Colon cancer fear

[Alowen]

I've been experiencing pain that's unlike the pain described in IBS and I'm scared it's cancer. I was diagnosed with IBS a couple of months ago but I've heard the pain is supposed to go away after a bowel movement however I've been having localized pain that remains after a bowel movement and I'm worried its a colon polyp. The pain is just under my left rib and the pain seems to come and go does those sound like something I should be worried about?

[Murdock]

I really sympathise as this is my current fear and it’s doing my head in. If it helps bowel cancer tends to be associated with right side pain rather than left side pain.

[Alowen]

I really sympathise as this is my current fear and it’s doing my head in. If it helps bowel cancer tends to be associated with right side pain rather than left side pain.

That's good to hear that the pain is usually right sided. Colon cancer fear sucks. Mine went away after I was diagnosed with IBS but now it's coming back with a vengeance.

[refreshingsanity]

I had this in the summer! Have you been stressed at all? I too had upper left rib stomach pain and it would come and go daily! i was so worried it was pancreatitis or some type of cancer as well. Sometimes, that pain does not go away after a bowel movement. In fact, sometimes when i have a BM, the pain seems to be worse, maybe due to pressure/straining? I also wondered what this pain could have been, since i didn't get a diagnosis for it, my doctor just thought it was an awful amount of stress and anxiety but i thought otherwise. Another huge thing is posture/position. feel like that pain gets worse when I put a lot of pressure on my stomach (reading, studying, writing with head downwards). it honestly could be a huge mixture of things. like foods you ate, acid reflux, position. so many aspects, not just bowel movement.

[Alowen]

I had this in the summer! Have you been stressed at all? I too had upper left rib stomach pain and it would come and go daily! i was so worried it was pancreatitis or some type of cancer as well. Sometimes, that pain does not go away after a bowel movement. In fact, sometimes when i have a BM, the pain seems to be worse, maybe due to pressure/straining? I also wondered what this pain could have been, since i didn't get a diagnosis for it, my doctor just thought it was an awful amount of stress and anxiety but i thought otherwise. Another huge thing is posture/position. feel like that pain gets worse when I put a lot of pressure on my stomach (reading, studying, writing with head downwards). it honestly could be a huge mixture of things. like foods you ate, acid reflux, position. so many aspects, not just bowel movement.

It's hard to tell whether I was stressed before this started happening or after since I'm currently juggling Brain tumor panic and colon cancer panic. Fun. But I think you're onto something since I do have to take meds for my acid reflux and I have godawful posture. It also probably doesn't help that I haven't been taking my acid reflux pills or my Iberogast for my IBS due to the forgetfulness that comes with panic.
More than likely this is nothing since I'm only 18 and Colon cancer is quite rare in someone my age. Luckily I have already booked an appointment with my GP for brain tumor fears (This is the third time I'm visiting him for the same reason even though he told me it wasn't. I feel bad for the guy, haha.) so I can bring it up there.

[refreshingsanity]

Yes! Seriously I'm 17 so when that pain showed up i felt so scared but my dad blamed it on my posture and how I'm always sluggish on my bed and all, basically spend the majority of my time there. My pain went away when school started again (guessing due to the fact that i was walking long distances and not in bed 24/7). I also get the pain sometimes when i cry too much or eat a really bad combo of food. But honestly, acid reflux has always been a trigger for it. My doctor said the pain was from so much stress and acid reflux, so I got put on medication for when I need it. Colon cancer is so so rare for our age group we would be on national news if we had it! The panic could really contribute to the pain, I had it everyday a month before school started (only if i wasn't doing anything that day, making me give in to always having to think about it)

---------- Post added at 23:06 ---------- Previous post was at 23:02 ----------

and haha! yeah its good you booked another appointment, never hurts to be assured! I too, have seen my gp quite frequently recently! I always end up having a mental breakdown in the room and honestly i sometimes also tend to see her as a sort of therapist since I end up telling her everything going on in my life. its comforting.

[beasty340]

Currently going through a colon cancer worry. Everything is very normal in terms of stools. I'd say 9/10 of them are normal with the odd one maybe being a little diarrhea with some mucus or constipation. The thing that worries me the most is last month I had some pain in the area and was palpating the area and I found a rope-like mass in my lower left abdomen. It is about 1-3 inches in length, moveable, a little tender, and it doesn't come and go with BMs always there from what I can tell. I just recently remembered that it was there after I was palpating the area while lying down. I have no other colon cancer symptoms besides maybe a little bloating and I have no family history of almost any cancer. I also just had a bunch of bloodwork done in the past three months and everything looked fine.