Reddish/maroon globs...is this blood, or what? (Overshare alert!)

[BureaucraticNightmare]

Ok. I'm not diagnosed but I really, really need a sanity check. I've had two colonoscopies now and an EGD along with a CT scan and have pretty much accepted that I don't have IBD, but ...since my last scope in early Dec, I've been seeing more and more reddish globs of gunk in my stool. It's a radically different color from the stool itself, and it's too persistent to be something dietary.

I've self tested for occult blood before when my stool's had this reddish stuff in it, and it only came up barely, barely positive one one of three strips. The blood, if it were actually blood, seems too obvious to register so little on the test, so I can only guess it's not really blood.

So I wrote it off and went on with my life. But it's been getting worse and worse, and now it's to the point where I see this reddish, mucus stuff in globs every time I have a movement. And there's always more of it when I'm having a lot of abdominal pain.

I have no idea what's going on and don't know if I should bother going to a doctor again. At this point I'm tired of being dismissed as a hypochondriac or lunatic. Does anyone know if it's possible to have obvious, occult-negative bleeding? If not, any ideas why I'm seeing all this stuff that looks so much like blood in my stool?

I swear, I feel like I'm going crazy :-/.

 

[seamus o'toole]

When I have a flare I get blood and mucus. Globs. When I took ASACOL It got more purplish. What are you taking. When I get blood and mucus it never registers high. Just personal experience and by no means conclusive of anything.

 

[Trysha]

It might be time for a check with your doctors.
Some blood work could be in order like CRP, ESR, CBC etc.
Have your stools been tested in the lab?if not then time it was.
Occult blood test strips should be clearly positive or negative.
This is not the only testing however.
Your symptoms are deserving of a closer look by a good GI specialist.
Feel better soon
Hugs and best wishes
Trysha

 

[BureaucraticNightmare]

Thanks guys --

I've had all the standard tests, but everything's pretty out of date at this point. I kind of wrote off doctors (I know, bad, bad) after the last round of tests after I was made to feel like I was being overly dramatic, so the most recent results I have on anything blood-wise are from October or so.

Still, I've had a pretty full workup, so I'm left scratching my head. The last GI I saw did a second colonoscopy in December and found macroscopic inflammation in the sigmoid colon, which is where I also had a hyperplastic polyp removed during my first scope three months before that. Since the biopsy was normal, the doc said it was probably inflammation from the prep and that any blood I've been seeing must be hemmorhoids -- it's not bright red blood, but if I was bleeding from the small intestine, he said I'd have been super anemic and my iron and stuff were normal.

Basically, no one knows what to do with me. I've been running low-grade fevers for 8 months now, have abdominal pain all the time, and have developed lactose intolerance in the last year or so. I don't have diarrhea like I used to now that I've eliminated dairy, so that's a positive, but sometimes I get constipated almost like something's blocked -- days without going but then normal, soft stool once I go, like it hasn't been in my colon for longer than usual.

I can't gain weight, my index fingers look like they're clubbing (I think), and I've had arthralgia pop up in the last 6 or so months. But apart from some mild gastritis, a polyp, and that pseudo-sigmoid inflammation, no one can find anything to explain much.

I am Vitamin D deficient to an extreme, but apart from that and some occasionally odd but not *too* odd labs (high lipase with low amylase plus high LDH after a suspected obstruction; sky high white counts during a couple ER admissions), I'm always pretty normal. Serum protein runs a bit low, but apart from that, I'm totally devoid of red flags -- CRP and ESR are always extremely low even when my white count's been crazy high and I've had obvious inflammation.

I think my body's just trying to mess with my head. It's pretty screwed up when you can look in the toilet, see blood, and be pretty sure it's not actually blood. Sigh.

 

[UnXmas]

Sorry if you posted this and I missed it, but have you had any tests done since the blood(?) started appearing? If not, surely a stool sample would be the place to start? (I'm not sure how you'd self-test, but is it possible your results wouldn't be as accurate as a professional's?). I understand how it is when doctors make you feel like a hypochondriac, but asking a doctor whether a stool sample might be a good idea is not like asking for a colonoscopy - it's not invasive, and it's not unreasonable to want to check whether what you're seeing is blood. Also a doctor should be able to perform a simple rectal exam to check whether you could have haemmorhoids or other abnormalities that could cause bleeding.

 

[seamus o'toole]

It's frustrating but finding the right doctor is important. They have the tools. When I have rectal bleeding it is bright red but bleeding hemorrhoids internally is darker. I am sorry you have not been able to find answers. Stress makes the good bad and bad worse. Your reddish globules are pretty common during a flare but it sounds like you need resolution as much for your mental state as physical. You mention D deficiency, are you taking supplements to correct? It has been shown that crohns sufferers are often D deficient and evidence that the D can help with Crohns as well as other inflammatory disease. Like I said finding the right doctor is important. We all have limitations of resources, insurance. It would seem they could have confirmed crohns with the colonoscopy but it is important to do what you can such as supplementation of vit. D and a general review of your diet and inflammation. Not instead of Doctors but sometimes taking control of even small part of your health can help and help reduce stress. Good luck and know we are here for whatever you want to share. I think most of us are past the TMI factor.