Blood in stool

[Guest trondhjem]

Big questions here... I did a search but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I am here at my training base for UPT and have noticed bright red blood in my stool twice. The first time was a week ago and it was a fair amount. Then today I noticed a little again but nothing like last week. When it happened last week I had worked out for two hours and then was outside in the heat for three hours when I started to get some stomach pains and then noticed the blood in my stool a short time later.

Now, I have been experiencing certain things like this for a couple years. (No blood or not much to my knowledge in the past though.) I went to the doctor a while back for these stomach "issues" and he told me that it was only constipation. However, now I am getting this bright red blood in my stool and I don't know what to think. I have always wondered if it was an ulcer but am not sure. (I do also realize that this could be serious or should at least be checked out.)

Here is the problem... I start UPT in September and I don't really want to go into the Flight Doc and say "Hey, I'm thinkin that I might have an ulcer and oh yeah there is bright red blood in my stool every now and then too. So... should I just start outprocessing now while you work on DQing me or what?"

So... I am wondering if I could keep this to myself until I have started UPT? If I am already in training would my chances of dodging the DQ bullet be greater? Or, is this something that might just go away and be ok?

[ 04. July 2006, 07:35: Message edited by: Toro ]

[Guest PilotKD]

Drink lots of water and start eating lots of grainy foods. Cereals, granola bars, maybe some fig newtons, fruits. It's easy to get malnutritioned at UPT because of time restraints.

I guess this is kind of a personal question, but do you think the blood is coming from your stool being abrasive to your rectum or something more serious?

Try changing your diet and see if that helps, but blood in your stool is definitely not normal and as important as starting UPT is, you wouldn't want to risk your health over it.

[Spinner]

I know this sounds funny, but my wife is a nurse and says that it could be this: anal fissures. Sometimes when you drop a duece, you irritate the wrecked 'em, and that could cause the bleeding. If you really want to ruin a friendship, have someone look at your bunghole and see if there are any anal fissures. I'm not kidding you man, it may cause a lot of stress to go away. And if it is, I wouldn't suggest using a band-aid...

[Guest trondhjem]

Hey,

Thanks for the replies. It could be a fissure but I am not sure. I do think that whatever it is that it is not external or at least "shallow". I am pretty sure that wherever the bleeding is coming from that it is somewhat deep internally. Also, I do not believe that the blood is actually in my stool but more like it is around or on it when it passes. (It has not happened again though.) And, a couple of weeks ago when the "main event" happened with the bright red blood my stool was rather soft at that point. Don't know if that helps you understand it better but I really appreciate the advice that you have given. Also, when I eat bran flakes in the morning my life goes much better... except for the sudden 11:00am dash for the pony.

[Guest bugmn20]

I believe that if the bleeding were comming from somewhere deep internally it would be more of a dark color or even black. Since the blood is bright red it is more than likely something close to the exit point. Like Spinner said, it could be a fissure.

[Spinner]

Yep, asked my wife again, and she concurs with bugmn20. If it was from farther in, it would be darker.

https://www.webmd.com/hw/digestive_problems/uf4765.asp

[Guest trondhjem]

Ok... we'll go with it being somewhere closer to the exit point. However, there are times when I have very dark stool. I think that it just might be because it has been in there longer due to constipation though. How can you tell the difference between dark stool from blood and dark stool that has been "aged"?

Also, when this all happened the first time (see above) I had pain in my stomach that was pretty bad... kind of like a dull pain that was almost like I was really hungry but then it went away. Could it have just been from the heat and because I had had so much physical activity?

Thanks!

[Guest cutlas44]

"Fly'in high"

You're making a big mistake in leaving your diagnosis to folks (here) with no medical background. If the conditions bother you enough, you'd be foolish in deciding not to seek a professional opinion.

Disagree? Look at it this way, if your condition is diagnosed (now) as being benign and the remedy won't interfere with training, then good for you. If the condition is somewhat malignant, and you choose to delay treatment, then the advancement of the condition could very well effect your trainig, career, life etc.

Best advice when it comes to blood in the stool, get it checked. I've had friends with the same/similar symptoms you descibe, some were merely fissures as mentioned earlier, in one case it was the first indication of colon cancer. If they're "roids", after a treatment or two, it'll all be behind you! You'll lose nothing.

Get it checked man.

[Guest trondhjem]

1. No I'm not female.

2. I'm not going to go to a flight doc or a civi one right now either. If I go to a civi doc I guess I am DNIFed until I show them what went on. I'm not going to tell a flight doc about this with all of the force shaping crap going on right now.

3. I don't think that it is a serious problem because this has not happen much nor has it happened since the last time that I mentioned it.

4. I agree with Rainman. Doc's can be bad for your career. I have heard of more than one case where people have been forced into early retirement from flying because of some anal flight doc that won't let something small slide.

5. I had another member PM me and he had almost the exact same thing happen. He has been on codeine and he got this problem. Well, guess what I've been on codeine and then hadn't taken any for a while. The night before the bloody stool happened I took some more codeine because I couldn't sleep and had a bad cough.

[Guest ChickDriver]

Yeah, 'cuz self-medicating codeine is a good idea for a flying career too...

[Scooter14]

Originally posted by ChickDriver:

Yeah, 'cuz self-medicating codeine is a good idea for a flying career too...

He doesn't start until September, I'm sure he doesn't know the self-medication rules yet. Besides, I don't think you can go pick up codeine at the local Walgreens over the counter.

If he had it from a previous perscription, though, just laying around the medicine chest, different story. Gotta be careful...codeine is a narcotic. Don't go messing with that stuff unless it's perscribed.

[Guest awfltdoc]

Originally posted by Crown44:

"Fly'in high"

You're making a big mistake in leaving your diagnosis to folks (here) with no medical background. If the conditions bother you enough, you'd be foolish in deciding not to seek a professional opinion.

Disagree? Look at it this way, if your condition is diagnosed (now) as being benign and the remedy won't interfere with training, then good for you. If the condition is somewhat malignant, and you choose to delay treatment, then the advancement of the condition could very well effect your trainig, career, life etc.

Best advice when it comes to blood in the stool, get it checked. I've had friends with the same/similar symptoms you descibe, some were merely fissures as mentioned earlier, in one case it was the first indication of colon cancer. If they're "roids", after a treatment or two, it'll all be behind you! You'll lose nothing.

Get it checked man.

Crown44 is spot on here. I would recommend you go see your flight doc and get this checked out. You have plenty of time to get this taken care of if you act soon. If you screw around (STS) and this really becomes a problem in UPT then you will not only be putting your training at risk but also other students, IPs and those individuals under your aircraft.

BTW, the codiene is a bad move (and not likely related to passing blood). I don't make medical decisions based on force shaping, however, popping positive on a drug screen might do more to hurt your UPT slot than pooping blood.

My two cents,

Check six :D

[Guest JLUCB]

codeine = cough suppressant/anti-diarrhetic

[Guest Hoser]

I agree that Flight Docs are bad news when you are a student at UPT.

The Flight Doc that we took on our AEF deployement was another story. Always made sure we had the proper supply of Go and No-Go pills and started off our trip with the following statement: "Other than AIDS, there's pretty much nothing that I can't fix with the right meds and I happen to be bringing those meds with me!"

Great guy. Sorry to see him PCS.

Hoser

P.S. Stop whiping with sandpaper. Switch to Quilted Northern.

[ClearedHot]

Screw the docs, what is the worst that could happen?

While on a flight you bust an anal grommet and briefly ended up sitting in a steaming pile of bloody butt mustard before passing out from the blood loss. Your airplane full of dependants slams into the ground in a fiery ball. Ultimately, they find your burnt carcass with your left hand stuck up anus in a valiant, although futile attempt to stop the bleeding.

At least you got your wings…

[Guest F16PilotMD]

I enjoyed reading all the above...now back to the question.

Blood in stool = see a doc. That reflex is to rule out the few bad things this could be. In older folks ~50+ it's cancer until proven otherwise. In your age group, the news is typically better. Most often benign, easily treated conditions...but not always.

Bright red blood in stool AND very painful bowel movements = likely anal fissure. Almost always diagnosed with that history. Friends don't let friends drive drunk. And friends don't ask friends to look at their a$$hole. You need a doc who knows what he's looking for.

Bright red blood in stool AND pain-free bowel movements = likely hemorrhoid but the list here is a bit longer.

Bloody mucous vs. blood on/in normal stool = can be more serious conditions. Not cancer, but inflammatory bowel diseases, etc. Tougher to treat and DQ. This typically is associated with abdominal cramps. Also, in younger folks, common to have perianal fistulae. You'd know if you had one.

A wait and see approach is not out of the question here. If it keeps up, you just have to be checked out. The dangers of flying with this ongoing are real. I do not think this is a ticket to DQ and outta UPT.

Drink lots of water. Keep your stools soft. Do not spend excessive amounts of time on the toilet. No reading in the bathroom. See what happens.

PM me if you want more info or to update me.