Blood from your stool could look bright red, or it might be dark red or black. How the blood looks depends on where it is coming from. Spots of red blood on the toilet paper, drops in the toilet bowl, blood on the surface of your stool or in your underwear indicate the bleeding is coming from the anus or lower rectum.
Black or tarry stools with a foul smell are a sign of a problem in the upper digestive tract. It most often indicates that there is bleeding in the stomach, small intestine, or right side of the colon. The term melena is used to describe this finding.
Signs of bleeding in the lower digestive tract include: Black or tarry stool. Dark blood mixed with stool. Stool mixed or coated with bright red blood.
Overt bleeding might show up as: Vomiting blood, which might be red or might be dark brown and resemble coffee grounds in texture. Black, tarry stool. Rectal bleeding, usually in or with stool.
Internal bleeding may be much more difficult to identify. It may not be evident for many hours after it begins, and symptoms may only occur when there is significant blood loss or if a blood clot is large enough to compress an organ and prevent it from functioning properly.
Symptoms also vary depending on how quickly you bleed. If sudden, massive bleeding happens, you may feel weak, dizzy, faint, short of breath, or have cramp-like belly pain or diarrhea. You could go into shock, with a rapid pulse and drop in blood pressure.
Often, GI bleeding stops on its own. If it doesn't, treatment depends on where the bleed is from. In many cases, medication or a procedure to control the bleeding can be given during some tests.
Blood from higher up in the bowel doesn't look bright red. It goes dark red or black and can make your poo look like tar. This type of bleeding can be a sign of cancer higher up the bowel.
There is outside (external) bleeding and there is inside (internal) bleeding. External bleeding comes from outside of the rectum, from the anal skin or anal canal. It looks bright red on the toilet paper; or, if it drips into the toilet bowl, it is always bright red. There is no blood mixed in with the bowel movements.
Rectal bleeding is a relatively common symptom encountered in primary care. Although the risk of colorectal cancer is believed to be low, this rarely has been studied in patients presenting to primary care physicians. Four studies in European countries reported cancer rates of 2.4 to 7.0 percent.
Most colon cancers bleed, usually slowly. The stool may be streaked or mixed with blood, but often the blood cannot be seen.
“If the blood is more black or tar-like, that might signal an issue in the small intestine or stomach.” If you only have blood on the tissue when you wipe but not in your stool, this is more likely to be hemorrhoids or anal fissures, which should be confirmed by your doctor.
Lower GI bleeding presents bright red blood per rectum or maroon blood and rarely as black tarry stools. Sometimes blood can be invisible and present as anemia. It can occur with or without pain, can be mild or severe. Unfortunately, it can also be sometimes life-threatening.
If you notice blood in the stool, it warrants a call to your physician. Red blood in the stool and rectal bleeding are associated with many diseases and conditions of the digestive tract, including colon and rectal cancer, diverticular disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), among others.
If there is sudden or severe bleeding, symptoms can include: Dizziness and/or weakness. Abdominal pain. Blood in the stool or black tarry stools.
Hematemesis is the regurgitation of blood or blood mixed with stomach contents. Melena is dark, black, and tarry feces that typically has a strong characteristic odor caused by the digestive enzyme activity and intestinal bacteria on hemoglobin.
Soft drinks and stimulants: Carbonated soft drinks, alcohol, and coffee all have the potential to stimulate bowel movements, causing the patient to have abdominal pain and bleeding more. So, you have just learned some information about what to eat with intestinal bleeding.
Internal bleeding is almost always associated with pain. The exception is GI bleeding, but this will still cause obvious symptoms. The signs of internal bleeding will vary depending on what kind of bleeding it is.
In severe cases, internal bleeding can cause death within 6 hours of hospital admission. It is critical to go to a hospital or call emergency service as soon as internal bleeding is suspected.
No amount of blood in the stool is normal, but some causes may be more dangerous than others. Sometimes there is blood in such small amounts that it can't be seen with the eye. In these cases, it must be identified with a test called a fecal occult test.