Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Bloody Diarrhea And Its Implications

The second most common medical condition, next to colds is diarrhea so there is nothing unusual if some people are affected by it. Most of the time this condition goes away after two or three days and can be treated at home. If you are afflicted with a bloody diarrhea, it poses a serious condition. You need to consult a doctor the moment you notice that there is blood in your stool. Here’s a short description on bloody diarrhea’s causes.

Peptic Ulcer. More often than not, peptic ulcers are caused by a bacterium that leads to chronic gastritis. The gastrointestinal tract is the affected area for this most painful type of ulcer. These are its following symptoms: bloody diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and weight loss. This condition is critical as it can lead to deadly peritonitis if not treated properly. For milder cases, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics and antacids.

Crohn’s Disease. It is an autoimmune disease by which the body’s immune system that elicits harmful inflammation by attacking the gastrointestinal tract. This disease generally affects the small and large intestines but it can develop in any part of the gastrointestinal tract. The following symptoms usually manifest when a person has this autoimmune disease, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever and weight loss. Though there are no definite causes for Crohn’s disease, studies point to genetic makeup, smoking and industrial environment exposure as the culprits.

Colorectal Cancer. Colorectal cancer is the third most frequent cancer and its fatal indication is bloody diarrhea. Every year around 640,000 succumbed to this cancer that is why it is important to have doctors diagnose it if it is in its early stages. Colonoscopy is the chief method of finding out whether there are any tumors in your colon, rectum, and appendix. Blood in stool are often accompanied by other crucial symptoms such as incessant fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation, and weight loss. The prestigious University of Michigan released a statement that colorectal cancer produces occult blood in feces. The occult blood is invisible to the naked eye that is why special tests are required to confirm the presence of blood in stool.

Before you panic and start worrying about your bloody diarrhea, please take not that this are just the worst possible scenario of bloody diarrhea. You may be just suffering from hemorrhoids hence the bloody stool.

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