Haemorrhoids or Flare

Hi there!

This is my first post, I should start off by saying I have no definitive diagnosis as of yet. I've had a CT enterography in September that show mild inflammation when admitted to emerg due to extreme pain and inability to control bowel movements, but they told me this was probably due to chronic constipation (even though I wasn't constipated, I guess it looked like I was on the CT). I was diagnosed with IBS years ago but things have been increasingly worse. My half brother has UC

My main symptom has definitely been left sided and rectal pain, rectal spams, urgency. I often get constipated (but when I do pass the BM it's usually small amounts of D), I often have a lot of mucus and have gone through spurts of constant D (back in November/December I had constant D), I've passed Maroon coloured blood in the past that is mixed in with stool (not a whole lot but its there) and I always have undigested food in my stool (like mushrooms, lettuce, nuts, legumes) I follow the SCD diet to manage my symptoms , my colonoscopy has been rescheduled twice due to my GI being on medical leave (of course).

Anyway, I've been fine for a bit but over the past week I have been having random intense waves of pains in both my left and right side, usually left but then it skips right over to the right (where my cecum would be) ...my knees have been bothering me a lot the past week (I get arthritic knee pain flare ups with no sign of degeneration.. managed with cortisone shots) my knees are always worse if my stomach hurts and yesterday when at the mall I literally had such urgency I had to run out of a store and to the bathroom.. but with nothing to actually come out (ugh). This morning I finally had a BM but passed blood and mucus, it hurt really bad to pass the BM but it was formed. The blood was like maroon coloured and mixed in with mucus and stool, but there wasn't a whole lot and none on the toilet paper. I can't tell if the blood is just haemorrhoids or worth a trip to the doctor (maybe they'll refer me to a new GI who isn't on med leave). What are your thoughts??

Post Edited (Tash Gillzy) : 3/26/2017 2:18:40 PM (GMT-6)

sfc425 said...
I think you should see a GI doctor ASAP. This sounds much more severe than any bout of hemorrhoids I've heard of.

As someone who has a real UC diagnosis, would it be likely to have constipation and have solid BM's that hurt to pass during a UC flare though? I do find it strange too, especially since my stomach and knee pain has been flaring up. But the med care sucks where I live and the last time I went to emerg they sent me home because it " wasn't surgical " and put me on a wait list for a colonoscopy that I've still yet to have!

Thanks for your advice

~ chicken wings ~ said...
I'm particularly interested in - can anybody talk about the distinction between maroon blood, purple blood, red blood? iPoop? I'm just wondering as sometimes I've seen red blood, sometimes purple and I want to know if one is more severe etc. Thanks. (Not trying to hijack the thread, just wondered if anyone can explain this to me as well as discussing the other stuff)

Wish I could help ya haha, I do believe bright red means its really low like maybe a rectal tear , the higher up the bleeding is the darker (like small bowel would probably be black).. Yeah when I say maroon i mean like purpley/red. I've sometimes seen dark brownish red that I wonder was blood but just assumed it was mucus

Some of us do present with constipation vs diarrhea - I'm one of them - and tenesmus, which is the urge to go without passing much more than tiny bits of stool and/or mucus and blood. I have urgency but not a lot of actual movements. Generally constipation is more common when the inflammation is in the rectum/sigmoid colon but not a hard and fast rule. Your symptoms sound very much line mine were before diagnosis. I would insist on getting the colonoscopy ASAP so that you can get on some medication to bring that inflammation down fast, and a treatment plan. FYI, adding a rectal medication (for me) helped a lot with those symptoms, in addition to prednisone, once I was diagnosed. Of course you can't stay on steroids for any length of time but they should get you quick relief while your other, long term medications that they will prescribe, have time to start working. I wish I hadn't waited as long as I did to get diagnosed - the inflammation was harder to treat because of it. Good luck!

Thank you all. It has been a long process for me, it's not necessarily that I am putting it off but more so that the wait lists for a scope where I live are like 6 months - 1 year , 6 months is considered "urgent" which is the list they did put me on, but then the GI I was referred to went on medical leave. At emerg they will only do things if a CT warrants it as surgical.

