Blood - should I be concerned?

I go every 8 weeks for my Remicade infusions and normally I do fairly ok'ish until my next infusion. I've been in remission for 2 years btw. But I've been under a lot of stress for the past few weeks. My father passed away and than I got severely sick with a sinus infection from hell. I finished the last of my Z-pack yesterday.

Gut wise I feel ok. But I've been having a lot of bleeding. Not the kind of bleeding that wants to make me expel it like in a flare. But the kind of blood you see in your underwear when you fart or when you wipe to expel gas while on the toilet. It's bright red blood so I'm thinking it might be my hemmies but I've noticed some darker blood as well. Sometimes it's a little and other times it's a lot. I've also been a little constipated..I haven't gone in 2 days.

What is your guys opinions...should I wait until my next infusion which is Monday the 17th and see if it resolves or call my Gi for steroid supps or enemas? (I can't do mesalamines enemas as I'm intolerant of them)

BTW... stress will also do me in to a certain extent, and the passing of your father has to be hard. Give things time and don't over-worry about this bleeding. If you're still seeing it next Monday let them know at the infusion and tell them your situation. :)

You have my regards about your father.

Sherry,

First, I am very sorry to hear about your father. That is major stress and to compound it with an infections and antibiotics doesn't help.

My GI always told me to call him before I took antibiotics or anytime that I saw blood, so a phone could to your GI probably would be advisable. Maybe your GI can move your infusion up a couple of days or give you some steroids or enemas. I am also intolerant of mesalamine.

The constipation issue worries me because it could mean that your colon is becoming very inflamed.

Thanks all :) I will call my GI tomorrow and see if he will give me steroid supps. If it is my hems than that will help with both the hems and if I have any inflammation building.

Btw, the bleeding started before I started on the antibiotics but it was minor. However, it did increase while on them.

I just hate seeing blood because I have not seen this much in about 2 years. Kind of scared me! Lol

I'm sure it will be T :) This is just the last thing I need to worry about now. I've got a full plate as it is!

Sherry, I have hemmies and constipation as well. But I don't have blood in my underwear when I pass gas. I see a little blood in my stool when I pressed too hard, you know what I mean? My GI told me to keep things soft and suggested a mild laxative. He also gave me cortisone suppositories. After all this I got better but when I get very constipated, I see the blood returning.

I really hope it's just hemmies and not a flare. Do you see mucus at all? That's normally how I know it's the beginning of a flare when I have mucus in combination with blood.

All the best.

Sorry for my late response...but an update. I didn't call my GI today because I was able to go to the bathroom. No more blood that I could see. So I'm thinking that A)It's my hems acting up from the constipation and/or B)Because it's nearing my next infusion, I am starting some inflammation - which I am sure the Remi will handle that on Monday.

Thank you all for your responses....but doesn't it just freak you out when you start seeing blood or symptoms after being free of it for so long??? But to answer your questions...no, no increase of mucous which is good :)

Oh and Q...I've been on Probiotics for years....I take Probio. And I did increase it while on the antibiotics.

Sherry, I'm glad you haven't seen anymore blood.

Yes it totally freaks me out every time. The absence of mucus indicates no inflammation. I'd be glad if it's just hemmies. Although they can be annoying too it's a lot better than an actual inflammation.

So you're taking Remicade every 8 weeks? When I was on 8 weeks, I started to have some mucus. I knew I was in the beginning of a flare. We set the frequency to ever 6 weeks and I was fine from then on.