# Do some people have free-floating blood circulating around their colon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437 "2017-05-12T09:38:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/1 "2017-05-12T09:38:28Z")
So I was reading a forum where someone had asked about some blood they had found in their stool or had spotted flowing from their anus. I forget what it was about, but I remember that someone had replied and said that if the sphincter is left open too long, or is opened without anything blocking it, then the blood from the “inside of your body” will just splash out like a tidal wave, and unless you quickly close the sphincter then you will rapidly bleed to death as the entirety of the blood supply just falls out of the opened sphincter. The poster said that this happens because the sphincter connects to the inside of the body, which is “obviously” filled with blood, because it’s the inside. So, I am just wondering, do some people have free-circulating, healthy blood just flowing freely about in their lower colon? How does that blood avoid being contaminated by the feces and other substances which are not supposed to be there? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/2 "2017-05-12T09:50:33Z")
No. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/3 "2017-05-12T09:54:14Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > No. > > Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk Okay. I mean, I didn’t think it would be a very common thing, but then again there are plenty of previously unknown and exotic deformities and mutations being found out today. Surely it wouldn’t be too unlikely for some blood vessels to have accidentally grown _through_ the colon, perhaps gotten a bit “leaky”, instead of growing into or around it. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/4 "2017-05-12T10:14:01Z")
Exceptionally unlikely. Blood in your stools or leaking from your anus is a warning sign for stomach cancer. See a doctor quick. I am not a doctor but my sister had stomach cancer. ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/5 "2017-05-12T10:18:04Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > Exceptionally unlikely. > > Blood in your stools or leaking from your anus is a warning sign for stomach cancer. See a doctor quick. > > I am not a doctor but my sister had stomach cancer. I don’t actually have that symptom, I just saw it on that thread and wondered about it. But I’m sure there’s many other reasons for blood leaking from your anus than stomach cancer or any cancer, although I’m no doctor… ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/6 "2017-05-12T10:27:50Z")
Blood in stools is a sign that there is a problem in your bowel. Cancer can be one, but polyps or damage from something you swallowed (or that went in the other way) can also cause this. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/7 "2017-05-12T10:28:41Z")
1. Blood doesn’t flow freely in the Body. It travels in vessels. Any blood that’s outside the vessels, whether inside or outside the Body, is a bad sign. 2. Blood in your stool or from your anus is very bad because of the potential infection. 3. Could be cancer. Could be a burst hemorroid? Could be anything, but all of the possible causes require a doctor. 4. Sometimes People on the Internet say things not related to Facts or reality, like “blood flowing around freely” So you Need to evaluate your sources for trustfulness. ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/8 "2017-05-12T10:49:03Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > 1. Blood doesn’t flow freely in the Body. It travels in vessels. Any blood that’s outside the vessels, whether inside or outside the Body, is a bad sign. > > 2. Blood in your stool or from your anus is very bad because of the potential infection. > > 3. Could be cancer. Could be a burst hemorroid? Could be anything, but all of the possible causes require a doctor. > > 4. Sometimes People on the Internet say things not related to Facts or reality, like “blood flowing around freely” So you Need to evaluate your sources for trustfulness. Well, not always. I think it’s quite common for a bit of fresh blood to appear on wiping paper after a large stool is passed. I mean I first noticed that when I was about 5 or 6 years old and I’ve never had any noticeable infections or diseases. So I don’t think that a small amount of blood is suddenly immediately a urgent problem. Also, that’s why I was asking here, to see if “free-flowing blood” was a thing. I already knew it was not a common thing, but I am still curious as to whether anyone who has reached adulthood and lives a relatively decent life with blood vessels that grew into one side and out the other side of their colon, so that the near-feces would have to travel around, under or above the vessel structure. I just thought it would be somewhat interesting… ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/9 "2017-05-12T10:56:06Z")
Every once in a while I find very fresh blood in my stool and when wiping. It is always a leaky hemorrhoid. Not saying there aren’t other causes, some quite serious. So you should check it out. IANAD. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/10 "2017-05-12T11:27:12Z")
Fresh red blood is almost always a hemmoroid. It can be disconcerting and if it doesn’t stop in a day then go see a doctor. Old, dark blood indicates something wrong further up and should be checked out. No one has pools of blood in their bowels without a life threatening condition. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/11 "2017-05-12T11:31:48Z")
The blood stream had better not be leaking into the alimentary canal in a flow, that would result in exsanguination (Death by blood loss) or at least anaemia (iron lost fast than absorbed), … and the alimentary canal had better not leak into the blood stream or even into the abdomen … where it causes infection eg on and in the organs, the blood vessels and blood… etc, which is called peritonitis. Colon cancer is detected by the presence of a large % of blood in the stool. The spots of fresh blood doesn’t total up to much. The colon produces a mucous, and that can make a tiny bit of blood appear to be of greater volume… yes its a red, but its not very thick settings solid blood red is it ? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/12 "2017-05-12T12:01:30Z")
The thing is, the lining of the digestive track isn’t inside your body. It is _in the middle of your body_, but not _inside_ it. To visualize this, think of a doughnut. The hole is in the middle of the doughnut, but not _inside of_ it. (If someone told you to stick a toothpick in the doughnut, you would stick it through the substance of the thing, not poke it in the hole in the center, unless you were being deliberately obtuse.) The human body is topologically the same as a doughnut, only stretched and twisted around. The inner part of the digestive tract is the equivalent of the hole in the doughnut. The point of all this is to say that having the gut filled with blood would be literally dumping the blood outside your body. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/13 "2017-05-12T13:49:55Z")
In a very real and important way what’s inside your alimentary canal is outside your body. There should almost never be blood outside your body. Inside you, such as just outside the colon, blood should only be in blood vessels. Blood flowing freely round your abdominal cavity only happens when something is very wrong. Whomever you’re remembering reading a post by was stupidly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/14 "2017-05-12T14:21:30Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Fresh red blood is almost always a hemmoroid. It can be disconcerting and if it doesn’t stop in a day then go see a doctor. See the doc sooner, rather than later. My father tried to hard-core this, and damn-near bled out from a ruptured polyp (a rather large one). ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/15 "2017-05-12T15:07:08Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Well, not always. I think it’s quite common for a bit of fresh blood to appear on wiping paper after a large stool is passed. I mean I first noticed that when I was about 5 or 6 years old and I’ve never had any noticeable infections or diseases. So I don’t think that a small amount of blood is suddenly immediately a urgent problem. So did you go to a doctor - or rather, tell your parents who took you to a doctor? Because if you didn’t see a doctor, how do you know you don’t have infections/ diseases? You put “Noticeable” there - things like cancer are famous for growing for years without being noticeable. Theoretically, you could be one in a Population of 7 x 10 to 9th humans on Earth whose blood vessels behave in an unique way. With so many People, it’s not impossible to find some black swans, but still unlikely. Or, you started very early with a disease, but never got it looked at by a doctor, making it worse. If you are curious, don’t ask on a message board. Go to a doctor (Internist) and ask him to take a Picture of your colon. There are several non-invasive methods (with contrasting fluids, so you can see where the blood vessels are, and if there’s a hole somwhere where the blood Comes out), plus invasive methods like a real camera up your ass. That’s much more interesting, getting Facts. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/16 "2017-05-12T16:09:01Z")
Yes. Generally they’ve been involved in traffic accidents, stabbings, shootings or other major trauma and suffered serious injuries.\* \*there are other explanations including ulcerated lesions, arteriovenous malformations that bleed, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/17 "2017-05-12T16:19:00Z")
I’m sure I’m not the only one hearing a woo-influence, and suspecting the original discussion involves alternative medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/18 "2017-05-12T16:28:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’m sure I’m not the only one hearing a woo-influence, and suspecting the original discussion involves alternative medicine. Could be. But the usual colon-woo involves the 50 or more pounds of backed-up stool we all supposedly have in there\*, necessitating heroic colon-cleansing efforts. \*unless we consume the right Miracle Foods and supplements. \*\*don’t forget the massive poop backup that autopsies did not actually find in the colons of John Wayne, Elvis Presley, several Popes etc. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/19 "2017-05-12T18:27:45Z")
Blood in Stool - boring ERs since 1921. Classic: Light red or dark red? Light -hemorrhoids trivial. Dark - came form upstream - way upstream. cancers? not likely. ulcers? been there, done that - three duodenals. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437/20 "2017-05-12T18:36:04Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > But the usual colon-woo involves the 50 or more pounds of backed-up stool we all supposedly have in there\*, necessitating heroic colon-cleansing efforts. Yes, but even the alternative med world has to make new discoveries from time to time. See, the blood circulating around your colon… uh… does something, and… eating badly will… make it worse… I’ll get back to you. > [@](#): > > \*\*don’t forget the massive poop backup that autopsies did not actually find in the colons of John Wayne, Elvis Presley, several Popes etc. Presley \*did \*have a hyperextended colon packed with poop. Wayne did not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-free-floating-blood-circulating-around-their-colon/786437.md?page=2)