Bowel cancer fears :(

[puzzledlass]

Hi all,

I've posted about this over in health anxiety too but thought I would talk about it here too.

About 3 weeks ago I went to the toilet (no bm) and when I wiped my bum there was pinky/reddy/brown stuff on the toilet paper. It wasn't anywhere near my period so of course I freaked out and in my mind it was a certainty - bowel cancer!

I've been looking at my poos a bit now and I get paranoid all the time. I've had a rusty coloured poo and in my mind it must be because there is blood there. I've also had black flakes/specks in my poo at times which also makes me think it's blood! Has anyone else had this?

I went to the doctor and she did a rectal exam aka finger up the butt and said that it felt and looked OK. She didn't offer to do a stool test or anything like that, which makes me wonder why.

My last bloods were done in Dec and they were all OK but I'm still freaking out.

Any advice?

---------- Post added at 13:57 ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 ----------

bump :(

[CameronG]

Hey, probably the reason she didn't offer to do a stool sample is because from the checks she carried she knows you're absolutely fine :D

Our number 2's vary in colour constantly depending on our good intake so I wouldn't worry about that too much, as for the blood on the tissue, there could be many simple explanations for that.

Hope you're well

Cam

[puzzledlass]

I'm hoping that's the reason Cam, thank you for your response.

I want to get a stool test done to shut my mind up about this issue. I might still do so. Because I live in a country with such a high bowel cancer rate it makes me feel more scared. :(

[Cerilia]

You've probably gone through the options, but what you eat has a very strong bearing on the appearance of your BM. Its about a 24 hour turn around for processing your food, quicker/slower if you are a IBS sufferer....colour could be anything, though a rusty brown sounds healthy, black flecks can be undigested food, often salad or green leaf vegetables, if you are anxious then your transit may be quicker hence the undigested food.

If the Docs happy at this stage, then that should be a positive.

[CameronG]

The problem I've found in the past (if you suffer from HA) is that once you have this test done & get the all clear, your mind tends to move on to something else. The best process of overcoming this is to fight the negative thoughts & focus more on the many other things it could be. Try changing your diet slightly for a week or 2 and see what differences you notice.

Cam

[Cerilia]

The problem I've found in the past (if you suffer from HA) is that once you have this test done & get the all clear, your mind tends to move on to something else.

Thats so true.....

[clarisse]

Blood when you wipe is usually down to a fissure or piles.This is due to lack of fibre and water in the diet.

[puzzledlass]

I hope it's nothing serious... Like cancer. Now I keep thinking I'm losing weight... People tell me not to worry as this only happened once (the blood thing) however HA has taken hold.

I keep thinking that I have cancer in upper bowel and doc didn't see it because she only did a rectal exam.

I need help :(

[puzzledlass]

Ok, so I went to doc again yesterday and she gave me the poo pots to do samples. She said that I had to collect from 3 different bowel movements which I did.

Now I'm panicking because I dropped (pardon the pun) them off at the lab and the lady was like "have you labelled them day 1, 2 3?" I said the doc said to do them from 3 diff movements and didn't have to be same day.

NOW I'm scared of blood showing AND me having done the poo collection wrong. Argh. Also, I don't know if I got enough of a scoop in the first collection and they won't be able to read it properly.

Has anyone here had a stool test that came back positive for blood? If so, please let me know what happened and the steps that came next. Freaking out!