Bowel/colon/anal cancer - or is it crap diet & piles?

[BrokenGirl]

Hi all
I fear I'm falling down the rabbit hole again but I can't stop it. This time it's bowel/colon/anal cancer.
Sorry if there tmi here but I really need some advice and calming down.
About a week ago I thought I felt something around my anus when I wiped but hoped it was just a pile. I have suffered from piles in the past. So that fear was starting to ease away.
Then for the last 4 or 5 days I've had mild cramps on and off throughout the day and often feel like I have to make a bowel movement, even shortly after I've made one.
And then this morning I noticed something that's sending my HA into overdrive. When I went to sit down on the loo just to make a wee it felt as if I was sticky around my anus area, my butt cheeks were kind of stuck together for a few seconds. And I wasn't hot or sweating, in fact it's cold where I am this morning. So I'm worried if this was caused by some sort of anal discharge, which I've never had before.
Thankfully I haven't seen any blood there (not yet anyway).
I was hoping that the mild cramps and fullish feeling down there was caused by my crap diet over xmas. I over indulged way too much and it's only this week that I'm getting back to normal eating since the kids are back in school. But I thought after 2 or 3 days I'd be feeling much better.
I'm starting to spiral here so just looking for any words of advice as to what may be causing these symptoms other than the dreaded c word.
It's the sticky thing this morning is really after scaring me and of course I'm feeling all sorts of sensations in that area since then...

And I nearly forgot to mention that for about the past week I thought I noticed that my stools are a little narrower than usual, and I do remember that that can be a bad sign.

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

[Mindprison]

Colon cancer is rare under 50 and is generally a very slow growing cancer. It typically starts as polyps and turns into cancer over 8 or so years.

Your symptoms are more like IBS to me, I suffer from it too and the cramps can be agonizing and make you want to go to the toilet constantly.

The stickiness is more likely to be mucus that has escaped and dried out, another sign of IBS.

[BrokenGirl]

I really don't think I have IBS. Not that I'm in denial or anything, but I've never had these problems before and I think my symptoms are way too mild for IBS. So the mucus thing is worrying me cause I'm scared it is a symptom of cancer. I think I read that somewhere before but I'm not sure and I won't google it cause I know what dr google will tell me...
Can piles cause mucus? Or can it just happen for no apparent reason?

[Mindprison]

IBS is a blanket term used to describe bowel changes, habits and symptoms that can't be explained as any known medical condition. It can be very mild or very severe. It can happen suddenly or it can build up over years. Even if you never had problems before, it can appear one day, stay for weeks and then you don't get it again for months or years.

Your bowel constantly produces mucus, even someone without digestive problems will experience too much of it at some point.

Any symptom can be pointed at as cancer. But as I said it's slow growing and you wouldn't immediatly start getting all these symptoms all at once suddenly.

Piles are caused by straining and straining can also cause mucus

Sorry but your symptoms just don't fit the bill. If you're truly worried then see a doctor but I can honestly say this is some form of IBS or stress related.

[Fishmanpa]

So you eat like crap, have stomach and bowel issues and a raging case of anxiety. Is there any other reason?

Positive thoughts

[BrokenGirl]

I know from the outside that it probably looks like nothing serious, and ye have both helped me see this to a certain degree, but when HA spirals then anything new is an alarm bell for something serious.
I realise that eating the wrong foods over xmas was going to give me one or two issues, but I thought it's better I'd be getting after a few days, not worse.
I've never had (or at least I don't think I've had) any mucus or discharge from that area, so when I felt sticky this morning it really scared me.
Could my body take a week or two to recover from the xmas diet? After all I am in my 40's, so not exactly a young one anymore when you'd bounce back from things after 48hrs.

[Mindprison]

When something triggers my IBS, I can go every day for weeks. Then all of a sudden I won't go at all for 4 days. Then go right back to going every day again, mucus and all.

If I eat something that doesn't agree with me (garlic does it for me), i'm almost guaranteed to have diarrhea AND acid reflux for weeks.

[BrokenGirl]

I hear what you're saying - but you have IBS and I don't. If I had been diagnosed with IBS then I'd expect to have certain symptoms, so that's what scares me!
I just had a bowel movement about an hour ago (all the extra fibre I'm eating this week is starting to work I'd say) and of course I had a look in the toilet before I flushed and I almost certain I saw one piece of mucus.
Is it really not a sign of the c word to have that?
Sorry if I'm getting annoying here, and I do realise I'm in a spiral, but everything is setting me off now.

[Mom2FourKiddos]

I don't think you're being annoying. I think we all understand how it feels. I wouldn't worry about mucus. Our bowels produce it just like our sinuses do. It's all part of our digestion.