then soon after that, I developed a skin access that was heck painful that I had to have drained. Then not one, but two back teeth removed. In between all of this, my grandfather who actually raised me got diagnosed with cancer (bladder cancer). Then in September we had to evacuate from the hurricane (we live in North Carolina). We were stranded out of state for 3 weeks, we could not get back home. So I had a lot of things going on in the last few months which I could *not* *catch* *a* *break*. In the mean time of all of this, I was getting massive crippling panic attacks, heart palpatations which I hadn't had in YEARS.
In the middle of September, during the evacuation is when it happened again. This time, the same type of bleeding but this one only lasted after one bowel movement instead of two weeks. At this time I need to mention that I developed a small ache back in June when all of this first started happening. I felt something, like a pinch or an ache but it was so vague. It has never caused me signifcant pain but hence, the pressure was there. It was has not stopped. So I decided to go to the emergency room. I was getting scared. I went to the ER a few days after the episode and said look, I have been having some bleeding and some pain in my very lower left abdomen on left side, you could almost say it's my upper left pelvic area and so the ER doc did a CT scan with contrast. They put that dye in me. It was an actual more detailed report than I expected from an ER but then again, I can't be sure of that. Basically, the report said everything was unremarkable. No enlarged lymph nodes. No accute inflamatory process on the abdomen or pelvis is what it said at the end. It also noted a "fibroid uterus" that I didn't know that I had. It also listed all of my organs in my mid body, such as my heart, lungs, all that being normal. It even noted my appendix was absent which would be correct since I had an appendectomy. Anyway.
My blood work-. I should mention my white blood count has been out of the normal range for the last few years. It is always between 11 and 16 (normal range is 4 thru 10). Anyway, the current blood work from that ER visit, which was a CBC. My WBC was normal suprisingly, at a 10.5 but of course I know that is still the high end of normal. Anyway, that was my ER visit.
The bleeding happened again on Oct 1st and as the same in September, it only lasted after one bowl movement instead of the two weeks it happened in June. And I really freaked that time, I just mentally couldn't handle anything anymore. We had JUST gotten back home after 3 weeks of being evacuated. So I went to the ER again. They did blood work and my blood work came back normal again. Both doctors said I needed a colonoscopy though of course. Finally I was able to start looking for GI doctors.
I finally found one. The colonoscopy was scheduled for yesterday. To make an incredibly long story short. I did the prep perfectly. But I drank water before the procedure because my paperwork did NOT say I wasn't allowed to and I wasn't to have the colonoscopy. I was in my hospital gown and everything. I had to go back home. Needless to say this has been very upsetting because I was terrified of getting the colonoscopy the whole time only because I am scared to be put under. I am not going to lie, I was already having a little mistrust with the GI doctor that I choose, and this just sealed the deal. I don't understand how they cannot have stated on the instructions *not* to have anything to drink after midnight.
Now here I am, the next day. Not knowing what to do. I am going to cut this off now because I had no idea how long this was going to be. I also I am getting tired to write anymore. I won't be upset at all if no one reads or responds. It helps just getting it off my chest.
My questions are:
If the bleeds are from polyps, does that mean they are turning cancerous? And if so, since all of this started in June, 4 months ago, does that mean it is growing fast?
More background history: Have GERD for the last 5 years. Had thin stoles before but then would return to normal. Have on and off high blood pressure. Took Ib profin for years (NSAIDS). I am so mad at myself for that. I will never, ever take them again. Ever. Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Thank you so much.