Concerned about bowel cancer

[KEN0021]

Hi everyone,

I can be a bit of an anxious person when it comes to health. I am worried about becoming ill and leaving my husband and children behind and recently through googling my symptoms are coming up with colon cancer (I know, stop googling). For context I have booked a GP appointment but she is super hard to get into and I need to wait until the end of July.

Through my whole life (I am 34) I have struggled with constipation on and off. I am terrible at keeping up fluids especially at work because I am so busy so have always put it down to this. Two weeks ago I experienced episodes of diahrrea for 5 days and earlier in the year (6months ago) this happened for 10 days. Both times it happened after eating. So I naturally put this down to an intestinal bug. However this time after the diahrrea I am now constipated. This has been going on for a week. I also have bloating and the general feeling of fogginess everyday. I have taken some laxatives which have helped but stopped that and haven't been to thr toilet in 3 days. After having the laxative I had a significant amount of stool come out.

Is this cause for concern?

Should also note that there is no blood at all.

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You've made the right step in a doctors appointment so I presume some basic tests maybe done. Blood not always seen but can be detected with a doctors prescribed FIT test, that can point to other tests. Trust your instinct if something feels wrong, pursue it. Best wishes.

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator]

Hi Ken0021,

Thank you for posting on Colon Cancer Connected. I think we all Google stuff. It’s an easy thing to do and yes, shouldn’t be doing that. I remember when I was in the middle of a clinical trial my doctors told me to stop googling stuff. I just laughed and said “okay”.

It is good that you’re already pursuing the doctor appointment. I would make a written note of everything that’s been going on like you’ve done here, and there may be other things you have left off. This way you’ll be sure to cover everything when you get to see the doctor.

In general, I would say that it is cause for concern because it’s happening to you. You need to find out some good answers as to why. You should also know that there can be many things that could be causing this. You just need to narrow down what it could be. Until you do that, it’s just speculation. You have a little history of things going on there so just make sure you bring those up with the doctor.

You’ve gotten some good advice from tony11173. There may be blood that is present but not seen. It would be a good idea if you got a FIT test. That’s easy enough to do and the doctor can get that done for you. That would just be another good piece of information to have. There is a home test you could do for that as well. You could probably do the home test before you had your doctor appointment since it’s a month away.

I do wish you all the best in finding out what’s causing all these symptoms. And again, there could be a lot of things going on here and you just need to narrow down the options. Perhaps you could call the doctor’s office to see if there have been any cancelations and your appointment can be moved up. 🤔Also, please let us know what you find out because it’s that type of information that can be helpful to others on this site 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.