Bowel cancer?

[xCryonic]

Hi

I'm new to this site and after lots of health anxiety decided to register and ask here instead of looking it up from the internet (looking it up from cancer sites and others is the worst thing to do ). But I can't help it. I have Panic Disorder, maybe GAD. and Health Anxiety.

I always go for about an week without any Health anxiety but then I get something new to worry about, last time I had tension neck, before that I had tense leg (thought that I had blood clot), mild to severe chest pain in lung area (over breathing caused by anxiety), even my neck is better now because of stretching, my dad and older brother also has bad neck.

But for last 2 to 3 days I have been worried about my bowel, could I have bowel cancer? right now my stool is thin, sometimes a bit "string" like, it looks oddly soft and orange-ish (at least was that color this morning). No pain though, sometimes I have constipation (at least I think so), nausea (not throwing up though, but it's close to that). I've read that bowel cancer also causes anemia, which causes dizziness for example.

but I think it's caused by tension neck and/or anxiety that makes me dizzy sometimes, but it goes away after stretching. I tend to breathe more than I need too and get chest pain and feel dizzy

I've had nausea and weird bowel since last summer. I started eating lactose-free diet and it helped for my bad gas etc. But the nausea stayed, it's not there all the time, occasionally.

I'm not sure if the nausea and weird bowel movement is caused by anxiety, I was feeling completely fine last week until I came across this article about bowel movement, started thinking that I could have bowel cancer, since then I've felt really anxious.

I'm sorry if the thread is just a mess, I'm just so anxious

Long story short: Bowel cancer or not?

[Coppernob]

That sounds like the kind of bowel movement related to anxiety - and an orangy colour usually means I've eaten curry, or lots of carrots! The anaemia that comes with bowel cancer is due to the considerable amount of bleeding that can occur - this happened to my daughter-in-law which is how I know. A change in diet will undoubtedly change your bowel habits anyway.

Only a doctor can tell you if your symptoms are significant. Make an appointment and have a discussion - I did that this week over a major worry, and my mind was put at rest.

Best wishes

[xCryonic]

Oh, I do hope it's only because of my anxiety.

I just read that orange stool also means that the transit time of stool is too fast, and is not sufficiently exposed to bile during digestion. And as far as I know anxiety speeds up the bowel movement, right?

Does chili also color stool orange? I just remembered that I ate ramen with lots of chili day before...

[Coppernob]

Oh, I do hope it's only because of my anxiety.

I just read that orange stool also means that the transit time of stool is too fast, and is not sufficiently exposed to bile during digestion. And as far as I know anxiety speeds up the bowel movement, right?

Does chili also color stool orange? I just remembered that I ate ramen with lots of chili day before...

Anxiety definitely speeds up the bowel movement for most people. It wouldn't surprise me at all if chilli changed the colour of your stools too.

[laurelrea]

Thin stools are also a sign of constipation. I have dodgy bowels and allergies and when I'm having a reaction my stools go weird colours and get narrow like that. And weirdly soft and generally just gross. Try taking a probiotic and figure out what your tummy is reacting to maybe.