What Does The Presence Of Blood In The Stool Mean? By Dr. Daniel Linares

2023 Author: Leslie Forster | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 07:36

The presence of blood in the feces fears many patients of all ages because of the possibility that it is colon cancer, but the most common reason for this type of condition is internal hemorrhoids caused by lack of fiber in the diet.

This lack of fiber causes the stool to have a harder consistency and a greater effort is required to defecate, thereby causing the tiny blood vessels in the rectal area to rupture and bleed.

Internal hemorrhoids often cause the presence of bright red blood, which can appear after deposition. This is usually indicative that the bleeding comes from the lower part and that the cause is in the rectum.

The patient's most common complaint is that cleaning with the toilet paper shows fresh blood during defecation, but the bleeding stops and they don't bleed again unless it is during defecation.

Hemorrhoids may not be observable with the naked eye, but can be detected with a careful anal examination, by digital rectal examination and rectoscopy.

On the other hand, if the stool is very black and sticky, it may indicate high bleeding in the stomach. In this case, a gastroscopy would have to be performed, to rule out that it could be a bleeding ulcer in the stomach or duodenum.

In the majority of cases, the appearance of blood does not mean that there is a serious cause, but if the blood is dark and appears mixed with the feces, it is likely that it comes from the colon or somewhere further away. In this case, doctors recommend doing a colonoscopy to see if there are polyps in the colon, colon cancer, or vascular lesions.

The patient should see their doctor for bleeding from the rectum if they notice any of the following symptoms: