Worried out of my mind

[Juggsy]

Hi guys, new member here, I'm currently worried sick about my health and don't know what to do

On June 16th this year a friend and I went to the gym, we did quite a strenuous workout, that evening my back stiffened up and I just put it down to the workout.

A day or so later I developed a baring down sensation on my anus and was a little constipated, I visited my GP who examined me and prescribed movicol, but she made the comment that if it didn't clear up I may need to visit a specialist to rule out other things but mentioned cancer as one of them...... It hit me like a hammer.... I came home and instantly googled how I felt, amongst other things bowel cancer came up... Since then I've been a wreck, I've visited a different GP who gave me an abdominal and rectal exam and said he didn't think it was anything serious, he also did full bloods which came back fine,

I'm now having soft bowel movements, which sometimes are flat, another symptom I read on google.. Up until this morning I haven't noticed blood but today there was a small dark red line in my stool...

It's driving me mad, it's ruining my family life as my wife has had enough of me constantly worrying

Ive a letter off my GP to go see a specialist but I'm scared to go in case it's bad news, I think he only gave me a referral as he could tell I was worried,

I'm 38 and I suppose I've always been a bit of a worrier,

[countrygirl]

In the short term your referral will probably result in you have a flexible sigmoidoscopy which is the first test they do to rule out bowel cancer as most cancers are found in this part of the bowel.
You can also do a fecal occult blood poo test to see if you really do have blood in your poo rather than it being something you ate!
You are young so they won't be too worried about bowel cancer unless you have a family history of it.

Are you usually a worrier about health or is this just something that has come up now??

[Juggsy]

hi thanks for the reply, im not sure what the referral is going to be...however my doctor didnt write the letter to the hospital he made a joke about going and paying private otherwise it could be 6 months before i get seen....so he wrote me a letter and left it with me to go and pay private.....im worryingif he thought it wasnt serious then waiting 6 months wouldnt be a problem, however as he gave me a letter and more or less hinted for me to go private im worried he wanted me seen quicker

im a bit of a worrier over my health yes, however never as bad as this

[Welshlou]

Hi, it seems the only way you will get any peace of mind is to get checked by a specialist. If you can afford to pay privately, then I'd do it. But remember not to just accept your first appointment you make if you think it is too far off. What I do is make the first appointment and if I want an earlier one, I will go in the net and search the relevant consultants in my area until I can find the earliest appointment I can get.

[almamatters]

If your GP thought it was serious , you would be seen very quickly on the NHS, you would not be expected to wait for 6 months. Perhaps he mentioned the private referral just for your peace of mind.

[Juggsy]

yes i think you could be right, he seemed confident it wasnt the C word..however he did say to get seen to, as the symptoms had lasted a few weeks, im just panicing now ill have bad news, but im going to have to go

as for affordability, i could do without the £250 fee to have a consultation with the specialist, however i dont think i can go 6 months worrying as i am

[Juggsy]

well i took the plunge and booked an appointment this friday at 9;30 with the specialist, got to try and put all
the what ifs out of my mind now until then,

i seem to have developed a slight tender spot right under my left ribs, only to the touch, however im trying my damndest to not google it and just put it down to the worry of my appointment,ill be sure to post how it went on friday.........

[Welshlou]

Well done and good luck with your appointment.

Definitely stay off Google. A tender spot under your ribs could be cause by a myriad of different things. Something as simple as a muscle twinge from sleeping or sitting awkwardly. However, no one is going to go to the trouble to write about that in a website, which means you will be left with only the worst case scenario, and a boat load of Anxiety till Friday. Leave it to the experts and please let us know how you get on.

[almamatters]

Good luck for your appointment and as previous post has said definitely do not google. I googled a similar pain in the past and it was the worst thing I could have done , if it is any consolation I was eventually diagnosed with IBS after suffering left and right rib pain for a long time.

[Juggsy]

Thanks for your replies, hopefully ill be able to relax a little after Friday,

[Juggsy]

Having a bad day today, appt for specialist tomorrow, and HA is very high, to top it all off I picked up my blood results from my GP to take with me tomorrow and stupidly had a quick look, now when I rang for my results I was told over the phone that no further action required on any of the results

However looking at my iron level results it says they're "low"

This is a symptom of bowel and stomach cancer and now my worrying has gone into overdrive, have a constant feeling of doom and I don't know if I can carry on feeling like this, it's completely ruining my life.

[Juggsy]

Well as promised I'm reporting back after my consultation,

Specialist was very good explained that my age, blood results and general health meant bowel cancer was a very very slim chance, however he performed an examination where he checked my abdomen, did a digital rectal exam and also a rigid sigmoidoscopy, everything was completely normal

However, as my stools are still on the soft side he toyed with the idea of a barium enema just to see the rest of the bowel, saying he didn't know if the exposure to X-rays was worth it as everything else was fine, in the end he said to have it done just as a precaution,

Now I'm feeling better in that he has put my thoughts at ease but still not completely panic free as I've still to wait for this other test, he never mentioned anything about a colonoscopy I'm assuming its because he was pretty comfortable with how everything looked

Thank you to the people who replied and put me at some ease this past week and I'm now determined to enjoy my holiday with my family