Bloody Stool

Hello and welcome to HW, it is great to hear about the few problems in so many years I can only hope for the same. My bloodowrk that I had 1 month after my ileostomy reversal (which was 2 months ago)showed that I am anemic, I use to be then with diet I was able to fix that (I use to be able to tolerate many veggies before my revesal surgery red meat more than 2 times a week bothers my gut or it did before surgery anyway...trying to still eat a bland diet). Not having your ileum can affect absorption of certain vitamins and minerals iron being one of them B12 another but you are having that supplemented. To increase your red count I would suggest iron suppliments (your DR can test for different types of anemia, not all are fixed by iron...and iron can cause C). Certain foods such as red meat and spinach are rich in iron, spinach has calcium, B6, riboflavens etc in it...if you can tolerate it that is. The color of the blood in the stool can usually inform the dr if the blood is from the upper or lower GI tract. red blood is usually from inflammation in the large intestine, anal fissures, or hemmorhoids, (not sure if they left any colon/rectum in when they did your surgery. If the blood looks like coffee grounds that usually indicated bleeding higher up in the GI tract (most commonly the small intestine) however I am unsure what it would appear like in an ostomy bag since I had no visible bleeding when I had my temp ostomy. I would definitly have your GI do a colonoscopy, SBFT, and/or CTE to check on your disease and if it has progressed and to what severity.

I hope things get back on track for you its good to hear good stories post op as opposed to the horror show I have gone through this year, hopefully when I am fully healed up I will have a nice long remission...at least long enough to have a child or 2 with my husband.

I use to go to a different GI (before this yers spiral of my CD and the GI didnt want to change meds after a CTE...1 month later my ileum perforated) and they had 12 GIs there and they would share rooms. One GI actually had a list of the top 20 food items that are common food triggers. I dont have this sheet but corn, pocorn, red meat, tomatoes, nnuts and seeds were on the list the red meat was in the top 5. I dont know if you can tolerate spinach but that is high in calcium and iron...since my reversal I cannot tolerate spinach or raw tomatoes :( I havent ventured out beyond those and potatoes as far as veggies. You may want to look into taking a probiotic and/or eat lots of yogurt (make sure it says live cultures on the frozen yogurt). I have also heard that some probiotics do not need to go in the fridge, I have taken FloraQ samples from my GI but I had been using acidophalus (sp?) that helps with candida (yeast infections can happen pretty much anywhere in or on the body). Maybe start a food diary along with output in your bag, pains you get blood seen etc. Also be mindful that when I had my ostomy (and actually even after it was reversed) some meds go through me that are 12 hour meds and they never broke down. This happens with some of my vitamins and it happened with Oxycontin (with the oxy the writing was still legible on both sides of the pill). The pentasa is breaking down in me though seems like capsules work okay for me.

I dont know if you are lactose intolerant or not; I am not but I do try to stay away fromit when I flare. After getting your lab results back talk to your dr about an elimination diet maybe that way you can figure out what is causing the bleeding. Some people on here do well with the SCD diet others with the makers diet. You may want to start a low residue diet and slowly reintro some of your common foods you eat and if all goes well a week or 2 later add something else (ergo elim diet).

Good Luck