I thought it might be time to join a support forum as I've been dealing with intermittent blood and mucus on my stool for about
2 years now.
Things started back in March 2020 when I had a bowel movement which was mostly very hard stool but also diarrhea. In hindsight I realize now what was going on - I had a flare of proctitis happening. I'm pretty sure it was the stress of Covid starting that caused the flare but something else contributed as well. 2 months before I had a baaaad bout of food poisoning. 2 days of bad diarrhea but no blood. I was considering going to the hospital at one point.
Things cleared up again until February of 2021 when I started noticing a persistent amount of small blood on my stool. It gradually increased until July 2021 when I had another flare of constipated stool and diarrhea at the same time. Lots of blood with that one too.This was another REALLY stressful period for me as I was trying to renovate a house to get it ready for selling and was totally burned out on it. Stress causes flares trust me!
This time I went to urgent care and got in for a colonoscopy. They found mild inflammation extending across my whole rectum but no mention of ulcers. Also my terminal ileum was mildly inflamed. My colon was completely clear. No diagnosis could be made or cause found.
The only solution they offered was mesalamine suppositories which I have not actually tried at this point. I know they'd probably work (for a while). I decided to try getting past this with diet modifications and OTC meds if needed.
November 2021 - Started consuming home made kiefer, although I realized in February of this year I was making it right (wasn't fully fermented).
December 2021 - Completely cut refined/added sugar and baked goodies (no more
cookies
)
After this, I didn't have any more flares but the persistent small amounts of blood persisted from time to time.
February - Started the Specific Carb Diet and it has definitely gotten my stools in perfect shape ( I tend to be constipated ) but the bleeding persists about
every other stool.
Had a small flare in early March when the Ukraine war kicked off. Stress is my primary trigger for this I believe. Not very much blood this time but tons of mucus and solid stools covered with 'loose stool'. Hard to describe.
So at this point I decided diet mods weren't doing it for me. I decided to try OTC Prep H Suppositories and they TOTALLY WORKED! No bleeding for 2 weeks!!! I couldn't believe it.
The day after I stopped using them, the blood came back. So the bleeding must be coming from my anal canal or the last inch of my rectum I guess? I don't think these things work for proctitis?
Next I learned that anusitis is a thing! Inflammation of the anal canal caused primary from consuming acidic foods/drinks. I drink a TON of coffee ( used to ) and love chili and so this made a lot of sense to me. I tested this and at 2 large bowels of a tomato based soup. My next stool was covered in more blood than I'd seen in a month.
So I'm now 10 days into this 'no acid' diet and have seen SOME improvement but a tiny bit of blood still persists. Twice I have slipped and had something on the 'no' list and both times the blood increased. Only time will tell. I've read that anusitis can take months to go away even after eliminating the offenders.
Also, anusitis can be triggered by diarrhea whether from food poisoning, colonoscopy prep, etc... all of which I've experienced.
I'm left wondering a couple things though.
1. Could internal hemorrhoids have been missed during my scope? The fact that the Prep H supps worked leaves me wondering if this is the case.
2. Could a food poisoning infection linger? Everything I've read indicates no and the doctor said it was unlikely.
Before you say 'just go back to the doctor', yes I have that in my cards but it seemed like a useless exercise when I went back in after my scope. He was convinced this was the start of IBD and that I probably had Crohn's but didn't suggest any other tests. Just the mesalamine. But how would the Prep H supps work on that? They only sit in the last inch of the rectum and wouldn't go any further.
One other interesting thing - all my life I have taken Ibuprofen for headaches and was taking it pretty consistently ( every week or so ) during spring of 2021 when my worst flare happened. NSAIDS are notorious for causing bowel damage and bleeding in the stomach and small intesting and so this MIGHT explain my terminal illium. The jury is out on whether it contributes to the colon/rectum but really now? The gut is the gut, it's all connected.
Needless to say I have stopped taking Ibuprofen and according to my logs the bleeding did decrease a bit after that.
I forgot to mention that I have never really had any other symptoms. Absolutely no pain whatsoever. I do have a somewhat itchy anus but that is a symptom of any of the things that could cause bleeding (hemms, proctitis, anusitis etc...) so not really something that helps.
Post Edited (vg_guy) : 4/26/2022 10:18:29 AM (GMT-6)