Concern

[Fight-the-good-fight]

Hi,

Last week I sent off my bowel screening test. Today I received a letter telling me my results required ‘ ‘further testing’ , NHS have arranged a telephone appointment next week.

As you can imagine, I am pretty anxious as previous results have been normal.

I have zero symptoms.

The only difference since my last BS test in Jan 2023 was diagnosis of AF in July 2023.

I am thinking, could the medication I take for AF be a contributing factor.

Anticoagulant (Dabigatran), Flecainide and Diltiazem.

Has anyone else received an abnormal test result that was caused by AF meds?

[BobD Volunteer]

The "poo sticks" they send out in the post look for traces of any blood in stools. If there are any lesions within the bowel or even mild haemaroids, the anticoagulant could make it more likely to show up.

This can actually be helpful as it would mean anything sinister is found much earlier.

[Fight-the-good-fight in reply to BobD]

Thank you Bob, always the voice of reason.

[CDreamer]

Until you have been tested you won’t know what the cause was. My husband had to go for further testing and had a colonoscopy, nothing sinister found. As Bob says, the anticoagulant may cause any bleeds to be a little more than usual which means that something shows up whereas it may not if you weren’t on a/c.

Good luck, hope it goes well for you.

[Fight-the-good-fight in reply to CDreamer]

Thank you C Dreamer

[wilsond]

Samples are sometimes 'not good enough' and need repeating. Same with smear tests for women, I spent a week or so planning my funeral, stupidly!With no symptoms,try not to worry. Xxx

[Paulbounce]

Good morning FTGF.

I've been through all of this. Step back and think things through a little.

It's not uncommon for a bowl test to show traces of blood in your motion. Several things can cause this. Polyps, piles or other factors.

The fact that the NHS has arranged a telephone call rather than arranging a colonoscopy right away is reassuring. I was in your shoes once and the blood test came back showing positive for blood in my poo. The medics packed me off for the 'camera up my backside' procedure (colonoscopy). It makes your eyes water a little but it's no big deal. The first one I had came with the medium dose of sedative - the second one I asked for the highest dose (it goes from 1 to 5 --- 5 is the highest dose. There's a screen in front of you where you can watch the whole thing on camera 'live' if you wish. On the higher dose of sedative, it's like watching Alice in Wonder Land on acid! It was nothing to worry about and just turned out to be a single polyp. It was removed there and then. I researched into it afterwards. Polps are not uncommon and many people have them. Mine was something called non-plastic (meaning not cancerous) or something like that from memory. It doesn't bother me at all. My research showed a 2% chance of it recurring. A single polyp only has a 1 in 10 of turning canerous and often takes about 5 years for it to become a real problem. If you were tested 2 years ago with a negative result I feel that the final result is going to be good news for you.

Confession time! My positive result was caused by a pile (not the polyp). There's no polite way of saying this so I'll just come out with it. Don't wipe your bum too hard a couple of days before taking such tests. If you do, and you have a pile, the test will likely show as positive. Gently does it as far as the 'paperwork' is concerned.

Taking an anticoagulant will make bleeding such as this worse. Get on with your weekend and try to forget about it until your telephone call. Worrying about it won't won't change a thing. Worry about the things you can change - not the things you can't. I'm sure it's not anything to be concerned about. Even coming from the 'my glass is half empty' mindset, bowel cancer has a very high success rate of being stopped in its tracks if caught early. I'm in the 'my glass is half full' camp so I doubt it will be that anyway.

Let us know how you get on.

Good luck.

Rgds Paul

[wilsond in reply to Paulbounce]

Great reply. Xx

[Fight-the-good-fight in reply to Paulbounce]

Paulbounce,

Thank you for your uplifting and humorous response.

In the past I have endured the indignity of a colonoscopy. The disgusting prep before hand was worse than the procedure. I too was sedated. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in 1988.

I had major surgery 14 years ago and have been in remission ever since. All previous BS have been normal.

Currently I don’t have any symptoms of Crohn’s but who knows if it is coincidental that I have an abnormal result after taking anti-coagulants.

[Paulbounce in reply to Fight-the-good-fight]

Hi FTGF.

That's good news about your Crohn's being in remission. 14 years is a long time - here's to the next 14 years👍

Yes, I know about the prep before a colonoscopy. Two days of it - the 1st day was OK but the 2nd day I was on the loo pretty much all day.

Cheers Paul

[ForensicFairy]

My husband had the exact same result a week or two ago and is booked for a colonoscopy. He too had no symptoms. He did strain a little and the doctor said there was only blood in one sample so it was unlikely to be anything (in Australia we now do 2 samples to be done on 2 different movements).

[Peony4575]

Not AF meds, but the two anti inflammatories I took that set off my PAF in the first place , coincided with a postal poo test which was positive . I don’t doubt anti coagulants can do the same . I had to have a colonoscopy. I didn’t have sedation , it was fine, both the process and the result . I was quite pleased in the end, because they found a couple of teeny weeny polyps a couple of mm long and removed them . They can grow into a problem over 10 years or so, so turned out to be a blessing in disguise. No sign of any bleeding. Try not to worry

[Singwell]

My sister went through this and they did a colonoscopy as described above. Turns out there'd just been a trace of blood in her poo - she'd been trying too hard. Adequately described by others. You do need to have the follow up though and let's hope all is well. They're just doing their job and thank goodness we get these screenings.

[Leechg]

I had blood in a poo test many years ago and had to have a colonoscopy. They never found anything. I was advised that the blood could have come from anywhere, even flossing your teeth. Now I don’t floss for a couple of days before I do the test.

[Paulbounce in reply to Leechg]

Good reply Leechg. Evening brushing your teeth to hard, and causing gum bleeding, will give a positive result.

Paul

[Clarrie]

Like you I had a letter saying further tests were required, I had a colonoscopy and it was detected I had Stage 3 bowel cancer. Thank goodness for the test as I had no symptoms. I had the tumour removed in July last year.

[Paulbounce in reply to Clarrie]

Hi Clarrie.

You were lucky it was detected at stage 3. Stage 4 starts to become a real problem. The odds of it returning afer removal at stage 3 are in your favour.

Paul

[Lifford]

I always use the test when it arrives and I have only once had a positive result which after a further test was negative. Last year I was diagnosed with permanent AF and put on Apixaban. I have suffered from piles/haemorroids in the past. Since taking apixaban I have frequent bleeding or slight traces of blood from haemorrhoids which sometimes results in quite alarming amounts of blood. In the past I have had the usual colonoscopy which found a polyps and haemorrhoids. As mentioned, constipation can aggravate piles which can cause bleeding. I can only assume the Apixaban prevents my haemorrhoids from properly healing. I doubt if any future tests will be anything but positive. Best to get checked though.

[Fight-the-good-fight in reply to Lifford]

Thank Lifford, I hope it turns out to be caused by anti-coagulant.