Bloody stools

Dear Ask The Doctor: It just started today but it made me nervous. The last two bowel movements I have had today have been accompanied with bright red blood. I have been taking between 2,000 to 3,000 mg of vicodin/and or percocet daily for a few months now for a shoulder injury from a car accident. Could this be the reason for the bleeding? I also don't know if it is related but the past few months my period has been late and irregular. I have also been on Zoloft for about a year now. I know that this just started today and it could be nothing but please give me some sort of answers. I'm not constipated either. I go a couple of times a day and I drink A LOT of coffee. Please help set my mind at ease. Thank you. Oh yea, I'm also not having sex if you might be thinking that could be a cause. I am 25 yrs old.

Dear Charleese: Bright red blood in the stool suggests bleeding from the lower end of the gastrointestinal tract. This can be due to a number of reasons including a gastro-intestinal infection, inflammation of the colon, haemorrhoids, inflammatory bowel disease, and some rarer disorders such as angiodysplasia and a malignant growth. Both hydrocodone and oxycodone in vicodin and Percocet, may cause constipation, which can lead to haemorrhoids. Hydrocodone has also been linked with peptic ulceration. This bleeding from the back passage warrants investigation and therefore I would advise attending your family doctor for a detailed history of the bleeding and a clinical examination. He may refer you to a gastroenterologist for further investigations such as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy, which visualises the colon through a camera lens.