Question about bleeding and Florastor

[healthys]

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well. A quick update- I am 14 weeks past last Vanco. My BMs have been all over the place with shape, color, texture and numbers on the bristol chart.

I sometimes get greenish-blackish stools as I am taking iron supplements. Only, that today I did notice the end of my BM, some redness on the final pieces of my BM. I am not sure why that is the case! I have been having some itching in the rectal area and I use bidet mostly. I am guessing it is case of haemoroids or fissures. I do go to the bathroom 2-3 times a day and my BMs aren't hard and they have been easy to pass so not sure why this is happening.

I currently take 1 florastor every night. Should I be continuing that seeing that I saw bleeding? Please advise. Any insights are greatly welcome!!

I am really hoping it is just haemorroids and I will connect with my PCP to check on this.

Thank you so much

[beth22]

I know that there is a warning that if you have intestinal bleeding to not use Florastor, but I don't know if that includes rectal bleeding. If you have it in the small intestine or colon I think you are not supposed to use it. That is really a question for your doctor though and I think you should definitely call and ask before you continue taking it.

[healthys]

Thank you Beth! I went this morning and haven't seen anything. One thing I missed mentioning was, I had some beets to eat for lunch yesterday around 12.30 PM and I had a BM around 4.30 PM which is what had that color and then another one at 7.30 PM which turned the toilet water reddish-magenta. And I obviously freaked out. I am going to monitor it some more today and see.

I just was not sure if beets would color the stools so fast within 4 hours of eating them. Can anyone share their thoughts or experiences with this?

[NS789]

I would totally blame the beets! :)

It's amazing how fast foods/medications can impact your stool. I remember taking Pepto Bismol for the first time and having black stool shortly after. I freaked out until I did some research and realized that was the cause lol

If you've only seen red in the toilet bowl once, I would assume it was the beets or maybe hemmorhoids. But obviously if it starts happening more frequently (without eating beets), then it should be investigated.

[beth22]

That has happened to me with beets before too and it turned my urine reddish too. I also freaked out until I read that it can do that.

[healthys]

Thank you both for replying! I have been checking stools today and so far so good. I am cautiously ready to blame beets. Will keep a watch for few more days. I agree that how quickly food gets digested or undigested and passes through the system!