tell him to turn off his computer and to call his doctor, STAT.

Blood in the "bowl" sometimes looks like more than it is (a few drops of food coloring looks like a gallon). That said, if it really was more than the little bit you might get from hemorrhoids, then he needs to see a doctor. If he's really bleeding, he should consider the ER.

A funny story to lighten the mood... a while back I made roasted beets for a bunch of friends for a big dinner. They were just fresh beets, roasted with olive oil. Well something you may know about fresh (not canned) beets is that if you eat a bunch of them, you will see the beet color in your pee or poop. Well my buddy had no idea about this and had apparently never had fresh beets before, and ate a whole lot of them. He thought he was bleeding internally when he saw all of the red in the bowl the next morning. He freaked out and told his wife who said she had the same thing. They were both freaking out for a while, wondering how they could have both come down with a mysterious illness at the same time, and were ready to head to the ER, when they finally figured it out. He called me later in the afternoon and told me the story and I nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

A hospital is probably better suited to take care of that problem than we are...

I agree with everyone else! Call a doctor! I really don't think eating paleo could do that!

If he's not exaggerating about SOOOO much blood, get him to a hospital IMMEDIATELY! That much blood would mean he has an acute problem which could kill him.

If he is exaggerating and it's just a little, a doctor IMMEDIATELY.

He needs to get tested for celiac, Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis and about a dozen other things. Yes, it could just end up being hemorrhoids. It could also be much worse.

4 days to bloody poop is a record. If his dietary change made his stools transit slower, they could have picked up more blood from whatever the underlying problem is. I have a bowel disorder and have had bloody stools in the past, and paleo was the cure, not the problem - 4 days, however, is not nearly enough time to make things magically better. Months to a year is more realistic.

I'm with UncleLongHair here, a drop of blood in the toilet looks like a gallon. You can lose alot of blood before you'd ever notice in your symptoms or the way you feel. If it is red, like really red, then is is from somewhere closer to his anus (large intestine/rectum) if it is brown/coffee ground looking then it is from somewhere higher up (small intestine/stomach) and therefore much more problematic. He needs to make sure that he is taking in enough fiber (vegetables and fruit - fruit has more pectin which sequesters water in the gut making the BM softer, vegetables scrub the intestine keeping it healthy) for his protein otherwise he will have constipation. If fact that they are hard tells me that he is eating plenty of meat and fats, but not enough fruits and veggies and probably not enough water (in addition to whatever else he drinks). I don't believe paleo could be doing that, but a lack of vegies and fruit could be doing that.

Couple of things - When he goes to the bathroom, does he sit there a while, if so he is increasing the blood to his rectum, putting him at risk for hemorrhoids. He should go when he has to, not sit there all day, not push because then he is guarantee to inflame and harm an already unhappy gut.

You can have hemorrhoids anywhere on the anus and rectum and they bleed like its going out of style. Is he dizzy? That would be a sign that he has lost a significant amount of blood. In the mean time increase fluids to maintain blood pressure.

He can go to his doc or to the ER. They should do an anoscope (where they insert a tube into the anus to look at the rectum). This is uncomfortable, doesn't require sedation, but quick and doesn't require another appointment because it can be done on the fly. They might want to follow up with other tests later, but initially this is a good and quick start!

For the future, if this happens again, one of my low tech, low medicine intervention BM technique it hot/warm prune juice 4-8 oz. I can't even tell you how it works, but I swear its magic. It can be used for those that are pregnant or people who don't like to take medicine, its very gentile but effective. And it has iron in it. Yeah its juice, and yeah its got sugar in it, but its not medicine and you can repeat it every hour until you have 'results'. if you want something a bit faster, have the prune juice with a milk of mag chaser and wait an hour or so. And then follow up with more prune juice.

He might have created a temporary ulcerative colitis with whatever he had going on before and then a diet change from what he was previously eating might have been too much change too soon.

In addition he needs allergy testing to get definitive input on what is going on with all this inflammation.

The blood is scary and he needs to see someone sooner, rather than later. Get him to someone (Internal med, family med, urgent care, ER) today because healthcare over the weekend can be more problematic and he could fall through the cracks.

Good Luck!

Well, if it's bright red, fresh blood, the doctors may not even do anything about it. The old, brownish blood, evidence of internal bleeding higher up and further in, is more of a reason for immediate medical action.

In any case, this definitely doesn't have anything to do with Paleo. These symptoms are experienced by a wide variety of people, and, like most problems suffered by SAD eaters, if anything, Paleo will help, not exacerbate.

As everyone has stated go to the ER immediately!

I had a episode cause by an ulcer that caused me to nearly bleed to death.

If the blood was bright red then most likely it is a hemroid or a tear in the large intestine. If it was black and tar like then it is something father up in the colon and far more dangerous.

A similar thing happened to me about 2 weeks in to going low carb. Depending on how much his carb intake has decreased he might be in the same position, although 4 days does seem a bit quick. It had me completely freaked out. However, I do believe now that it was just a hemorrhoid. I hadn't done my research, wasn't drinking nearly enough water and was also avoiding fat. Several large glasses of water and upping my fat intake seemed to take care of it in a couple of days.

That said, if he can easily do it, he should check with a doctor just to be sure.

Emergency Room ASAP!!!

This just happened to my friend and his kidneys are failing. Whatever it is this is

Nothing to hesitate about.... ER ASAP!