Fecal Occult Blood Test

[Lori1851]

Hi friends,
Dustin came home today from dialysis with a fecal occult blood test. Have any of you had to have this? I noticed his hemoglobin is still low on his print out from dialysis.

Lor/Indiana

[stauffenberg]

There is now a home version of this test for fecal occult blood, which can help diagnose colorectal cancer.  However, it is important to note that 1) there can be occult blood in the feces for reasons having nothing to do with cancer; 2) a positive test always has to be confirmed by a colonoscopy, which is not pleasant. "Occult" in this context refers to the fact that the blood is not evident to the naked eye, since it is mixed with the feces high up in the intestine.

The first rule of diagnosis in medicine is often stated as: "When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras," and in this case, anemia in a renal patient being caused by occult intestinal bleeding rather than by ordinary renal anemia would definitely be a zebra rather than a horse.

[kitkatz]

I have been given one too this week.  My hemoglobin is 10.1 ( or is that my hematocrit). They give me massive epo to get it up them it plunges.  They want to know why.

[Chicken Little]

I had to do one for my transplant tests.  The one I received said I had to avoid all meat, caffeine and acidic foods, like tomato and citrus, for 3 days before taking the test to avoid a false positive.  So I called my doctor and asked if it was OK to increase the ProStat to supplement my protein intake for 3 days and he told me not to worry about it and just take the test because if there is any sign of blood they'll have to scope me.   

That was enough to scare me off meat for 5 days before I took that test.   No scope for me.     

[Lori1851]

Thanks for the responses!! Knew i could count on all of you

Lori/Indiana