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Comment by antoniuschan99 | Hacker News Reader

It’s also good know that if you’re seeing bright red blood then it’s a higher chance it’s hemorrhoids whereas dark red you definitely should get it checked because it’s coming from inside your colon.

Also there’s supposedly a poop test called fecal occult blood test that has a high rate of detecting colorectal cancer that you do over the course of 3 years. I saw this on nhk Doctor's Insight: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2086035/

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Bright red blood can also be a sign of inflammation/bleeding in the low low colon, e.g., proctitis. (Ask me how I know, lol.)

As a rule of thumb, the farther the blood has to travel, the darker it'll be. Blood from high up enough in your GI tract will be a black, tarry substance, NOT red, but it's absolutely blood and you need to get that checked out ASAP.

Unless, of course, you uave both: the office worker hemorrhoids and colon cancer. Ask me how I know that! So no, if ypi start bleeding from your body without having injured yourself, see a doctor and get it checked out.

Wrll, actually, if thebimjury is beyond "a self applied band aid can fix it", see a doctor as well!

Bright red "live" blood can come from any part of the lower intestines. Strong-smelling feces with dark blood are called melena and are associated with bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, peptic ulcers are a common cause. The reason for the difference is the blood gets digested as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract. It's not a 100% exact science, bleeding in the lower intestines might still spend enough time in the body to be digested and bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract might come out fast enough that it still looks red. Additional symptoms usually provide enough context for a clinical decision to be made.

> fecal occult blood test

Often used to screen patients for colonoscopies. Screening is looking for disease in the asymptomatic: "occult" means it's not visible to the naked eye, you're looking for blood even though the patient has not noticed any. The symptomatic don't need screening, they need diagnosis and thus proceed directly to colonoscopy. Or endoscopy if upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding is suspected.

Advice too simplistic, end of colon can emit blood also and then it’s brighter

Just get ur ass checked, end of story. Medical emergency or not. You're paygrade is way to low to make that call (fuguratively speaking)

Edit: i can only lead an ass to the proctologist, i cannot make it "drink" ;)

“Recurrent bleeding from colon is bad, go see a doctor.” Is a fairly simple rule.

IMHO depends on the amount. If you are severely dehydrated and you notice your stool physically hurt coming out. A small amount of blood might honestly not be unexpected.

Edit: To be clear “severely dehydrated” is kinda an important factor here. Point being that if the cause is obvious I dont see why you’d get a colonoscopy. Please correct me if im wrong instead of just downvoting for anyone who knows more about this thx ^^

If you are consistently severely dehydrated that’s also a good reason to see the doctor ;)

But yeah, if it happens once it’s not necessarily a problem. It’s when you keep having bloody stool that it’s a good idea to get checked.

Why is the amount that you care for your own ass so ant-sized?

It doesn’t matter. Go. See. A. Doctor.

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