The history that decides how fast this moves.
Bleeding anywhere in the digestive tract shows up as vomited blood, black tarry stools, or visible blood when passing stool. Anti-inflammatory medicines, anticoagulants, alcohol, ulcers and liver disease are the usual contributors, and which of them apply changes both the urgency and the investigation.
Worth answering for a history of intermittent or past bleeding you are taking to an appointment.
- Vomiting blood, or something that looks like coffee grounds
- Black, tarry, strong-smelling stools
- Bright red blood when you open your bowels
- Feeling faint, dizzy or breathless on standing
- Being told you are anaemic with no obvious reason
Vomiting blood, black tarry stools, or feeling faint with visible bleeding is an emergency. Call for help now; this questionnaire is for afterwards.
Three steps, in the order a clinician takes them.
- 1
How fast this moves is decided by the history
What you saw, when, how much, and what you take — anti-inflammatories, aspirin, anticoagulants, steroids — along with alcohol, previous ulcers and liver disease. Those answers set the urgency before any test is done.
- 2
Bloods and an assessment of how much has been lost
Full blood count, urea, clotting and a group-and-save. Pulse and blood pressure matter as much as the numbers, because they show whether the bleeding is ongoing.
- 3
Then endoscopy, to find it and treat it
A camera test locates the source and can stop the bleeding in the same procedure. Which end it starts from depends on what the history suggested.
You walk away with a page you can hand over.
About two minutes. It asks about your history only, scores it the way the source document scores it, and gives you the answers back as something worth mentioning, worth bringing and worth asking — in a file you can download. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not predict anything.
Take the questionnaire- What you actually saw, and when — colour and amount both matter
- Every anti-inflammatory, aspirin and blood thinner, with doses
- Any previous ulcer, endoscopy or liver diagnosis
- An honest account of alcohol
The gastrointestinal bleeding questionnaire
Fifteen questions about digestive history, liver health, alcohol and medicines. If you are bleeding now, this is not the right place — contact a clinician or emergency services.
- 15questions
- two minutes.to finish
- Nothing savedanswers stay in this tab
This is the questionnaire domain of ONU’s own model, not a diagnosis and not a probability. Gastrointestinal bleeding is confirmed by examination and endoscopy, not by a set of questions.
Straight answers, including the awkward ones.
What do black stools mean?
Black, tarry, strongly smelling stools usually mean blood from higher up the digestive tract that has been digested on the way through. It is a reason for urgent assessment the same day. Iron tablets and some foods also darken stool, but they do not make it tarry or foul-smelling — and that is not a distinction worth making at home.
Is bright red blood less serious than black?
Not necessarily. Bright red blood is more often from lower down and is commonly haemorrhoids or a fissure, but heavy bleeding from higher up looks bright red too. Amount, and whether you feel faint, matter more than colour.
Which medicines make bleeding more likely?
Anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac, aspirin, steroids, and anticoagulants including warfarin and the newer agents — particularly in combination. Do not stop a prescribed blood thinner on your own; the risk of stopping can be worse than the risk of continuing. Ask the prescriber.
When do I need an ambulance rather than an appointment?
Vomiting blood, black tarry stools, or heavy visible bleeding — and especially any of those with faintness, breathlessness or a racing pulse. Call emergency services. This questionnaire is for a history you are taking to an appointment, not for a bleed happening now.
One domain of a larger model.
This is one of three domains. The others — eleven blood markers and three resting measurements — need results a clinician interprets, so the full score cannot be produced here.
Questionnaire source: GI bleeding risk model.docx — questionnaire domain, negative impact
Independent health information: NIDDK: GI bleeding. This source explains the condition; it does not validate the questionnaire as a diagnostic test.
Anaemia and iron
Low iron is one of the most common reasons people feel persistently drained — and one of the most straightforward to identify.
Read the area
Heart and circulation
Cardiovascular risk is the most studied prevention area in medicine — and the one where a made-up number does the most harm.
Read the area
Ascites
Worth answering if your abdomen has been swelling, if you have a known liver condition, or if you are preparing for an appointment about either.
Open the check
Jaundice
Worth answering if you or someone you look after has noticed yellowing, dark urine or pale stools, and wants to arrive at an appointment with the history already straight.
Open the check
Crohn’s disease
Worth answering if you have had months of abdominal pain, diarrhoea, weight loss or fatigue and are trying to describe it accurately to a clinician.
Open the checkA questionnaire is a snapshot. A night is not.
This was your history, written down once. The bracelet is the part that keeps watching — sleep, resting heart rate, temperature and movement, night after night, in one place.
