Blood In Stool In Fecal Sample. Having Fatigue, Distended Stomach And Nausea. Underlying Cause?

Posted on Sun, 27 Oct 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 Answered on

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : my husband was told by his dr. that blood in his stool was found when he gave a fecal sample. now he has extreme fatigue, distended stomach, and nausea. he has had extensive blood work and results are not in yet. any possible causes of this?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Colon cancer is possible.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

The most common reason of blood in the stool are hemorrhoids. Such blood is usually on the surface of the stool and bright red.
However such symptoms like fatigue, distended stomach (bloating), nausea and blood in the stool can be caused by partial bowels obstruction due to colon cancer. Other possible symptoms are weight loss and abdominal pain.
Please note that colon cancer risk significantly increases over the age of 50. That is why every person over 50 should have colonoscopy every 10 years.

I suggest your husband to do not wait any longer and have colonoscopy done.
If his stomach is bloated and there was no gas and stool for few days, it might be an obstruction. There for he should visit ER and have abdominal X-ray done.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar