After radiation: Anyone have a small amount of bleeding from rectum?

@robertov My gastroenterologist has told me that I need to stay away from all NSAID's because of my proctitis. That leaves me with Tylenol, and medical marijuana for pain relief. Aleve had been my go-to for pain relief before his pronouncement.

However my cardiologist, family practitioner, and a relative who is a doctor all agree that I need to stay on my daily small dose of aspirin forever for my cardiac issues.

Yes, not every time I go to toilet, but when it does have blood behind it sometimes it can be a fair bit, so much so it turns the water red, wasn't sure what to do, at present I'm waiting for my results back from bowel cancer investigation, knowing my luck I'm having from having prostate cancer diagnosed in July 2024 treatment was successful, to the discover I have stenosis in the neck and lumber area , I'm actually waiting on phone call for surgery date on my spine, and now worrying about the blood I'm passing

@robertov Red stripe blood is one of the symptoms of proctitis as is gas and bowel urgency. 1-2" inside the anus is target rich environment for veins being damaged by radiation. Did you have hemorrhoids prior to radiation? If you didn't, very well could be proctitis. I'm not a Proctologist so I have no idea what you have. I didn't bleed prior to radiation and it started with red striped stool 7 months after radiation and I don't have hemorrhoids. My point is, if you didn't have these symptoms prior to radiation it is worth investigating with a GI. My urologist didn't want anything to do with treatment. My RO blamed me stating it was wipe blood. He didn't do a thing to relieve bladder or bowel problems and I blew up on the table as a result. I essientially fired him due to this.

I am currently taking twice-daily Sucralfate 10% enemas for radiation proctitis. Diarrhea started about a year ago during radiation(44 IMRT weekdays for pelvis and prostate) and lasted until December when I started Psyllium fiber and probiotic. I still have 3-5 bowel movements daily. There's occasional slight (bright red) bleeding, but basically spotting. If symptoms aren't considerably improved after four weeks of enemas, I may be prescribed another four weeks. Someone here online took them for a year and then had hyperbaric oxygen treatments that ended the issue.

@johnwf Here are the two recipes I use frequently. They’re variations on the recipe that used to appear on the box of Kellogg's’ All-Bran Cereal (you can still find it online), which is kind of dull and dry. You may question the use of buttermilk powder in addition to the low-fat milk. I find it adds a bit of moisture and tenderness to the muffins. These muffins warm nicely in the microwave in about 20 seconds on high. Let me know if you have any questions or come up with any improvements of your own.

Yes
Think its common in first 2? Yrs

Thanks for info. But, just for clarification, I did not conjure up the very delicious muffins 😉. However, I will have go at baking something similar.