DD20 - blood and mucous in poo

[Titsywoo]

My DD lives about 200 miles away (at uni) and currently has no GP (she is starting 3rd year and never needed to see one urgently so just had appointments when at home.

She has had stomach issues a fair amount in her life (mostly constipation and acid reflux) but nothing too extreme. Yesterday she messaged to say she had several episodes of diarrhea and there was quite a bit blood in it and on the paper when she wiped. This happened a few times in a row and she said there were small clots so I told her to call 111 or go to urgent care. She spoke to a doctor via 111 who said since there was no abdominal pain/vomiting etc that is was likely just a bug and to just drink lots of water, not take imodium and eat a simple diet for a few days - if it happened again they said to go and get a stool sample done. The diarrhea continued but the blood stopped so she thought that was that. Then this afternoon she said there was more blood and lots of mucous. She is getting worried as I am I (although not saying so to her!). She is going to get an appointment to see someone tomorrow so she can do a stool sample.

How concerning does this sound? I appreciate it has only been going on a couple of days so I don't want to worry too much but blood in poo is always a concern right?

Could be diverticulitis if she has always had digestion difficulties.

She really needs to register properly with a GP and ask them to do a stool sample for her.

I had that and it turned out to be internal piles. It’s good that’s she’s getting checked out but there’s a whole load of things it could be so try not to worry too much

It could be lots of things, I convinced myself I had cancer earlier this year it was polyps which caused blood and mucus, it looked and felt terrifying. It's probably nothing sinister but she needs to see a gp and ask for a referral for it to be investigated.

I had this in my early 20s. I had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. It's been kept somewhat under control with meds.

Just to add, the mucus came from the inflammation in my colon.

Same with my DD except it’s under control without any medication.

My son had this. Going to loo 8/9 times a day for several weeks. GP said it was IBS. I as a GP was appalled when I heard this..
Eventually had faecal calprotectin checked which was 800+ and he has ulcerative colitis. Make sure GP checks this. It would be an unusual bug. Also get her registered at university GP they are there more than at home. The home records stay on the system apart from letters so she can go as a temporary resident when she's home.
I used to have patients the other side of Scotland phoning me for a telephone appointment then getting annoyed when I wanted to see them face to face (yes I'm old fashioned) to examine them.

Is she losing weight. I would keep Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis in mind. Other things can cause it too though. I would push for a colonoscopy. I have Crohn's disease and it took me over a year to get diagnosed. I was losing weight as the months went on though. She could make sure she paces herself college wise until she knows. And eat foods that are more digestion friendly. The low fodmap diet is what I was recommended (easily digested foods)

She needs to register with a GP. There are lots of things it could be from IBD to pile. It needs following up by a GP.

Hi hope she’s ok now! What did the doctors say? Experiencing the same myself x

She should ask for a calprotectin test to measure infection levels, believe it or not infections can last a couple of months even though google says a bug should be clearing up in 24hrs. Had an infection with these exact symptoms myself a while back. They will probably consider cohns, ulcerative colitis or infectious colitis (which is what I had)

Calprotectin doesn't measure infection levels - a culture (MC&S) or PCR is what would be used for that. Instead Calprotectin measures inflammation in the digestive tract. When its really high, Crohn's andUC are much more likely, but infections can also cause inflammation and therefore increase the calprotectin.