blood: how do i know if it's a flare or a hemorrhoid?

i'm not bleeding.

but with my first pregnancy, i had very small amounts of blood from 3 months on and my OB was sure it was internal hemmis. (at the time i had not been diagnosed with UC and the only other problem was skinny poo. no pain, no urgency etc)

so i don't want to panic if i start bleeding this time, but i don't want to ignore a possible flare.

any ideas??

thanks!

Aloha Hekela,
I am, unfortunately, a bit of an expert on hemmies. I've had internal and external hemmeroids and I guess the difference between the blood with them vs a flare is the quantity and amount of blood that came out of me.
With external hemmies (the ones that protrude and are itchy or painful) I had a little blood on the tp. With internal hemmies, the blood actually kind of squirted out of me when I'd try to go to the bathroom, whereas with UC the blood was kind of mixed into everything and turned the whole bowl red. Probably if everything else is ok or normal, so to speak, you're experiencing a hemmeroid, but if you have other symptoms I'd say it's probably a flare.
James

And a hemmie usually produces a streak of blood on th stool (if firm) for me.

thanks all!! hopefully i won't see blood at all! :)