Hi folks! I'm a 40 year old caucasian male. My risk factors include: being overweight, a history of alcohol and tobacco use (10 years beyond those), little exercise, and poor diet.
About 4 years ago, I had a 14mm polyp removed during a colonoscopy. The symptom that led me to get checked, was chronic upper left abdominal discomfort - some pain, mostly a dull ache. I also had a simultaneous endoscopy which showed my stomach to be one giant patch of gastritis.
In the last couple of months, I started feeling a sharp or sometimes mild burning pain in roughly the same place. It radiates in several places - similar to what the pain 4 years ago did.
I have a GI appt. in a few days for a colonoscopy referral. I'm scared out of my wits. Just a complete mess of anxiety. I'm having trouble eating and sleeping. All I do is Google colon cancer related topics and freak myself out even more. Any advice, shared stories, etc., is greatly appreciated.
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WestTexan
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I think your story is similar to many here and certainly is to my situation. Of course, searching online and matching symptoms doesn't help because its not evidence based, unlike.colonoscopy and biopsies. If its any comfort, i still do have all bc red flag symptoms but when i had endoscopy and MRI , the tests revealed four unrelated different conditions throughout the gi and one coincident find in the spine, one of which now needs neurologist assessment. Your appointment is soon and until then, you cant assume anything until tests are proven to show anything. Best of wishes.
Thank you for the support and kind words. I had to swear to my wife, I'd stop using "Dr. Google" to scare myself. "Hurry up and wait" is a tough pill to swallow, but I'll have my screening done quite soon. I appreciate your taking a moment of your day to help me calm down and take a more reasonable approach to the situation.
Hey WestTex,Let me just say I am so sorry you are going through this. It is not fun. I truly Hope that you only have polyps that Thankfully! Any Colon Surgeon can remove during a simply Colonoscopy. I assume you had that to remove the 1st one. So think of it as just going in to have the polyp removed and they will check it.
If I were you, and I am a 51 yr old Woman who has never smoked and never drinks so we are different; however, we also are simply both just people, right?
I would stop googling asap. I would focus on being calm. Calming your heart and Soul. Tell yourself-whatever this is-you are Strong. Stronger even than you may think. I learned that about myself this year. So you Tex are Strong and you will get through this. You also are very young. 40! Wow! I wish I were 40 again...
If you have gas then take Tums. Take an antacid. $2.99 at Wal-mart.
Buy some Pepcid.
Cut out ALL Fried and Greasy foods.
Just Do it! Put down that cigarette or whatever tobacco product. Now!
Be Kind...to your Body.
Be Gentle...to your body.
The stomach holds Stress and Hurt and Trauma. Cut down on the Stress. I have had to learn to manage my stress before it takes ahold of my stomach. It's like someone is wringing my stomach and it just is the worst pain. Anyway, I have had all of yr pains and they are not fun.
I hope and pray you get some treatment and that you do not have Colon Cancer. But if you do...You will get through it.
Let yourself off the hook and do the things that make Y O U happy right now. Do your feel good things.
Think Positive. Even if things are bad. Trying to think positive helps ME and I have Stage 4 Mets CC. I can't wake up every day and think...I am dying!!!!! I have to Wake up everyday and say Thank GOD I am still here! Yay! I'm Alive and super Thankful for every single Moment. And I make the most of all my Moments.
Ma'am, thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking some time to share your cheer and joy with me. Your positive words have truly been a welcomed light. I absolutely do plan to change my diet asap so my stomach and I are more agreeable.
Fortunately I kicked tobacco and alcohol over 10 years ago, but they're still a risk factor for all sorts of maladies.
Amen - thank God we are still here!! I hope my upcoming screening finds nothing, or polyps at worst, but if the news isn't favorable, I'll do my absolute best to embrace your approach to life and treatment :). Thank you.
You are very Welcome. Congratulations on quiting tobacco and alcohol. I completely agree- Amen & Thank God we are still here! Keep On Keepin On and God Bless You 🙋🌷
Thank you for posting on Colon Cancer Connected. I hate to hear you have this going on, but I do know you're doing exactly what needs to be done to get answers. And by that I mean getting to your GI doctor and getting a colonoscopy referral. Not the googling stuff. You mentioned you had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy 4 years ago. They did remove a polyp at that time. What was the result of the histology surrounding that polyp? Was it benign or malignant?
Another thing to think about is if there is a history of certain health issues in your family. If there is anything hereditary health wise going on. That would be good information for your doctor to know. That could help guide what testing your GI doctor wants to do. Also, since they found a polyp four years ago, did they mention that you should have any surveillance procedures going on? For me, I get a colonoscopy every year and the CT scan. I get an endoscopy every three years. That's my surveillance considering my health issues and having a hereditary aspect cancer.
So, I would think after they found a polyp you would be on some kind of further surveillance to make sure nothing else shows up. Having a colonoscopy at age 36, I would think would warrant some kind of surveillance procedures to be followed down the road. I'm glad you were able to get all that done because I should have been having a colonoscopy when I was 36 as well. I missed a lot of signs that I wish I had not. I'm glad to see you are not ignoring things.
