Hi all
Newbie here. Have a history of health anxiety. I then ended up diagnosed with T1 diabetes a year ago which has only fuelled my anxiety about any minor little thing. I now almost AWLAYS make a GP appointment in fear of something else over things that never seem small at the time but always end up being irrelevant.
In any case, i do believe there might be something sinister going on with my bowels - bowel complaints have been an ongoing issue for me since childhood. I'm approaching 30 now.
I've always had either diarrhea or constipiation. In the mornings i tend to have a rush to go toilet and make a bowel movement (classic IBS apparently)
I've changed my diet to include more fibre and have been going daily but i can never tell whether i will have loose stools or not. It fluctuates. Certain foods tend to trigger me off - wheat, cereals and even milk. I've gone lacto-free to see if it helps with my gassy symptoms but i'm almost always afflicted with bloating and painful gas. Every time I finish a bowel movement, I never feel like i've completed going but nothing else will 'come out.' I'll also get clear mucus when i'm constipated.
I've never been a 'stool checker' but given the increase in my gas symptoms, i have recently begun to look down at the toilet bowl - to my dismay i saw a string of mucus that was tinged in pink/red. Looking at my stools each time i can see that my bowels almost ALWAYS contain small specks of red. When I investigate further it comes across like bright jelly with orange and red peel. Like the skin of something. I do eat a lot of tomato based foods but even when i don't, it still appears there. I rushed to a private GI and told him that I was sure i had BC. He asked for family history and all the usual stuff - nothing to indicate BC genetically but of course in my opinion there is nothing to say that young people cannot be diagnosed with BC in isolation of other factors.
I had a fecal occult which came out negative and some bloods to test for any 'tumor' markers - also negative. A rectal examination by the GI said there was no inflammation suggesting anything like Crohn's etc - just mucus and stool. Im having a follow up with the GI tomorrow but again today I saw the specks of red jelly which opens up to a skin like remnant. I'm petrified and think I should simply go ahead with a colonoscopy to put me out of my misery. My problem is that i've had so many scopes this year - endoscopy/hysteroscopy - i feel like i'm a laughing stock cos being scoped so often is a sure sign of health anxiety. But anything red in stools in my opinion cant be dismissed.
Anyone here with any thoughts? :(