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popejoan
15-12-14, 23:17
About 1.5 months ago I was having horrible heartburn, acid reflux, gas and bloating and my bowel movements were so weird (they still are). I've been constipated all my life but now I have loose stools, frequent bowel movements and feeling like I couldn't evacuate it all. My Gp asked for a stool test and a blood test. The day after I gave blood and stool sample, I woke up in the morning, went to toilet and there was blood on toilet paper, in the toilet, everywhere. It was rather a maroon colour and the blood on toilet paper looked rather thin. I freaked out and called 111 so an ambulance came, took me to A&E, they did a rectal exam they said no bleeding, everything looks fine, they took blood and said I'm not anemic and my hemoglobin levels are great for a woman. I was actually relieved and thought it must be the beet juice I've been drinking for 2 days. I went home and tried to relax.

I had a phone call from Gp a few days after saying that my doctor want to see me and I freaked out. My fears came back, I saw my doctor he said my ferritin levels are low which may indicate that there is an internal bleeding. He said there's no h.pylori in my stool but I think they didn't check it for blood. He referred me for a colonoscopy and prescribed iron tablets.

So since then my bowel movements are still out of control and I see more blood but still can't be 100% sure if it's blood I've had bleeding in between periods so couldn't be sure where the blood was coming from (sorry ). My stools are literally black (sorry tmi again), I'm thinking it must be because of iron tablets but can't be sure it's because of bleeding and I had black mucus discharge or black blood clot twice today and can't be sure again.

I think I'm losing my mind, one part of me wants to think that it's not blood but my HA already decided it's bowel cancer and that's why I'm too tired and out of breath all the time because I'm bleeding and becoming more anemic. Really don't know how to wait for colonoscopy, just want to know what's wrong....

LE
16-12-14, 17:26
Hi

Try not to worry. Most women have low ferritin levels because they bleed every month. That's your iron stores.

Also yes stool does black with iron tablets.

I have low ferritin and had a colonoscopy and all was normal. Prior to me having the colonoscopy my stools were all over the place, all sorts of colours and flat. Since I got the all clear they are back to normal!!

popejoan
16-12-14, 18:39
Hello, thank you so much for your reply, really made me feel better. I know anxiety has a huge effect on digestive system but ofcourse HA whispering into my ear and saying that "it's not anxiety it's bowel cancer".
I'm glad everything was all normal and glad your bowel movements are back to normal. Thank you again and take care x