Convinced I have bowel cancer

[popejoan]

I'm losing my mind over this, I've been constipated all my life, since childhood and for the last 3 years my bowel movements have been changing. Especially for the last year I've been having diarrhea a lot.

I've changed my diet completely lately, after suffering from bulimia for 14 years I finally fully recovered, stopped drinking, started eating very very healthy, started using probiotics but my bowel movements are still out of control. I've been having very loose stools lately, horrible diarrhea cramps, lower back pain, a lot of mucus visible in stool and not to mention blood in stool.

I also have low ferritin levels and awaiting for a colonoscopy but I already convinced myself I have bowel cancer. I can't stay away from google and I found myself reading bowel cancer stories last night and this morning, I have more symptoms that most of them. I know I opened threads about this before but needed to talk about it...

[courierdude]

are you sure that you have blood in your stool? often? everytime? what does your doctor say about that?

you could well be the cause of your nervous stomach by actually willing it and bring it on yourself. you need to step away from your symptoms, accept them and give yourself a break from worrying about them.

i had antibiotics for an eye infection a couple of months ago and i had stomach troubles that had me looking in the toilet for a few days. ...but having stopped googling what might be and just getting on with trying to look after my general health, my stomach has righted itself.

give yourself a break from the analysis and take a look in a week or so instead of every 5 minutes. things dont change or get better so quick but you can certainly have a negative influence on proceedings!

[wnsos]

Did the bowel changes have any connection with the probiotics? Only ask cause they wreaked havoc on my insides!

[popejoan]

Thank you for you replies.

Courierdude, that's the thing, I can't be 100% sure it's blood. One morning I went to toilet and there was blood on toilet tissue, it was thin though and like a maroon/plum color, I looked in the toilet and it was like an explosion, blood everywhere. I panicked and called 111, an ambulance came took me to A&E, they did blood work and said I have great hemoglobin levels and my iron levels are normal, did rectal exam said everything is fine and sent me home. I got relieved and thought I was drinking concentrate beet juice for 2 days so I thought that was blood.

My Gp disagreed, he said he very much doubt that it was beet juice and he said I have very low ferritin although iron and hemoglobin were normal and he said it might indicate that there is an internal bleeding.

Anyway I started iron tablets and now my stools are literally black and the other day I saw black blood clots on toilet paper. I know it's not coming from my stomach as I had an endoscopy and everything was normal.

wnsos, well I've been taking probiotics for only 2 months but I've been having diarrhea and weird bowels movement for a year. I thought they would regulate bowel movements? I take them with milk.

[robin321]

I ate beets last summer, and it very much looked like blood. Red licorice does that also.

I have crohns, and ulcerative colitis. I have had bleeding from that... my bloods showed a lot of abnormality (iron was low, red blood cells low + other low things). I am assuming anything serious would be similar.

Bowel cancer is extremely rare. There are many other possibilities for your issues, including IBS, infection, etc..

When is your colonoscopy?

[popejoan]

Thank you, I thought the amount I drank wasn't enough to make my poo turn into red but it was concentrate so was very thick, I added water and drank 300ml for 2 days. I was ready to believe it was beet juice but my Gp scared the hell out of me :(

I know it's rare in young people (I'm 30) but after reading those stories and saw whatever I thought was black blood clots I'm freaked out.

I'm also too tired so thinking maybe I'm losing more blood and low ferritin was only the beginning and now I have less iron and hemoglobin levels.

I have an appointment on the 8th of Jan, my GP said I'll have a colonoscopy but I haven't received any letters from the hospital, I thought I needed to laxatives the day before.

I might just have one when I go to my country for Christmas, I'm gonna have to pay for it but it's worth it. I was doing so well last week but I was out of my Kalms tablets so the panic came back. I've had very loose stools almost like diarrhea and today I woke up with lower back pain and now I'm losing it.

[anthrokid]

If you're taking iron supplements and your stools are black, usually that indicates that your body does not need those iron supplements and is getting rid of what you don't need through your stools.

[popejoan]

Thank you for your reply anthrokid, are you sure? My blood count showed very low ferritin, so low that it should be between 12-150 but mine is 9 and thanks to my doctor he said low ferritin can be the result of internal bleeding. After that I was convinced everything I saw was blood, not beet juice, not vaginal bleeding, not black stool caused by iron supplements, just blood :(

[anthrokid]

That was the case for me, as advised by a nutritionist. I take iron supplements when I travel because I spend a lot of time in rural areas where it is difficult to have a diet rich in iron and other essential vitamins and minerals. Out of habit, sometimes I continue these supplements when I come home and am eating a normal diet again, and on a couple of occasions I have had 'black' stools, apparently due to excess iron, which have returned to normal upon ceasing the iron supplements. I just did some googling right now (so you don't have to) and have learned that black stools are a common side effect from iron supplements anyway, and that it may indicate that the supplements are doing their job, so you may not have an excess of iron due to the supplements, it could just be a good side effect

Info from several different sites...

"You may have noticed after taking iron that your stools have turned black or dark green. While your first reaction might be, “Yikes! Something might be wrong,” don’t be alarmed. Black or dark stools are a common side effect that may be the harmless result of unabsorbed iron. Whether you are taking iron supplements alone or a multivitamin with iron, you may experience this." (http://www.feosol.com/iron-side-effe...my-stool-black)

"Iron supplements can make your stools look darker in colour. This is completely harmless." (http://www.patient.co.uk/medicine/iron-supplements)

"Iron supplements cause the stool to darken. Some people's stools will turn black. This is not a cause for alarm. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, this is actually a desirable consequence of taking iron." http://www.livestrong.com/article/27...r-stool-black/)

If you are still concerned you could always call your doctor and ask about the changes and how they are associated with iron supplements.

[mummato2]

Fantastic advice from A

I can also second that ferritin causes black stools.

It stops within weeks of stopping the supplements.

I had bleeding and mucus 2 Christmases ago and was lucky enough to have a colonoscopy within days of the symptoms starting. Turns out the "bowel cancer" I convinced myself that I had, was actually an attack of diverticulitis (I was 32 and told uncommon in someone so young but it is totally benign).

---------- Post added at 12:02 ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 ----------

Oh - and beets definitely can turn your stools blood like.

I had this happen recently as well. The only thing that stopped me freaking out was my husband ate them too and his stool was bloody like as well.

Beets are evil for anxiety lol