u/Free-Dragonfly-4070

Has anyone heard of this or experienced this themselves? I feel at a loss and it's really impacting my quality of life. I'm a lifelong runner, I ran ultramarathons before giving birth to my son in early 2024, I've never had GI issues. I've seen two pelvic PTs in the last couple of years, multiple appointments with each, and neither found any specific issues, but helped me with general pelvic floor rehab after a vaginal birth (basically told me to do Ks, deep core crunches on a yoga ball, and stretching). Because of my symptoms, I also had a colonoscopy a year ago (it was completely normal), a laparoscopy in June 2025 to look for endometriosis (it was negative for endo, but found adhesions between my intestines and abdominal wall where I've had two past laproscopies for an appendectomy and later an ovarian cystectomy), and a capsule endoscopy in March 2026 (also totally normal). When I started running six months postpartem (summer 2024), I would occasionally get red blood on toilet paper and some rectal cramping after a 7-10 mile run. But overtime, the issue has worsened and now I can hardly run 4 miles. Sometimes as early as a half mile or mile into an easy run, I get a heavy feeling like I need to have a BM that tells me I'm going to find blood during my next BM. After a bleeding episode, I can have discomfort (abdominal and rectal cramping for hours) that can vary on the pain scale from distractingly uncomfortable to I can't move/I need to lay down with a heating pad between my legs.

My GI doc suggested it could be ischemic colitis (or runner's trots), but I am not always running fast or far, in fact lately, I'm hardly putting forth any aerobic effort before I have an episode, so it's hard to believe it's something like runner's ischemia which typically happens for runners pushing themselves so hard they deprive their bowel of blood momentarily. And my primary care doc, my GI doc, and both PTs told me pelvic floor issues don't cause blood in bowel movements. Two years in, I'm very frustrated and scared that something serious is going on, but no one seems able to identify it. Any advice for things to explore or shared experiences are much appreciated.

Looking for advice or other things to investigate. I've been running since I was 14 and ran ultramarathons before I got pregnant in 2023. I didn't run much during pregnancy, but walked 4 miles almost every day. I had no symptoms until I resumed regular running 6 months after giving birth to my son vaginally. There were no major complications during labor or birth. My midwife did think I had a hematoma at one point, but later changed her mind and said it was nothing (??). No major tears.

One week post partum, I got a bad case of mastitis that required 5 days hospitalization because it wasn't responding to the first several kinds of antibiotics my doctors tried. All in all, I had 101-104 degree fever for a week before it was under control. The doctors ultimately gave me zosyn and vancomycin, which finally got my fever to drop and then transferred me to oral abx amoxicillin and doxycycline to continue at home for the next week or ten days (I don't recall the exact period).

The bleeding and subsequent rectal cramping and pressure started few and far between and only with 7-10 mile runs, but have since gotten to be somewhat frequent with much lower triggers. I have drastically dropped my training from running 4-5 days per week to now running 3 days and not more than 4 easy miles if I'm lucky. I can usually feel when I'm going to have bleeding, it starts as an urge to have a BM (whether or not I already went that day) and if I ignore it for any amount of time at all and keep running, I am guaranteed to come home and find blood upon the next BM. On the worst days, I will have quite a bit of red blood (like a heavy period) and hours of rectal cramping that are only somewhat helped with heat.

I had a normal colonoscopy in March 2025, a normal laparoscopy in June 2025(though they did find several adhesions between my intestines and my abdominal wall where I had a laparoscopic appendectomy in 2013 and an ovarian cystectomy in May 2019), a normal CT Angiogram in May 2025, and a normal capsule endoscopy in March 2026. My gastroenterologist thinks it's ischemic colitis and that perhaps pregnancy possibly altered my blood flow somehow so that it takes little effort to trigger an episode, but I'm not convinced. I can have an episode after an easy half mile or 2 miles. I have a hard time believing I'm depriving anything of oxygen, I feel otherwise fine.

I've tried belly breathing and yoga because I do think I have a tight and consequently weak pelvic floor whether or not it's connected to these symptoms. I try to stay hydrated and limit caffeine to one and occasionally two cups of standard coffee. I've seen two pelvic PTs who found no signs of pelvic organ prolapse or major issues.

Other things to note, I haven't had a "normal" BM in a long time. I've struggled with frequent bloating since before I got pregnant. Bowel movements vary from constipation to very soft or very powdery stool. I don't usually have diarrhea, though. I've noted several occasions where it smells rubbery/not normal. These instances usually don't coincide with blood being present.

Looking for advice or other things to investigate. I've been running since I was 14 and ran ultramarathons before I got pregnant in 2023. I didn't run much during pregnancy, but walked 4 miles almost every day. I had no symptoms until I resumed regular running 6 months after giving birth to my son vaginally. There were no major complications during labor or birth. My midwife did think I had a hematoma at one point, but later changed her mind and said it was nothing (??). No major tears.

One week post partum, I got a bad case of mastitis that required 5 days hospitalization because it wasn't responding to the first several kinds of antibiotics my doctors tried. All in all, I had 101-104 degree fever for a week before it was under control. The doctors ultimately gave me zosyn and vancomycin, which finally got my fever to drop and then transferred me to oral abx amoxicillin and doxycycline to continue at home for the next week or ten days (I don't recall the exact period).

The bleeding and subsequent rectal cramping and pressure started few and far between and only with 7-10 mile runs, but have since gotten to be somewhat frequent with much lower triggers. I have drastically dropped my training from running 4-5 days per week to now running 3 days and not more than 4 easy miles if I'm lucky. I can usually feel when I'm going to have bleeding, it starts as an urge to have a BM (whether or not I already went that day) and if I ignore it for any amount of time at all and keep running, I am guaranteed to come home and find blood upon the next BM. On the worst days, I will have quite a bit of red blood (like a heavy period) and hours of rectal cramping that are only somewhat helped with heat.

I had a normal colonoscopy in March 2025, a normal laparoscopy in June 2025(though they did find several adhesions between my intestines and my abdominal wall where I had a laparoscopic appendectomy in 2013 and an ovarian cystectomy in May 2019), a normal CT Angiogram in May 2025, and a normal capsule endoscopy in March 2026. My gastroenterologist thinks it's ischemic colitis and that perhaps pregnancy possibly altered my blood flow somehow so that it takes little effort to trigger an episode, but I'm not convinced. I can have an episode after an easy half mile or 2 miles. I have a hard time believing I'm depriving anything of oxygen, I feel otherwise fine.

I've tried belly breathing and yoga because I do think I have a tight and consequently weak pelvic floor whether or not it's connected to these symptoms. I try to stay hydrated and limit caffeine to one and occasionally two cups of standard coffee. I've seen two pelvic PTs who found no signs of pelvic organ prolapse or major issues.

Other things to note, I haven't had a "normal" BM in a long time. I've struggled with frequent bloating since before I got pregnant. Bowel movements vary from constipation to very soft or very powdery stool. I don't usually have diarrhea, though. I've noted several occasions where it smells rubbery/not normal. These instances usually don't coincide with blood being present.