Bowel cancer........give me some alternatives pls!!?

[Freaking!]

Hi everyone, I am a 31 year old female that has been stalking this forum for a little while. Before anyone says it, I seeing my GP and currently waiting on a colonoscopy that is likely to be 6 weeks away due to my age :(

It started about a year ago, I noticed bloody mucus in my stool. Had lots of mucus for a long time. Go in concerned but sent me for a sigmoidoscopy at my insistance! All clear except a 2mm polyp that was removed.

Since then, the mucus and bleeding has continued. I have also developed pressure sensation, sometimes pain under my left ribs. My GP thinks it's muscular, I don't! It feels like I am laying on a cricket ball. It looks slightly distended but my GP can't feel a mass.

I also have lost my love of food :-( very little appetite. I guess that could be the stress but it really isn't like me! I have also done a fob test which came back positive.

I have lots of bloating, the part under my ribs that is uncomfortable constantly gurgles and moves, at least it feels that way! My bowel habits are all over the place, I will go three times one day, looser than they used to be but far from runny. Then I won't go for 3 days. Every movement has lots of mucus, often with blood.

Bloods: slightly raised CRP of 11 and raised white cell count of 13.5. Hb is 129 so not anaemic. My GP is unconcerned but I am worried.

Just to complicate matters, I am 10 weeks pregnant!! I will be going for a colonoscopy but I do have a wait, is it worth paying to go privately??

My question is, my GP isn't even considering Colon cancer because of my age. He also says he doesn't think it colitis as it would have been picked up on the sigmoidoscopy last year. He has also ruled out chrones as no diarrahea. What does this leave?

I look forward to you replies. I know I won't get a diagnosis until I have the colonoscopy but would like to hear of any ideas of what it could be. Right now colon cancer is the only thing that fits.

[clover1201]

I have crohns disease and i dont get diarrahea. I was the same as you, blood in stool, mucas but I mad a mass on my right side that was palpable. I lost 18lbs and was convinced I had cancer. My CRP was also 11. My Dr totatly dismissed me as even having a disease at all. It took 3 months to see the consulant who out it back into context for me. He had, in his whole career, only treated 5 patients with bowel cancer under the age of 35 and he deals with bowel cancer every day. I had a colonscopy 2 weeks later which confirmed crohns and not even a hint of cancer. I had a sort course of steroid and have been well since. I was and have ever even when bad had a max 3 trips to toilet per day. I wouldnt worry to much. No need to go private, if you need to phone the outpatients number for your hospital and see if they had any cancelations which could bring your date forward.

[daisyflower]

Could the blood not be coming from an anal fissure? I get mucus sometimes but never really thought about it. The doctors wouldn't risk their jobs...they sound very unconcerned which you should concentrate on. Also...being pregnant also shows you are pretty healthy. If you had had something sinister for that amount of time, the last thing your body would want to do is get pregnant. Has anyone mentioned allergies?

[mummato2]

Hi there,

3 years ago (I was 32) I had the exact bloody mucus that you described - to a tee!

Also had left side discomfort from ribs to groin.

I saw a specialist who saw how anxious I was and had me in for a colonoscopy 3 days later (while the symptoms were still there)

It turns out I have diverticulosis (at the time of diagnosis I had an active infection - so diverticulitis)

I had to step up fibre intake and take a course of antibiotics.

Totally harmless condition - I was convinced he was going to find bowel cancer. When I asked about that, he went through history of breast and colon cancer (they must be related) and said at my age, non-familial/genetic bowel cancer was extremely unlikely.

[clarisse]

You may have IBS. It can cause those symptoms. Anxiety makes it worse and can be a trigger.

[Freaking!]

Thank you very much for your replies. It's nice to know that it could be other things. I am just freaking coz it has been going on so long and no one seems worried except me!! I guess chrones or diviticulitis are def possibilities. Pretty certain IBS doesn't cause bleeding!!

[bartin]

Except in a very rare hereditary type of colon cancer in which you have loads of polyps in your teens, it is very unlikely to have colorectal cancer before 50.

IBS does not cause blood and mucus.

Anal fissure can cause mucus but not blood.

Mucus, blood and bloating could be in Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or intestinal parasites, for example.

[clarisse]

Ibs doesn't cause bleeding ,but if you had been constipated or had hard stools,these could cause a fissure.
As for the Mucus it can be IBS.

[Cusper]

I had the same issues. Turns out I had parasites!! sounds gross but if you have a pet you most certainly have them. So now every 6 months I do a cleanse. you probably cannot do one while pregnant but I am telling you I got tested from the dr. and they said they couldn't find anything but low and behold when I did a parasite cleanse I saw them.

[Cags48]

What kind of parasites?

[ricardo]

There is another alternative which is colitis as your symptoms are similar to colitis which anyway can easily be treated.My wife suffered with colitis when she was about your age but hasn't had any problems for the last 30 years.