Today I had a bowel movement that seemed very normal. Normal color, normal everything. Then I wiped, and it was mostly normal except I noticed the toilet paper was tinged a VERY LIGHT shade of an almost pinkish color. Just a little, so I didn't think much of it.

Then afterwards I felt like there was still something and there was this gassy feeling, so I went back and there was no actual poop but a small amount of like this mucus-y stuff. This has actually happened on many occasions for me... I remember having it occasionally ever since I was a little girl (I'm 16 now). But today as I was looking at it closer, it looked kind of funny, so (and this is SO gross I know- I usually dont do this) I took a q-tip and tried to break up the mucus-y stuff so I could see what it was. And there was a tiny stringy bit of blood! It was bright red, so it freaked me out even though it was only a tiny bit. I wiped afterwards, and there was no blood.

From what I've read on this board, a black color to your poop indicates blood, but it looked normal brown to me. And the blood was VERY tiny. I never would have even noticed it if I hadn't done the Q-tip thing. My question is, should I be worried and go to the doctor? I really don't want to see a doctor for this kind of problem, it would be so embarassing. I don't have any unusual pain or itching... could it still be a hemorhoid?

Basically since I'm young and there's very little chance of anything being REALLY wrong, I don't want to see a doctor unless there's a real need. But I'm a hypochondriac by nature, so what could this be, and can I (safely) ignore it?

Oh, and I don't know if this is connected at all, but I also haven't started my period this month, and I was due like two weeks ago (no possibility of pregnancy). Could this have a connection?

Hello Kgirl, It could be many things, but you should not be embarrassed about it. It kind of sounds like it could be colitis, or ulcerative colitis. I have the latter and my symtoms are mucus, blood in stool, these are the early signs, bloody diarrea 3 to 7 times a day are what it leads up to. As far as age goes, you usally get it when you are young in your teens or when you get around forty. You could go to the library, book store or even on-line and research ulcerative colitis. Then you can compare your symptoms. Have you told your parents about this? If it is colitis, and it could be nothing at all, but ulcerative colitis is like once you have it you always have it. It goes into remission but it is always there. Do your homework on it and keep us posted. Good luck and don't worry :nono: You will be fine :angel: