The score it to see if it is above or below 10. If it is below, there is no blood in your stool. If it is above, there is some blood in the stool. 17 means there is a small amount of blood in the stool, which could come from many things, including stuff like a nosebleed and the blood being swallowed, I think and definitely from something like a hemorrhoid. 

They say it is irrelevant because it's not like there is a number that indicates a particular diagnosis. Some conditions, eg, hemorrhoids might be more likely to cause small amounts and others, eg diverticulitis might be more likely to cause large amounts (I'm not sure about this) but that isn't 100%, I don't think and there is no clear cut-off that over this, it isn't hemorrhoids, for example. Also there are loads of diagnoses that are possible for any amount.

I do think that at your age and with no family history of bowel cancer, that would be a pretty unlikely outcome for you. Something like hemorrhoids or an infection would be more likely.

Thank you MargaretMary for this information and for your reply. I appreciate it. 

Hi Nic1311 I was wondering if I could ask the outcome of your colonoscopy? My symptoms are almost identical to you, only my fit test result was 18. 
I’d really appreciate if you could tell me how it all went for you. Thank you xox

Hi Rose6458,

Yes of course I’m happy to update you. I know how worrying it is waiting. I had my colonoscopy at the end of May. I found the procedure itself absolutely fine, no discomfort. I did have sedation. The only thing of note they found during the procedure was what was described as “mild and patchy non-friable erythema”. I think the non medical term is possibly a mild inflammation. They did take ten biopsies and I’ve just had the results back that they were all normal. I think then the inflammation possibly caused the bleeding - I just need to get clarification of that from my Doctor. I have an appointment in a couple of weeks.

Before I had the colonoscopy the nurse I spoke to over the phone suggested I might have some inflammation so that appears to have been correct. 

I hope this helps in some way. I found the prep before the procedure challenging but the actual procedure was fine and they told me at the time what they’d seen and what they thought. I just had to wait for biopsies to confirm.

I hope you have your colonoscopy soon and you can put your mind at rest. If you have any further questions please let me know. 
Nicola xxx

Delighted to hear you got good news.

Thank you so much for replying! I’m so happy you got a good outcome! 
I have my colonoscopy Wednesday so I’ll make sure I update xx