# Undigested food that looks like blood



## leslie204 (Feb 1, 2003)

Hi everyone! I've been doing pretty well. Have stayed on Calcium, Paxil, Lactose-free milk and taking lots of vits like B complex and the Green vitamins. Every so often I get a D attack (today) and I see what looks like undigested tomato. Sorry--I know this is gross but as everyone says "you guys are the only ones I can describe this to." Anyway, I can usually trace back to the day before. However, today I had a very normal BM in the morning followed by some D in the afternoon that had three or four "red spots" on the toilet tissue that appear kind of pulp-like. It seems like the pulp of the tomato would digest. I also ate roasted-red peppers. What concerns me is that my first BM in the morning was normal and the afternoon BM was not. I had tomatoes with lunch the day before and red bell pepper with dinner the night before. Anyone out there with this? I swear, it looks so much like blood that it's hard to tell the difference!Leslie


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## PK6 (Jan 21, 2003)

I've found that tomato's are my stomachs worst enemy and caffeine doesn't help either. If I eat anything with tomato, especially tomato sauce it goes right thru me almost instantly it seems sometimes.


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## leslie204 (Feb 1, 2003)

I know what you are saying about tomatos--for me, they do not bother my stomach or cause D necessarily. However, I am just surprised that tomato would not digest. Corn or nuts I can understand--but tomato seems so soft. Do you acutally "see" it or do you just know tomato is not good for your system? Thanks for your help!Leslie


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## MartyG (May 2, 2000)

I've had that happen with tomatoes, roasted red peppers and even the red pimentos in green olives. At first I panic, then I think back to what I ate. Even strawberries, some times.I've also had perfectly formed movements in the AM and somehow everything fell apart and later, looser ones.I've never been able to understand any of this. I've had IBS since the '50's, and it changes. I do not get the nausea or pain anymore, but do continue with bouts of diarrhea and urgency.Marty


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## Kim Insko (Oct 31, 2001)

Leslie, It happens to me quite regularly. Sometimes if the tomatoes are "on the vine" or right out of the garden, most of it does not get digested. Mostly I see the skins though. I have also had the same result with roasted red peppers. It is something I have come to expect 90% of the time.


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## leslie204 (Feb 1, 2003)

Thanks everyone! I am so hyper-aware of everything that comes outta my behind that maybe this is how it's always been, I just didn't notice before. I have been encouraged by this board to have a colonoscopy. My regular MD felt I just have IBS-D and a colonoscopy is overkill. My D is under control. Every so often I get loose stools with undigested food and every so often I get "red" spots. Does it not make sense that if I had severe D (which I did) that if I had colon cancer, the D would continue no matter what? Has everyone done the Fecal Occult Blood test? I am in the process of trying that one in a couple of days. How fast does food digest if you have loose movements? (sorry I'm asking so many questions)... I can usually trace a red spotting back to tomatoes or red bell peppers but one time it was immediate (in one end, out the other).. My D is gone but... I have not had the big Colonoscopy. Am I being stupid? I am 41 years old with a 20 year history of IBS-D... Thanks for all the advice anyone can give and I wish I could give more advice. Once I feel like I have a grip on this I hope to help everyone else!Leslie


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## MartyG (May 2, 2000)

The same thoughts go through my brain.....if the diarrhea has stopped and things are ok....I can't possibly have a "dreaded disease".I have not had a colonoscopy, but have had 3 barium enema's, but the last one was quite a while ago; upper G.I. series, fecal test with yearly gyn exam. I have had this problem since I was a little kid, some years ok, some years horrible.It is sometimes difficult to live with the fear as well as the symptoms that accompany IBS.As a kid I just don't remember looking into the bowl and watching the TP.............aaahhh those were the days.


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