PLEASE HELP, am I bleeding inside?????

Hi,
I have been having some hearburn, constipation, and passing gas. I have never had problems with my bowels before. The thing is that my stools are dark brown, and kind of gushy yet solid. I know that sounds really gross. I am on nuiron though. I doubled up my dosage and thats when it started. Would melaena really be black tarry stools, or could they also be brown. I see no blood at all. But could the blood not be seen at all or something? When I say brown, I mean its dark brown and looks kind of black, but when you separate it, you see its brown. Anyone know what this could be??? Please help. I am scared... Thanks

[Dusty-Crute]

Tif, you need to see a doctor and get him or her to rule out some serious issues.  I know doctors are expensive but you are more important than a medical bill.

Take care and God bless,

[livinabox]

In my past experience,dark outer stools attached to normal chocholate ones have been through a time lapse of either constipation or just a delay in the waist coming through....even things like drinking red wine or even guinness has a similar effect.....dont worry yet see ya doctor.

[masnucs]

Hi: your problem can be many things,but the most commong would be Ulcers. Keep track of a few things before you see your doctor, notice if the pain gets worst after eating and how long it lasts, is the pain relieved with antiacids?, is pain brought up by eating or it can be there any time?.

If you do have ulcers, the doctor may first do an UGI or and Endoscopy to confirm thte diagnosis, then he will give you medication like Prilosec or Prevacid to heal the ulcer and return to normal, Your diet would have to change to include no caffeine, alcohol, chocolate and spicy foods that may irritate the stomach and bring back the problem.

Whatever you do, please see a doctor, because it can be a bigger problem.

Good luck to you.

[katey]

blood is BLACK and tarry hun.  don't worry. hold something black to it the next time you go if it makes you feel better. lol, thats what i had to do to reassure myself.  you didn't mention your age or anything.  anyway, melana is BLACK TARRY stool.  don't scare yourself!!! go to your doc if you need further reassurance.

[Concerned lady]

Dear Tiffany,

I have the answer to your question! I looked up "iron supplements side effects" on the internet (in the Google.com search engine's address bar), and found this:

Many iron supplements can cause stools to become BLACK or RED.

But I also found that YOU SHOULD NOT BE TAKING DOUBLE WHAT YOU WERE PRESCRIBED, because you could get IRON POISONING!!!!!

Iron poisoning can be dangerous, and sometimes fatal, SO DON'T TAKE ANY MORE DOUBLE DOSES!!!! of your Nu-Iron medication.

I am assuming you are anemic. Am I right?

What is CAUSING YOUR ANEMIA???? You need to fix the CAUSE of your anemia, instead of just treating the SYMPTOM OF ANEMIA.

Is your diet not so good? If so, you could improve it, like with help from a GOOD NUTRITIONIST!!!

Are you bleeding somewhere, causing anemia? If so, you need to find out where you are losing blood from, and WHY, SO YOU CAN FIX THE CAUSE!

Hope this helps! Get a good MAGNIFYING GLASS, so you can read about SIDE EFFECTS OF ANY MEDICINE YOU ARE ON!!! Ask a good pharmacist to translate these into PLAIN ENGLISH for you!!! :-)

Sincerely,

Concerned lady

***@****
http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com

P.S. It's good that you asked this question now, before you had worse effects than just black stool!!!!

[Dr. Erik]

First of all, correcting the constipation can relieve the heartburn. Constipation causes the Gastrointestinal tract to back up, thus the hearburn. Second of all, iron causes darkening or blackening of the stool. It is probably not blood. Anyway, you should check with your doctor so he/she can do a Hemoccult strip to see if it is indeed blood. (it probably isn't). I assume your hematocrit(blood count) is low since you are taking the iron. Even more reason to rule out blood in your stool. Black, tarry stool would indicate a bleed higher in your digestive tract. Bright red blood would indicate bleeding in the rectal, colonic area.