Blood In Stool - What All Should You Know

Hemorrhoids are masses of tissue present in the anal canal. The anal canal also contains blood vessels. The haemorrhoids start bleeding when they enlarge and the blood vessels get damaged when stool is passed. The swollen hemorroids are known as piles and are often mistaken as anal fissures. Anal fissures are just a small tear or crack in the lining of the anus that is caused mainly due to passage of hard stool.

Blood coming from the stomach and the duodenum is not only black in color but also has a tarry texture and is very foul smelling. This particular type of stool is also known as melena. The stool becomes black, tarry and foul smelling because it gets exposed to acid in the stomach and bacteria in the intestines. The acid and the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract causes breakdown of the blood in the stool and the colour turns black.

Imaging tests like CT scan can give images of the whole abdomen and the colon and help determine which particular part of the gastrointestinal tract is bleeding. This may be done after ingesting a barium enema pill so that the dye in the pill helps to identify the bleeding points easily.

Foods kept in warm environment and are not refrigerated can easily bear ground for infectious organisms like Salmonella. If you have a habit of eating foods from the roadside stalls, you may be susceptible to colitis due to Salmonella infection. Colitis or ulcerative colitis can cause blood in stool. Diverticulosis Angiodysplasia can also cause blood in urine.