Hiya,

I'm a 30 y/o male and I've been dealing with hemorrhoids off and on since I was 20/21, but definitely a bit more over the past couple of years. To give you some context, from 22-27 or so, I was the picture of health with little body fat and very active - during this time I had no issues with hemorrhoids. Life circumstances such as kids, work, etc. pushed me into a more sedentary lifestyle and the associated weight gain over the past 3 years. I'm hopefully heading in the right direction again and have been very active over the past 7 or 8 months, but I still deal with light bleeding once or twice a month (like a streak on the paper type of thing - sometimes slightly more but never filling the bowl or anything). I had a digital rectal exam last Autumn (October) and the GP saw no visible blood. My bowel movements are like clockwork for the most-part unless I travel or something in the routine is disrupted.

I have had protruding hemorrhoids before but with a strict "no-strain" policy these days + better diet and workout, I haven't experienced that in well over a year; however, I still get the blood from time-to-time. Otherwise, I feel great.

I suppose I wanted to see others opinions regarding the situation. Should I take the medically-advised route of a colonoscopy or does it seem like a straight-forward hemorrhoid case? I have a lot of anxiety about the colonoscopy given the perforation rate vs the odds of having colorectal cancer at my age are actually quite similar so it's hard to deliberate on that properly as in I don't want to be hospitalised or worst for a test that might show nothing is wrong to begin with. If there were a way to test with a lower risk, I would certainly be up for that (hopefully just for peace of mind).

Has anyone else experienced light bleeding at such regular intervals (approximately 2x/month) or is it more sparing than that? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers!