Blood in the stool: Next steps

by Eric Bakker N.D.

Many people, at some stage of their life, will pass some blood through the stool. For most people, it won’t mean much. It will only be a small amount of blood. Common causes of blood in the stool include hemorrhoids or certain types of intestinal infections such as parasites.

If you are passing blood in your stool regularly, it definitely warrants further investigation by your doctor. This is particularly true if you have other symptoms like profound fatigue, rectal itching, brain fog, and poor immune function.

If you have blood in your stool, it could be due to one of 100 different things going on. It could be something as simple as hemorrhoids, which are very common. But it could also be something more sinister, like a stricture or a problem with the colon. There could be polyps inside there. There could even be bowel cancer.

Further readings:

Colon cancer or bowel cancer is much more common than you think. For this reason, I highly recommend you always strive to eat very healthy foods. Some of the factors associated with bowel cancer are heavy alcohol use, consuming large amounts of red meat, obesity, and high stress.

Sometimes blood in the stool isn’t apparent. However, it can still be detected using a fecal occult blood test. If the test comes back positive it means that you are passing some blood in your stool, even if it isn’t visible to the naked eye. Other tests you should do are a complete blood count (CBC) and your ferritin levels, which is a measure of your iron stores. If you have been losing blood in your stool for a long time, your ferritin level may be quite low. I also recommend measuring your B12 and folate levels.

If you’re concerned about the possibility of bowel cancer, you can also ask your doctor to test for a specific bowel cancer marker found in the stool. This test is referred to as the M2-PK test.

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About Eric Bakker N.D.

Eric Bakker ND has completed almost ten years of study and has almost almost 25 years of clinical experience in natural and integrative forms of medicine, and has pursued continuous post-graduate study in Australia, America, India as well as in New Zealand.

Eric is the past Vice President of the NZ Natural Medicine Association and is currently on their editorial advisory board.