Male, 23 years of age
Weekend drinker
Minimal carb diet, alot of red meat and chicken
No family history of colon cancer- mother had a twisted colon a few years ago
Exercise 4 times a week
Hi everyone. So, last week while in the supermarket, I had to make a bowel movement. I had been drinking pretty heavily the night before, so it was no surprise. After I moved, and I have no idea why, I looked into the toilet (which I never do). There was A LOT of bright red blood. I almost passed out. I kept thinking that it might have been the watermelon I ate that morning, no way, no how.
Over the past few years, I have always had a little bit of bright red blood on the toilet paper after I wipe, but figured it was just some small tears in my anus. Im sure it is. Anyways, it really freaked me out. Later that day I started to have some stomach cramps. Very mild, usually on my right side near my waistline, and then sometimes I would get some pain in my groin, and then it would sometimes switch to my left side. Again, not pain, more like a cramping feeling. I made a few more bowel movements that day, and you could clearly see the blood, but it was very scarce. That was about a week ago, and I have never seen more blood in the toilet than with than initial incident. Once I started to feel some cramping in my stomach, I decided to go see a GI.
He just took my vitals, 147/80, which is high for my age.. Only 23, and in pretty good shape. He took my weight which was normal. I told him about the changes in my bowel habits, sometimes tan, and other times darker in color. I didn't tell him about the blood. Stupid idea. I was just really nervous and I regretted not saying anything the second I walked out the door. He basically just said it must be some type of digestive issue. Gave my some medicines to take before and after meals, and sent me on my way.
This entire week I could tell that nothing had really improved. I started eating nothing but high fiber foods- whole wheat pasta, whole grain cereal with prunes, brown rice, bread. My stool looked better, but it still had a very loose consistency. I couldn't see blood, but there was definitely a good amount of mucus along side it. Like a white, foamy, bubbly consistency. I didn't even notice what it was until I had seen something on this forum about it. It floated too. Last night, even when i was feeling a little better, I had somewhat of a bloody bowel movement. I had to shine a flashlight on it to see it, but it was definitely there. Looked like little red specs that were about the size of a sunflower kernel? (lol cant think of another comparison) I picked at it to see if it might be a piece of food, but i don't think it was.
Today i decided to go back to the GI. I told him about the blood that I was experiencing. He did a blood test, fecal blood test, and an ultrasound. The ultrasound came back clean, my blood work was good (surprising because of my high blood pressure), but they did find red and white blood cells in my stool.
He said that he thinks that it is some type of bacterial infection from food. I have been living abroad for about 4 months, and have never been sick from the food. He gave me some antibiotics and some other pain and digestive medications. 10 days, then a follow up.
I guess i'm still a bit worried. I brought up the idea of a colonoscopy, but he wants to try out this medication regiment first. My with cramps, and everything I read about on here, I feel like it may be something else. Also, I didn't think that a bacterial infection could cause the colon the bleed. However, I could be wrong. We'll see how the medications go.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.