Suggest Treatment For Blood In Stool Along With Anemia

Posted on Sat, 6 Jun 2015

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

Sat, 6 Jun 2015 Answered on

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : Blood in stool means what I was told could be hemorrhoids or diverticula
Since I have anemia too also had surgery 3-9-2015 on ankle

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (16 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
The tests you've done should confirm a diagnosis

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

blood in the stool might be related to hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, anal fissure, tumors, ischemic colitis, etc
Since you've done endoscopy (of the intestine, I suppose) then most diagnoses can be excluded. Hemorrhoids, diverticula, inflammatory bowel diseases, fissure, ischemic colitis and tumors can be seen/diagnosed during the endoscopy.

Regarding your anemia: I guess that you haven't lost too much blood during the operation on the ankle. Your anemia has to be classified. Is it iron deficiency? B12 or folate deficiency? Blood loss? Hemolysis? etc

In order to diagnose the cause, investigation would be needed. Useful tests include the following:
- complete blood count
- reticulocyte count
- erythrocyte sedimentation rate
- lactic dehydrogenase (LDH)
- B12 or folate (depending on your MCV in the complete blood count)
- serum ferritin (and perhaps TIBC and Iron).

Other tests might be needed depending on the results.

I hope I've helped!
If you'd like, you can ask for clarifications or further information using your follow-up questions.

Kind Regards!

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