Very embarrassing (bowel related) but can someone please put my mind at ease?!

[Sasajones]

This a very embarrassing post and probably TMI, but here goes.

In the past, after a bowel movement, sometimes there is bright red blood on the tissue - I know this is due to hard poos/burst little capillaries/not enough fibre/straining too hard. When it happens I increase my fibre intake, drink more water and it goes away.

Well, yesterday on the tissue after a bowel movement, (TMI alert) there was a congealed clump of blood, like you would get from your period. It was a darker red colour, not the bright fresh red blood you get after straining. What is it!? I've never had it before.

I'm so worried, I have an appointment at the GP for next week. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and having visions of having to terminate the pregnancy to undergo treatment for bowel cancer! I know it sounds over dramatic but I'm really worried.

Can anyone shed any light on what it could be?

Thanks for reading.

I can certainly try to put your mind at rest. You almost definitely have some internal haemorrhoids (piles) which are extremely common in pregnancy. When you are constipated and strain they bleed a little. The freshness of the blood is the key thing here.

Keep up the high fibre diet, drink plenty of fluids and if necessary take a stool softener like lactulose to avoid the straining.

Do of course mention this to your doctor at your appointment but please don't lose any sleep over this.

Thanks so much for that. I really appreciate your reply. The bit I'm worried about is the clump of blood, it was a few millimetres long, and it wasn't fresh, bright red blood, but a slightly darker colour. Do you get that from piles? I'm really hoping you do.

Sounds just like a wee bit of congealed blood. Like a wee blood clot, if you've a pile or a wee tear then that wouldn't be unusual.

Like if u get a nose bleed & sometimes a wee clot comes out when u blow your nose.

Go see Dr though & try not to worry.

Jeez how many times can I use the word wee in one post.

Thanks very much for the advice. Greatly appreciated.