How do you know if there is blood?

I don't bleed easy or freely so I don't expect to see bright blood, but on the one time they checked the fecal accult it was positive. 

This moring I did see a little bit of red flecks on the paper but that could be food pieces.  Is there an easy way to tell if there is blood?  In general I don't give more than a  brief glance whats in the bowl....What should I be concerned with?

 

For me, it's easy to tell. The whole bowel turns red, I have red liquid coming out of me, and I see chunks of blood in the toilet. It's scary, because it means the ulcer is large enough to eat through the colon. Plus, losing that much blood harms the health.

If you bleed so little that you can't tell whether or not you are bleeding, then you should pay attention to other symptoms, such as urgency and diarrhea.

Yes, many of us get a lot of mucous with our bm's. Usually that indicates that something is irritating the colon such as the inflammation from our Uc or the foods we eat. Sometimes the food we eat can't be digested properly and it aggravates our colons.