I've been constantly trying to convince myself these are just symptoms of severe IBS but I really don't know. It's really exhausting not knowing what's going on with your body! I hope I get answers soon but unfortunately unless I get really sick or run a fever I know the ER won't do anything for me. If the blood increases I may try to go.

sfc425 said...
Where are you?

No GI doctor should consider a flare something that warrants a 6-month waiting period. They typically schedule scopes ASAP. I had a flare last Monday and was checked out less than 24 hours later. Get to someone fast.

Try to get scoped within the next week or things could/will get worse. Seriously.

I am in Nova Scotia Canada . The wait list really long here unless you go to emerge and there is significant inflammation or an obstruction shown on CT they won't do an emergency scope. The last time I was at emerge they told me it wasn't surgical , so I was put on a waitlist for a routine scope , that was this summer. It was my first time ever being in so much pain/having so much urgency, it lasted about 3 months and I never did get a real diagnosis. I've seen a GI who said it sounds like UC or he also suggested microscopic colitis, but he said we need biopsies first before I can get a real diagnosis and suggested I continue with the SCD diet. That was in December, and now the GI is on medical leave.

Our healthcare system is really bad , I heard a story where 2 years ago a young guy actually had bowel cancer but by the time he got his colonoscopy over a year later it was too late for treatment. That being said if this guy had gone to the emergency room at any point I'm sure he would've gotten an emergency scope , but in my case this past summer they didn't feel it was urgent enough . My problem is I feel like if I go to the emerg again with just mild symptoms they'll brush me off again.

sfc425 said...
Call everyone you can and tell them you must get a colonoscopy. Even if you have to make up a story about a past diagnosis of UC, just get someone willing to see you. Go to the ER if that's what it takes. Tell them you KNOW you NEED A COLONOSCOPY OR YOUR SITUATION WILL GET WORSE. Tell them it's 10 out of 10 bad.

I did a quick Google search and came up with this GI: https://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/46225/Dr-Stacey-Williams-Halifax-NS.html

Maybe you can try her? I don't know exactly how it works, but good luck getting help ASAP. Don't give up until you're seen.

Thank you so much for your help and advice! Are you in the states? I so wish I could just call any GI and make an appointment but here you need a referral from a GP or an attending in the ER. It's so dumb, I am in a forum with other people on the Specific Carb Diet and I am so jealous of the people in the states who can jump from GI to GI just because they didn't like their doctor haha.

I am going to give it another day, see if it gets any worse or settles and then I think I will go and request a new referral and get it pushed to be more urgent.

sfc425, Thank you very much. I am going to try to get this looked into.. maybe I just haven't been forceful enough. I think my experience this summer has made me a little more hesitant to waste my time in the ER, but I will take your advice!

Just wanted to update.. I saw a new GP today at my university's walk in clinic and he is ordering stool tests and blood work. He said he isn't convinced that it is IBS from pictures and the fact that the pain doesn't go away after a BM. If either test shows signs of IBD or infection he is ordering an emergency scope

Haha thank you! I didn't know it was supposed to be something general so at first I had my real name. Been watching a lot of Silicon Valley lately lol.

Update again: just had the bloodwork done , and although we won't have the results until Thursday the clinic head said they're going to send a new referral for me and stamp it urgent since my previous GI is on medical leave

Not all rosy here in the states, either. But rosier, I suppose. My city doesn't have a lot of GOOD GI docs for some reason, finally got one in at the clinic I go to last year. I was bleeding and very sick last March, and I still couldn't get my appt. with that doctor until July because he was so booked. I finally did, though -- and now he's leaving in Sept! WAH! Back to the drawing board.

When I was flaring badly last year, my GI doc couldn't get me in the hospital right away because I would have had to go on a waiting list for a bed, so he sent me to the emergency room and told me to over-exaggerate the amount of blood and pain I was in. So I did. Tell them LOTS of blood and that you're in horrible pain. They'll do a rectal check for blood, most likely find it (but not be able to tell how much from that), and investigate further right there.

I'd not worry and wait and see what your biopsies say.