I wanted to reply to the mention of the black mucus:
I've had this disease for almost four years and you are the only other person I've ever heard mention the 'black' mucus. I typically have it when I am flaring. I've posted about it and most people will tell me it's blood, but it's not. It's BLACK. Dark blood from higher up will look maroon, or even a dark maroon, not black. Anyway, I actually saw some this week, yesterday and Tuesday. Like you, I was having looser stools all last week and into the weekend. I was wondering myself if that is what caused the black mucus as I was not having blood at all. I know the loose stools were a stress/anxiety response due to three issues last week 1) work, 2) an argument, 3) and a wedding.
I think there is a chance that the loose stools could have caused it. I actually took a picture of some of the black discharge and showed it to my GI a few years ago because I was worried it was gastric bleeding or something like that. He said it looked like the lining or something I hate I can't remember, he had a name for it that started with 'n'. Anyway, I think maybe the loose stools can aggravate the lining of the colon causing it to produce mucus and maybe even tear and cause the black 'discharge.' So your loose stools could be the cause of the black mucus maybe. The metamucil helped that, in turn helping the mucus. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.