One thing you should focus on is that you're doing exactly what you need to be doing. You scheduled an appointment with your GI doctor and hopefully you'll get on a colonoscopy referral schedule soon. It is the unknown that's driving the anxiety. Also, make sure you emphasize you have pain because that may be able to help with your referral date. Pain is always the key factor that should elevate your priority. You've already had a colonoscopy, so you know what that's all about. You are doing the things that need to be done. I'm proud of you👍.
We do wish you the very best in finding answers. Please stop googling and focus on what you are doing right. You have to do that so you can get back to eating and sleeping. Those are two things that you can be in control of and they are part of being the best patient you can be. So, please try to control the anxiety and get the eating and sleeping done. Hydration is key also🤔. Also, please let us know what you find out because it is that type of information that can be helpful to others on this site. Feel free to ask any questions that you may have. You are doing exactly what needs to be done my friend. You should feel good about that❤️👏. I hope you get a quick referral as well.
Thank you,
~Tom, GCCA Survivor - Colon Cancer Connected Site Administrator.
Just a reminder - this group is here to offer support, share experiences, and offer our thoughts - but this is not medical advice, and you should always consult your medical professional(s). Additionally, for all emergencies, seek urgent medical care, never delay.
Hi Tom - thank you for the advice, the words of encouragement, the affirmation] regarding my good choices, and also the guidance to steer clear of less fruitful things (like Google).
I don't have a family history of early CC but I was supposed to have a repeat colonoscopy at 3 years due to the previously positive test. Unfortunately, I lost my insurance and didn't have a worthwhile policy again until this year. Even had I wanted to be scoped, I couldn't have afforded it paying with cash.
The 14mm polyp I had removed years ago was benign w/o precancerous mutation. My GI Doc. did caution me that the polyp type is precisely what he and his colleagues see evolve into malignancies. I got lucky with that one.
I got some work done today, ate dinner, drank plenty of water, and swore to my wife to stay off the internet (for the purposes of Googling symptoms and statistics). Thank you ever so much for the warm welcome and support. I'll make sure to share my experience and be there for others.
Awesome ... completely understand the song and dance with the insurance. I had to go on the healthcare exchange for the first time this year and I never found what was affordable about the affordable care act (ACA). What an insane process to go through. I have to suck it up and get it done. I found focusing on what I can control was key. It sounds like you have good doctors and that is key as well. The colonoscopy is what it is, but it's absolutely the gold standard in finding answers and staying in front of issues and avoiding fights.
Colonoscopy tip ... move the schedule up 1 - 1.5 hours with the prep. This way the wave of urgency is past when it is time to sleep (night before) and time to travel to the procedure the day of. You're not urgently thinking about having to find a bathroom. 👍😁💪
Boy, I really should've moved up that colonoscopy prep a bit. It's after 1:00am but I'm starting to get comfortable.
Several days ago, I went to the ER. Couldn't stand the anxiety and the wait. I needed some answers. I had lots of blood work, a urine analysis, an ultrasound, and a CT w/ contrast. Blood was normal. Urine was normal. CT was reported normal. No masses in organs that house mets and no thickening of the bowel wall. Both pieces of good news. Ultrasound showed my gallbladder had sludge, small stones, and needs to be evicted.
I had my scopes. A couple more advanced polyps were removed and sent for testing, but thankfully, no masses. My stomach was a mess of gastritis, which is the likely culprit for the pain under my left rib cage.
The right side pain under my ribs is due to gallbladder "sludge". I'll tackle gallbladder removal next month. This was diagnosed via CT and confirmed with ultrasound.
All other abdominal pain I'm experiencing is being called referred or radiating pain from one of the other two sources of pain. I also had a mess of hemorrhoids banded.
My fear through all of this was colon cancer due to my symptoms and history, but I ended up having several different (significantly less severe) digestive maladies that were the cause of everything I was experiencing.
May I have your blessing to remain part of this group to encourage others to seek prompt screening, offer support, a friendly voice, and share elements of my experience when applicable?
Awesome news. And by all means please do remain a part of this group. Your experience and message are both very powerful. A lot of what this site deals with are symptoms being experienced and what they could possibly be. Anxiety is driven by not having answers to those symptoms. Googling symptoms is a big problem as well. Those experiences are very understandable when you're dealing with the unknown.
I always like to say that it is not cancer until it is. Sometimes that's a tough statement to swallow when you're the one experiencing those symptoms. Your story rings true to a lot of people. Symptoms do lead people to very scary thoughts sometimes. That is justifiable but it is true that a lot of the symptoms can be caused by many different things. We are all individuals. Our immune systems are unique. Our lifestyles are all different. All these things can be attributed to a diagnosis.
I am glad to hear that you're answers were “significantly less severe” than you had anticipated. I do hope the histology report comes back in your favor in every way.👍💪❤️🙏👏 Please let us know those results.
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Terrified. Have symptoms of colon cancer
colon cancer 
Terrified of colon cancer. Anyone with similar story?
Colon cancer
CHRONS OR COLON CANCER 
