Still worrying about bowel cancer...

[Murdock]

This is quite a long post but please bear with me.

I’m a 30 year old female with a history of health anxiety. I’ve always had odd bowel habits (mucus, constipation, hemorrhoids etc) plus I also have a diagnosis of GERD.

This summer I decided to try a vegetarian diet. Things were fine at first but then I began to notice a change in bowel habits (more frequent and a bit more loose) along with excess gas. I eventually went to a doctor after become bloated from eating lentils and being only able to pass mucus. The doctor took some blood and tested me for celiac disease (not sure if they tested for anything else) but this came back negative. They also did a physical examination and said my abdomen felt fine.

After this I decided to put meat back into my diet but things haven’t seemed to settle down totally. I do have periods of having bowel movements which are more normal for me but at times they still come out softer (but fully formed) than they used to and can be messy.

I’ve been back to the GPs several times since where they’ve done stool samples for H Pylori and calprotectin and again all negative. My GP says it’s just IBS.

However it has now gotten to a point where I have gone back to a somewhat regular diet for myself but I’m still having symptoms such as:

Flatulence after eating (doesn’t happen all the time and it’s more common when I’m stressing about my health)

Messy poops at times and on average going slightly more than I used to

1 more episode very recently of being constipated and not going for 4 days and only passing mucus

A feeling that my anal passage (tmi I know sorry) just doesn’t feel quite right but I don’t know how much of that is me just obsessing on that part of my body

Lower back pain which I have a history of but I seem to be noticing it more recently

All I’ve been able to do for weeks now is think about having bowel cancer and it feels like it’s taking over my life. I constantly look at myself in the mirror to see if I’m bloated (as I know that can be a symptom). My partner tells me I look fine but I’ve become obsessed.

Has anyone been in the same situation or can anyone offer any reassurance? I have an appointment with my GP this Friday and I’m currently waiting for a referral back to my psychiatrist and for CBT.

Thanks all,
Murdock.

[katyfitz]

I fe for you. I'm having diarreah at the moment that just won't go and I'm convinced too that it's bowel cancer. I'm constantly looking in the mirror to really see if I've lost weight and I'm trying to eat loads so I don't loose it and put it on which isn't helping cause I'm just putting on weight. If you ever need to talk PM me x

[Murdock]

I’ve documented my worries about the possibility of bowel or anal cancer (which my doctor swears is IBS) here several weeks ago. I’m doing CBT and have started medication and I do feel better. However a ‘new symptom’ has me worried.

I have what my friend tells me is a twisted or pulled muscle near my groin area, though I’m freaking about it being a enlarged lymph node. I have recently started working out doing lower abdominal exercises and he says this is what the cause is; the leg itself is quite sore and does feel as if there’s muscle damage and working out again today (as well as prodding the area; which you have to do fairly firmly to detect it) has aggravated it.

I guess my two main questions are:

1. Does it sound like an enlarged lymph node or as my friend says muscle strain?

2. Would bowel or anal cancer even be causing a swollen lymph node in my groin
or would this happen at a later stage with more obvious symptoms of the
disease also.

Thanks again guys,
Murdock

[Fishmanpa]

Muscle strain

Positive thoughts

[pulisa]

Remember what you said about your supportive HA-savvy GP and your fantastic therapist? Don't let them and yourself down now?

Muscle strain.

[Murdock]

Thanks for all the replies, feeling much calmer now. My counsellor is away for three weeks but I did promise I’d try to be proactive till I saw him again. Should probably start putting that into practice :shades:

[pulisa]

We can keep you on the straight and narrow..:D

[Murdock]

So I find myself posting here again... My CBT counsellor is away so I’ve been trying to keep my health anxiety together but evidently I’m still panicking.

Most of the symptoms I’ve been having over the summer seem to have subsided now and my bowel movements seem fairly normal again. However the one symptom that seems to have remained is increased flatulence.

I seem to have gone back to being somewhat constipated again though this is normal for me and I’ve dealt with it for 12 years. I never really noticed it before but now that I’m back to being constipated (rather than the looser moments I had when I went veggie) I now seem to be aware of a pressure in my rectum (sorry tmi) along with my constipation.

This along with the flatulence (which only seems to happen in the morning and evenings) still has me concerned about having bowel cancer. I really don’t want to mention this to my GP tomorrow as we have an agreement she’ll only deal with my anxiety and no physical symptoms I think I have.

I really want to believe her when she says it’s all anxiety and I have been making some progress, so could anyone offer up some rantional before I freak out on her again tomorrow.

Thanks as always,
Murdock

[pulisa]

You don't need my reassurance or anybody else's on here. Don't let your therapist down and concentrate on talking about your anxiety management tomorrow.

[daisy4001]

Hello!

Going vegetarian means you're talking high fiber foods, so that means your stool will loosen up and not be as firm as your previous diet (which I assume consists of meat + veggies?)

I've also experienced having loose stools after switching to a vegetarian diet (because I had a fissure in the past and the doctor highly recommended that I need to eat veggies more), although my stools have stabilized now and have become normal. You just gotta add some proteins and see how it goes. The change of the appearance of your stool won't happen overnight and it will happen gradually.

I also worried back then when I had loose stools, of course, because yeah that's a symptom of bo*** ca*** and I hated that! LOL. But then again, here I am now, all fine and just living life.

As for the flatulence, I also have multiple bouts of flatulence every time I am very stressed or under extreme anxiety. And I think your concerns about this flatulence will be eased when you have a peace of mind.

Flatulence is caused by the gas formed inside your stomach so typically, what the gas does, when it doesn't go out either as your fart or burp, is that it presses on your stomach, on your intestines, on your rectum, or on just anywhere the gas can go. This causes bloating, constipation, as well as you feeling some pressure inside.


Don't worry! This is all normal. It happens to me and a lot of people out there. And this is totally NOT bo*** ca***

Liven up a little! Go outside and do some exercise to relieve your hyper brain and get distracted from worrying and worrying.

Best regards.

[Murdock]

Thanks for the response Daisy. The flatulence is still worrying me. The other symptoms seemed to have stopped and I’ve accepted the lump in the top of my leg is a pulled muscle. The flatulence now only seems to happen when I eat. Like five minutes into a meal I’ll pass gas and then for a little while after. It seems to be whatever I eat. There’s no pain or bloating or anything like that. Could it be that because I expect to pass gas it now just happens, like a psychosomatic type thing? It mostly concerns me because before all this started I very really passed gas but did bleach a lot due to having GERD.