The most common cause of bright red blood in stool is hemorrhoids, because of anal fissures (small tears of anal lining, anal mucosa, hard stool and straining leads to tears).
Although, you haven't noticed some lumps at the anal opening (sign of external hemorrhoids), you may have internal ones.
The most common symptom of internal hemorrhoids is rectal bleeding (bright red streaks of blood on the toilet paper or bright red blood in the toilet bowl after having a normal bowel movement, or blood visible on the surface of the stool).
Internal hemorrhoids aren't usually painful, but, if they become very large they cause anal pain during and after bowel movement and discomfort in anal area, like you haven't finished your bowel movement after you already had one.
Pain when sitting or walking is also characteristic for hemorrhoids.
Hemorrhoids are mainly linked to constipation.
Not havening regular bowel movement or having regular, but, hard stool are both, defined as constipation.

If these symptoms continue to bother you, contact your physician!

Eat healthy food, drink plenty of water and exercise regularly!

Best wishes!
Marija

I agree with Marija. I had the same problem several years ago, but I self diagnosed that pop corn was my problem. Since I stopped eating it, I haven't had the same problems, but...

I went to my GI complaining of heartburn several months ago. It had been awhile since I had the blood problems, but I told him about them any way. He insisted on giving me a colonoscopy along with my endoscopy, and it turned out I had some polyps and a stomach ulcer. He removed them, and they were non-cancerous, thank god.

He said bright red blood can be from hemoroids, but it could also be from a bleeding ulcer or colon cancer that is bleeding too rapidly for the body to turn it black, which is what most people look for in their stool as a serious sign of something wrong.

Even when you're not bleeding, you sound like me and you don't want to go to the doctor needlessly. I recommend using an at home FOB test like I use every once in awhile to monitor my stool. It tests for hidden blood. I get mine from colonhealthcheck.com ever since I read about them on about.com. Check it out.

Personally, I have no history of colon cancer in my family but after having some polyps removed I'm kinda worried about what the future might hold and I don't want to be surprised. Colon cancer can spread quickly and hidden blood is the best symptom for early detection. It was a big mistake on my part to self diagnose and wait so long to get checked out.