How can I fix my hard/painful/bloody BMs?

[Guest guest]

So, I apologize if this is TMI, but I need your help.

I started the SCD on 1/7/2010 (and I've been on Remicade for 2 years), and was

doing pretty good as far as stool symptoms go. A little mucus here and there,

and sometimes a tiny bit of blood, but I would have a formed BM 1-2 times a day.

But a few months ago (maybe 3-4 months into SCD), I started seeing a lot more

bright red blood, stools were harder to pass, and I would get a weird sensation

in my anus after having a BM. It started after being constipated (not having a

BM) for a few days. I thought that I might have hemorrhoids (never had them

before as far as I know) but my doctor couldn't see any outside, and with a

history of rectal inflammation due to my Crohn's she asked me to see my GI for a

scope. But the flexible sigmoidoscopy did not show any hemorrhoids (it did show

an improvement in my colon YAY but my anus/rectum were pretty inflamed). I tried

Canasa (mesalamine) suppositories for about 2 months but they did not seem to

help lessen the bleeding. They did make passing the stool easier though

sometimes.

Flash forward to last week when I had to collect my stool for some testing. When

they dropped into the plastic hat for collection, they made a clunking sound -

they were very hard and I didn't realize how hard until I had to cut into them

with a popsicle (poopsicle haha) stick to get the right sample size! So, I

thought that I'd been having formed stools every day but really they've been

hard constipated stools.

Now I'm thinking that the reason I see blood in my stools is because the hard

stool is putting so much pressure on my rectum that it is causing it to bleed

(rather than it being so ulcerated that it is bleeding). I am thinking that the

hard stools are caused by the fact that I eat way less fiber than in my previous

diet which had me eating rice and millet bread 2 times a day, not to mention

lots of beans.

Do you think that my theory could be correct?

And what can I do to fix this and make my stool softer?

I am sensitive to Natural Calm magnesium so I can only have it 3x/week. I drink

lots of water and eat a big yogurt smoothie everyday, and lots of veggies and

poultry/fish/beef for lunch and dinner. Some type of nut or nut butter for

snacking.

Is there some type of food/drink/supplement/etc. that I can take?

Please help me...I've come so far with this diet to have this type of bleeding

freaking me out!

Thanks for everything...

Caroline

SCD since 1/7/10

UC--->Crohn's since 1999

Remicade since 2008

p.s. my long term goal is to end the Remicade in the Spring and switch over to

just SCD and LDN. I wonder if LDN is constipating...