Body fluids are
contained in their own departments and ideally do not mix. For example, blood
is in the blood vessels and does not mix with saliva or urine. Blood in saliva
could be that you bit yourself as often happens when food tastes great. Or
perhaps you were sucker punched by the bus conductor. Otherwise seeing blood in
your urine, stool, brain fluid or saliva is not normal and should set alarm
bells ringing.
Blood in brain fluid
Bleeding into the
brain fluid occurs commonly following a head injury or after a stroke. Of
course, if due to stroke it can kill and so needs urgent investigation with a
CT brain scan and management as required. It causes a massive headache and
patients sometimes describe it as the worst headache of their lives. It often
feels like someone set off a bomb inside your skull.
Headache due to head
injury, which may be as trivial as banging your head on the car door, can cause
problems and should be checked out early. Headaches accompanied by dizziness,
nausea and vomiting, fainting attacks and just general ill health demands
attention by your general practitioner in the first instance. But, please do
not call it Malaria or Typhoid. Have a proper doctor examine and treat you as
appropriate.
Blood in saliva or cough
Blood should not
appear in your saliva or cough. In cough especially, it could signify an
infection such as pneumonia or God forbid, cancer. Now, the commonest cause is
chest infection and the cough is painful, racking and distressful. The cough
will be speckled with blood and not a frank fresh blood. If you see fresh
blood, that is a bad sign and you must go to a hospital immediately. Cancer is
the most obvious cause to be concerned about.
Blood in the chest
is also a killer since it can interfere with breathing. The management must
therefore be immediate and taken seriously. Please do not be fobbed off and
insist on proper firm diagnosis with CT or MRI scan of the chest. The
management may also require a camera put into the air passage to actually see
what is going on (bronchoscopy). A specialist can even stop the bleeding there
and then.
Blood in your vomit
If you vomit fresh blood
or even dark foul smelling vomit please endeavour to have someone look at you seriously.
Fresh blood in the vomit could be pretty dangerous as a sign of a bleeding
stomach ulcer. It can also lead to very black tarry stool. In the presence of
previous history of stomach ulcer and severe pain in the centre of the chest,
bloody vomit is an ominous sign of a torn blood vessel.
It can then appear
in the stool (making it black) after being affected by the acid in the stomach.
Long-term use or high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin,
ibuprofen, and naproxen can also cause ulcers. Regardless of the cause, an
urgent transfer to hospital is critical and must be done without delay.
Blood in urine
Urine should be
normal and dark, foul, tea coloured or frankly bloody urine demands review.
Sometimes, what appears to be blood in urine is actually red pigment from other
sources such as food dyes, certain medications, or an excessive amount of
beets. This can occur in some people who eat beetroot.
The commonest cause
of bleeding into urine is an infection. If there is blood in urine, an
infection in the kidneys or bladder could be responsible. It can occur also following
an operation where we have placed a tube into the bladder to remove urine.
In adults, bladder
infections usually cause burning or pain with urination. Infants with bladder
infections may have fever, be irritable, and feed poorly. Older children may
have fever, pain and burning while urinating, urgency, and lower belly pain.
Infection in the kidneys could also cause bleeding into the urine and are also
associated with ill health, pain in the flanks and fever. In elderly patients,
a bladder cancer is important to rule out. Send a sample to the diagnostic
laboratory for review.
Blood in stool
Fresh blood in the
stool could be due to trauma following cleaning after using the toilet. However
other things such as haemorrhoids (piles) can cause bleeding which can be
severe on occasions. I once had a patient who nearly bled to death from a
bleeding pile. A small cut or tear in the tissue lining the anus (anal fissure)
similar to the cracks that occur in chapped lips can also cause bleeding.
Fissures are often caused by passing a large, hard stool and can be painful.
The
bleeding we are more concerned is fresh blood in the stool but bleeding that
happens higher up in the digestive tract may make stool appear black and tarry
and could also be of real concern too. Polyps
or cancer can cause bleeding. Polyps are benign growths that can
grow, bleed, and become cancerous. Colorectal cancer is common and often causes
bleeding that is not noticeable with the naked eye. Send a sample of stool to
the diagnostic centre if you are concerned.
So
all in all, if you are seeing blood, see a doctor.
