Pain in lower left abdomen for 5 years and now a very little bright red blood in stool once in a while

[S_searching]

Hi All,When I was 24 (10 years ago)years old I consulted a gastroenterologist with stomach discomfort and bloating. He did an colonoscopy and an endoscopy..One polyp was found and was benign on biopsy.I was diagnosed with IBS..Time passed stomach problems were a daily concern for me.5 years ago suddenly a sharp pain started in my lower left abdomen that comes and go.Pain comes sometime at rest..but most of the time while doing exercise. I am an anxious person and was afraid to consult doctor fearing that it would be something serious..now I am 34 still have pain.sometime pain radiates to groin and thighs..The pain is not severe though..recently I started to notice bright red blood at the end of stool ( happend 2 - 3 times)..Now I am really worried about it..Has anyone felt same symptomes.please comment..I also worry about all other symptoms in the body thinking that it might me something severe.After COVID I started to have cardiophobia as well.. I used to workout and play football before COVID but stopped due to cardiophobia..Now I have started running for 2 months now and going good.

[Worrytoomuch90]

I would def go back and at least get checked out now that you’re seeing blood. Honestly since they did find a polyp they should’ve had you back for a scope at 5 years. I wouldn’t worry though. Just go get checked

[GCCA-Survivor Administrator]

Hi S_searching,

Thank you for posting with us. I hate to hear that you have these things going on but they are definitely something to get checked out. You absolutely need to know what's causing these symptoms. Any time there is abdominal pain you should get that checked out. Even if the pain comes during rest or during exercise, you need to know the cause. It could be hernia related or something completely different. Either way, you need that answer. For me, it was abdominal pain on my right side that drove me to get checked out. My issue was that I let it go far too long. I'm glad to see you are not doing this.

Anytime there is blood in the stool is another thing that needs to be checked out. You definitely need answers for that. That could be caused by many different things as well, but you need to know. You will have far less anxiety knowing the cause rather than speculating what's going on. I didn't have the symptom of blood in the stool.

Also, Worrytoomuch90 gave some great input. If they found a polyp at your age of 24, there should have been some kind of surveillance set up to check things out. Maybe 5 years is the time span, but you should have had that set up.

It is understandable to be worried as you don't have good answers about what's going on. I can see that you know what you need to do. With this information you're probably going to get another colonoscopy. I would say it's pretty definite. If you hadn't had one in 10 years from your last one when they found a polyp, you definitely need to get this done. Another thing to think about is if there are any hereditary aspects of medical issues within your family. If there are, that would be good information for your doctor to know as well. That could lead to some further testing that could be beneficial to you and your family.

I am glad to see you're back to exercising. I used to be a runner but I moved to being a cyclist so I could cover more ground🚴‍♂️😁. COVID was a crazy time. Did you have a severe battle with covid and that's what's causing your cardiophobia? You could get one of those $99 EKG testers that you can link to your smartphone if it continues to be an issue.

I do wish you the best in getting answers to what's going on. I know you know what you need to do. You should never be afraid of the answers you'll get. Living with symptoms and not getting answers can be far more detrimental in the long run. That's what I did. Given that we know our family has a hereditary propensity for cancer, I should have been getting a colonoscopy when I was 34 years old. I didn't get my first colonoscopy until age 49. The results were expected and they were not good but I'm doing well now and I'm a big advocate for people to get symptoms checked out so they can catch things early and move on to being well sooner.

Please let us know what you find out. We are always interested in that. That type of information 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.