Blood?

I have NEVER seen blood so can someone explain what it looks like? Two weeks ago I started having d. It started two days after starting effexor for anxiety. We all assumed the d is a side effect of the effexor and it will go away when my body adjusts to it. I've had mega urgency with a little cramping and a ton of gas. Today was another d day and I found some blood on the toilet paper. It was red but not bright red or dark red either. It didn't hurt coming out like it would if it were a hemi or a fissure so now I'm not sure what to think. I meet with the CNP I'm seeing here at school who prescribed the effexor on Thursday so I'll talk to her then. I should also add that I started z-pack Sunday for a sinus infection but I've been taking a probiotic so I don't think that has anything to do with it. I'm at a loss of what to think. If it happens again I'm calling my GI but I most likely won't be able to get in until late December...

That sounds similar to what I saw at first, before I was diagnosed.  Blood on the tp, for me watery looking red.  In fact, for awhile I rationalized it as the juice from tomatoes that I wasn't digesting properly.  It was actually blood.   

No no my GI was never concerned about no blood. We caught my UC in time before it got too bad. There was inflammation but not quite to the point of full blown ulcers. Don't get me wrong I was definitely sick but we started treating it in time.

Blood in the stool can be bright red, maroon in color, black and tarry, or occult (not visible to the naked eye). Causes of blood in stool range from harmless, annoying conditions of the gastrointestinal tract such as hemorrhoids to serious conditions such as cancer.

Rectal bleeding (known medically as hematochezia) refers to passage of bright red blood from the anus, often mixed with stool and/or blood clots. Most rectal bleeding comes from the colon, rectum, or anus. The color of the blood during rectal bleeding often depends on the location of the bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. Generally, the closer the bleeding site is to the anus, the blood will be a brighter red. Thus, bleeding from the anus, rectum, and the sigmoid colon tend to be bright red, whereas bleeding from the transverse colon and the right colon (transverse and right colon are several feet away from the anus) tend to be dark red or maroon colored.

In some patients bleeding can be black and "tarry" (sticky) and foul smelling. The black, smelly and tarry stool is called melena. Melena occurs when the blood is in the colon long enough for the bacteria in the colon to break it down into chemicals (hematin) that are black. Therefore, melena usually signifies bleeding is from the upper gastrointestinal tract (for example: bleeding from ulcers in the stomach or the duodenum or from the small intestine) because the blood usually is in the gastrointestinal tract for a longer period of time before it exits the body. Sometimes melena may occur with bleeding from the right colon. On the other hand, blood from the sigmoid colon and the rectum usually does not stay in the colon long enough for the bacteria to turn it black. Rarely, massive bleeding from the right colon, from the small intestine, or from ulcers of the stomach or duodenal can cause rapid transit of the blood through the gastrointestinal tract and result in bright red rectal bleeding. In these situations, the blood is moving through the colon so rapidly that there is not enough time for the bacteria to turn the blood black.

:)

Sam already stated it didn't hurt coming out like it does with a fissure, lord knows we all know how horrible it feels when we have fissures though...from what she describes I'm betting it's related to her UC, although sometimes with a small internal hemmie there can be bleeding with no noticeable pain or discomfort too.

:)