Comment on How alarmed should I be to see stool in my blood?
BoobaAwooga@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
Bright red, not very. Dark blood, very.
Doesn’t bloody fresh red blood mean that whatever is happening is near the exit so more or less treatable.
But dark red or even black means that bleeding is happening deep inside the intestinal tract and you really have to see a doctor and a hospital to get proper treatment as soon as possible.
Note that you probably shouldn’t read this post if you have health anxiety
generally yes but not always. Don’t freak the fuck out without other symptoms. Something as simple as taking pepto bismol can make your stool very dark and it’s obviously benign in that case. Similarly red in your poop can be caused by dietary stuff, classic trigger is beets
Ideally you’d see a doctor just to be safe, especially if it occurs for more than a few days or if you also have other symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, etc.
if you have symptoms like tachycardia or weak heartbeat, pallor, hyperventilation, sweating, excessive fatigue/not alert, etc it’s in the medical emergency zone and you need an emergency room asap.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 months ago
No. Do not listen to this guy. I was raised to just never go to the doctor. Ever. Arm broken? Walk it off. Decapitated? Walk it off. My dad refused to take me to the doctor, or the dentist, or anything that cost money.
So when I was 14, and there was blood in my poop, my dad said “don’t worry about it.”
Several years passed. One day in my 20s my very heavy girlfriend said I couldn’t lift her above my head. I can TOTALLY lift her above my head! So I lifted her above my head. Aaaaaaaand pulled my back. Walk it off.
Then in my 30s pulled my back again doing my job. Walk it off. Worked the whole week in pain. Walk it off. Ig’ll be the weekend soon, you’ll rest then. Walk it off. Sunday I can’t even sit up. The pain was 1000x worse. I never call off work. I called off work to go to the hospital.
The nurse asked me when my last checkup was.
That was a foreign question to me. Check-up? Of what?
Well when was the last time you had a blood test?
Uhhhhhh, never?
Ok, well I’m going to draw some blood, because you look really really pale.
Yeah, obviously. I haven’t been in the sun in like 30 years. But, whatever. My blood is fine, but you do your thing.
30 minutes later
How did you get here?
I took a bus, then took another bus, and then walked 2 streets from the bus stop.
No you didn’t.
Yeah…I did.
Well, your blood count is concerningly low. A male of your age and size should have a score of 16-18. A woman half your size, should have a score of 12-14. Anything less than 7 is at risk of passing out from blood loss. Medical advice is that anything below 5 is already dead. Your score is 3.74. I have no idea how you’re even awake right now, let alone walking.
Well, I’m in a lot of pain. Outside of that, I feel normal.
We’re going to hook you up to a bag of blood to boost your levels. I can’t force you to say yes, but please say yes.
Ok.
90 minutes goes by, full bagbof blood infusion. New blood test. Levels are only at 5.09. Still dangerously low.
2nd bag of blood infusion. 90 minutes later. New blood test. New score 6.40. Remember anything below 7 is still dangerously low. But, legally they can only do 2 bags in a 24 hour period. So they kept me overnight for observation.
Next day, they do a 3rd bag.
They can’t do more than 3 bags in a week. You’re talking levels of blood for someone that lost a limb or something. But my new score was barely over 7. Still really really bad.
ABCDE@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Do you still have it?
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Cancer? Well, I spent a year of my life doing cancer recovery. They cut out about 1/3rd of my colon, and on Friday I go in for some more tests and scans.
But here’s the fun part. I was unable to work for that whole year due to having a tube hooked up to my chest which pumped drugs that were meant to kill cells inside my body. There’s a such thing as micro cancers. They aren’t cancer yet, but they freely float in your bloodstream after you do something like major surgery. Such as cutting out a portion of your colon.
So while in recovery, they give you these little statements. Sheets of paper, that say “This is not a bill”, and then shows you the cost of all the stuff you got charged. But it’s insurance paying for it, not you. Well, my insurance was Medicaid, because I had $0 income. In a 3 month period, my services cost over 1 million dollars.
Now, because I’m working again, and because my Grandma passed away and left an inheritance, I’m probably losing my free health care. I looked at plans, and the cheapest is $300 per month.
I make like $1500 per month total. My rent is $800, and will be increasing by AT LEAST $100 in July.
So right now, I may be cancer free, but, it’s one of those things where it REALLY doesn’t feel like it. I’m just screaming waiting for the other shoe to drop.