I’m a 24 year old male who has been experiencing belching, stomach discomfort, fatigue and loss of appetite when I wake up. I’ve been experiencing this for about a year now but haven’t really paid any attention to it until recently after hearing Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer which I researched about.
I’ve been paying attention to my stool recently and there’s always black specks and sometimes a little red area within the stool.
Am I overreacting or should I be worried?
Written by
Stomachache123
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Hello and thanks for sharing and posting. I'm sorry to hear about the discomfort you are experiencing. Re: Chadwick...the colorectal cancer community is mourning the loss of such an incredible guy, and philanthropist. We hope that his loss will raise awareness and I'm glad to hear it has you reaching out.
The short answer is that if something feels off, you need to get it checked out by a specialist.
Everyone is different and by a picture alone even a doc won't be able to diagnose just looking at the stool. I recommend that you start with your primary care or even a gastroenterologist (some insurance requires you to first see your primary care).
Keep track of what's going on so that when you see your doctor you can tell them what you've been experiencing. Keeping a diary that tracks food, exercise and bowel movements can be useful (and may show you a pattern).
The fatigue and loss of appetite could be so many things but you'll only know for certain if you get it checked out.
Please reach out to your health care provider for an appointment. And DO keep us in the loop.
Be sure to bring a notepad and paper (and any notes you took ahead of time). Most of us get to the doctor and totally forget all the things we wanted to let him or her know about!
Just get yourself to your GP and start the process to get checked out..
It's probably nothing, but you'll worry until they have told you so.
I am considerably older than you and had blood in my stool once only, but I was beside myself with worry.. Just turned out to be an internal hemorrhoid..
I would advise anyone with any doubts, to please get yourself checked out by your GP.
Your very young but some of them symptoms I also had and I found out I had bowel cancer is there blood in your stool, your probably ok but I would get it checked for peace of mind. Good luck
Bowel and colon I think is the same,I was diagnosed in June 2018 had an operation 4 weeks later and am completely cured now, I didn’t need chemo because they caught it early I get a ct scan and colonoscopy around. Every 12 months, but because of covid19 it’s taking a little longer but I feel fine now thank god
Thank God they caught it early. I am having same symptoms but no pain or weight loss but cramping, gassy, thin stools, consistency and blood in it. What will you say? The dr gave me a referral for anoscopy
They weren’t keen to send me for a colonoscopy untill I told them that bowel cancer ran in my mother’s family and she lost a lot of her brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews to bowel cancer , so I had the colonoscopy within one week and had the operation about 3 weeks later. It was wonderful how quickly they dealt with it. I owe my life to them. Thank god
Thank you for responding. My symptoms just started maybe 3 months ago with constipation only and just 4 days ago with the symptoms I described so if it’s something serious I hope we caught it soon enough.
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