I was told by several doctors that I suffer from IBS. Since August of last year I have been having changes in my bowel movement, frequent gas, and overall discomfort. The condition has been in remission from March to June of this year but resurfaced after a food poison, probably becoming a PI-IBS. I never saw any visible blood in my stool but only saw transparent mucus in my underpants once after passing wind. I am going to do an FOBT test in the coming three days and I am really afraid of finding occult blood. Doctors did several blood tests on me and they all came positive - at least until two weeks ago everything resulted OK including pancreas. Due to elimination of some fatty foods and dairy products from my diet, and also due to exercising I lost nearly 9KGs in 7 months. I never did colonoscopy/endoscopy because I am afraid of the invasive testing.
I am only 31, male, and have no family history of Colon Cancer but I am really afraid...
What do you think...? is this just IBS and I have to learn to live with it? is lower back pain when standing up related to IBS?
Written by
ramon82
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For starters, mucus seen in and/or at the end of bowel movements is common enough in IBS and other bowel disorders such as diverticular disease, bile acid malabsorption etc, so don't let that worry you.
Whilst a colonoscopy sounds like it would be a good idea, if you're so anxious about the invasiveness of the procedure, you can ask for a colonography (scan) instead. Disadvantage of it is that if any polyps are spotted, they can't be removed at the time and you'd have to go back for that to be done, on the other hand, the advantage of it is that it looks at more than just the bowel, e.g. pancreas, liver and kidneys. You still have to do the prep beforehand so that your bowel is empty, but perhaps this might be a good first option for you.
IBS is a confusing and distressing disorder with many apparently inexplicable symptoms which can be painful, upsetting, depressing and life-changing, but in itself, it isn't a precursor to either colon or any other type of cancer.
Changes in bowel movements, i.e. diarrhoea, constipation, switching between the two - sometimes in the same day - are all common to IBS as is lower back pain for some people.
Try not to be too anxious about the test coming up as you'll make your symptoms worse and it's highly likely that nothing ominous will be found. Most people on this site have undergone countless tests of one sort or another (well, they have if they've got half-decent doctors at any rate) and most of us have worried about the results for no good reason. When you get your results back and they're negative, you'll be glad you had it done as it'll rule out your biggest fear.
Be brave and go for the colonoscopy the worst part for me was the premclean I had ...to clean the bowel the rest was ok didn't,t even have any meds... I too get low back pain when shopping
I totally agree with others. I have had 4 colonoscopies in 5 years - the last one was last Thursday. I can honestly say that the most distressing thing is lack of food in the 24 hours before. The constant toilet trips aren't much fun either
In my case, the fact that I had my first colonoscopy probably saved my life as 3 times they have found (and removed) pre-cancerous polyps. Surprisingly, there is no pain afterwards. Before I left the hospital this time, the nurse said the consultant wants to see me again and is writing to my doctor. I have no idea why, but happy that they are being vigilant.
I ve done the test. I am still confused re the colored lines. One is very visible but the other is faint....or not there at all? What do you think? Looks like an OK result but that really faint line is worrying me
Didn't realise this was a home test you were doing, these are always tricky as you've got nobody to put your questions to.
Can see why you're confused about this result, it's just not that clear. If you're still resistant to the idea of a colonoscopy or scan, try this: go to candidatest.co.uk, look at the test kits they do and go for test kit 5 (the 'peace of mind' test). As you'll see from its description this is very comprehensive and will discover tumour markers and occult blood.
I've done this test myself; you get a kit in the post, send your sample to a lab in Germany where it's investigated by a microbiologist and receive a full report by email, all within a couple of weeks. You can also communicate with the microbiologist afterwards by phone and/or email if you have questions.
what was the outcome of your results, as i had a very clear line on C and a very faint line on FOB, im not sure what this means as i threw the instruction sheet away.
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