Not sure about this symptom, red stool, Abdominal pain and red stool Options

[brad0022]

After a few years of test and misdiagnosis I am left with IBS. I am negative for Celiac. So after having moderate abdominal pain and bloat most every single day I decided to try making mac and cheese with gluten free noodles. I was thinking of doing the gluten free diet even though I am negative for Celiac to see if that might help. I do not have issues with dairy. Anyways all went ok until before going to bed I was in increasing pain. It woke me up at night a few times and so went the usual diarrhea. Except not very much was coming out after the 3rd bm that night. Then in the morning it was nothing but red puss and blood red small stool but no out right blood. That happened all day long up until 7 pm the next day. Then the stool was back to normal. I have had much more severe abdominal pain also. I have had sharp abdominal pain but never has lasted all day long like this. I have had plenty of times when abdominal pain has woke up at night and then I keep reading that IBS does not wake people up. Anyways has anyone had red stool? I do have puss occasionally too but never had blood red stool so frequently before.

[Kathleen M.]

IBS cannot wake people up is a misrepresentation of the data and what a red flag symptom means.

Other GI illnesses, especially GERD--chronic heartburn--are more likely to cause pain during the night but it is not that IBSers never had taht in the study that determined how many people have that. It is just a bit less likely with IBS but still pretty common in the IBSers (so like 5% of healthy people ever have it, 30-40% of IBSers and over 50% for some other GI illnesses).

You might have had a GI infection, those generally do cause problems through the night and some can cause bleeding. It still is worth getting checked out at the doctor to see if that was something that is a one off, or there is something else going on. Any sort of severe diarrhea for hours can cause anal irritations to bleed. (like an internal hemorrhoid) Bright red blood is usually from something right at the end of the GI tract. If you are bleeding higher up in the GI tract it isn't bright red when it comes out.

Some food and food colorings can cause red in the stool as well.

A GI infection could set off IBS pain and make it worse.

[brad0022]

Thank you for the response.

The pain and bloat is all in my lower to mid abdomen and lower back. Right and left side alternating most times both at the same time.

The infection sounds about right. Because years ago after a colonoscopy I was diagnosed with UC due to inflammation then one year later for the follow up procedure the inflammation was gone. Then a few years later after getting a second opinion then that doc said it was IBS. After reading about bowl infections it did say that it would cause inflammation in the colon. I never heard that mentioned by any of the docs I have seen and I never brought it up since I researched it after seeing the docs.