I’m very new here, and have searched and found similar threads, but nothing exactly what I’m going through, so I apologize if this has been asked before. For the past few years I’ve been suffering from chronic constipation, sometimes only going once every one to two weeks. When I do go it will be (sorry to be graphic) very large and rock hard. Sometimes they will be like balls, like each meal I ate is separate from another. Sometimes they would create little tears which I would see streaks of blood on the toilet paper. However it’s now very different and I’m very scared. I have been drinking Metamucil and taking a stool softener daily. For about a week I did this with nothing b happening, but today I did go. It was not all of what is backed up but a good start. However when I wiped there was a decent amount of blood, much more than ever before. I did not feel any pain or tearing so I don’t think that was it. Then, about 10-15 minutes later I felt a little like I needed to go again and when I did it felt like a little bit of the runs but when I looked it was just a glob of blood. This has happened twice, same leadup- a week of softeners and Metamucil then after a week I would go, then a glob oh blood. It’s not dark or blackish, but bright red. Now I’m very nervous! I have never had issues like this before and I think it was originally partly caused by my job- I went from a job on my feet to a job at a desk, so I’m much less active, and I also would frequently have to hold it because the bathrooms at work were always out of order, and by the time I got to a bathroom I couldn’t go. I’m thinking doing that over and over may have contributed to my constipation, but I’m very concerned about the blood. It isn’t from a year coming out, because as I said I will feel like I have to go a little and a glob will come out. It will sink in the toilet and stay together, it wasn’t affected by the water and there would also be blood on the toilet paper. What are some things that would cause this, and is there anything that can help? I’m very hesitant to try laxitives because the times I’ve tried (on a Friday, no work that weekend) it ended up not working until Tues/Wed. at work! It took 2 doses 2 days in a row and I still didn’t go for 4 days and I can’t get caught in the broken bathrooms at work! Thank you in advance for your help!