New here and looking for reassurance

Hi,

I am 28 and was diagnosed with UC at 19 after I had my first child.

I am on 6 Asacol HD a day (the max dose but have been on longer than the recommended 6 weeks. I received this from my PCP)

I was starting what I thought was a flare brought on by stress when my husband left (military).

Lately I have seen some what I think is blood in the mucous on my stool but it is much darker than the red I have experienced in the past.

I am terrified I have cancer. But I am trying to reassure myself its normal with UC but I cant find much about the dark blood being common.

I have an appt next week with my gastro (but Im not a fan of him, he really wants to push stronger meds instead of pred and Ive never been on anything higher and am scared of the risks of other meds for different types of cancer when I could just remove my colon and remove my risk for that altogether.) But at the same time I have not had it that bad with this disease compared to many - no transfusions or hospitilizations or such.

Even after my appt I cannot schedule a colonoscopy for about a month when my husband returns. I am stable though and able to function.

I know I have health anxiety but I also cannot find too much reassuring about dark blood. Healing??
I did have a clear colonoscopy 18 months ago which should reassure me. He also said he wouldnt have known I had UC from looking at my colon. Biopsies did show it though.

Please help!

Thank you so much for your reply!

Honestly my husband is tired of hearing about how concerned I am everyday. He is very supportive, however he thinks worrying about it will just make it worse ( I know he is right) and to make an appt which I have.

I have done Asacol, Apriso, Colosal, some suppositories and pred (60mg) and different times. I have also been med free for 18 months of that time.

Yep, dark red if bleed is from higher in GI system, bright red if from lower. If you can handle it, an iron supplement might be a good idea right now too.