Blood in Stools?

Blood in stools is usually black/dark unless it comes right from around the anus--i.e. hemmroids. They can show bright red blood. But I have often found the color of my stools doesn't match the color on the toilet paper--and I think the paper a more correct indicator of what's going on. Did your toilet paper appear to have bright red blood on it? If it was orangish, then that was almost certainly not blood.

I have found the looser my stools, the more likely I am to get odd colors, odd smells and odd pieces of undigested food in them. And don't forget that liquids will color your stools. Fruit punch Kool-Aid will really turn your stools red when they are loose (haven't noticed it happening when they're not lose, though). Anything with red food coloring in it--Kool-Aid, colas, foods, etc.--can potentially turn your stools red. Funny, but naturally-colored foods--like ketchup, don't seem to make as big a color impact unless you eat loads and loads. Seems it gets pretty broken down, unlike artificial food colors which just get passed out.