Petrified of bowel cancer

[Mudskipper]

So I've had serious anxiety issues for 15 years now, I've also had ongoing hem/fissure issues for about 20 with regular blood in BM's. I've had it checked out numerous times, always told it was hems/fissures but recently I had some bloods done to check my thyroid and they came back as low in iron. My doctor said this needed checking out and got me to do an FIT test to check for unseen blood in my BM in case I'm bleeding internally. That was two weeks ago and I haven't had a decent day since. My anxiety went straight through the roof, I wake up in the morning and the adrenaline kicks straight in and I end up aching with tension from top to toe, unable to concentrate on anything, hating my work and just dreading whatever the future might bring. I've also got a sore, burning tongue which can be a symptom of anaemia and iron deficiency, so now I've convinced myself that the doctors missed something with my past bleeding and I've now got a stage 4 or something just waiting to finish me off. I've got a weeks holiday booked from next Saturday but I won't be able to enjoy that now.


Anyone got any experience in this area?

[jojo2316]

Argh. That sucks. There are SO many reasons for anaemia. I have had it (because of blood donation in my case I think) but of course I assumed bowel cancer and had a colonoscopy (which was clear). My mum had rectal bleeding for many years - which she ignored (I don’t get my health anxiety from her!!!) - and an eventual colonoscopy revealed a benign polyp. It was removed and she is fine now.
I hope you do manage to enjoy your holiday and let us know how you get on!
Jojo

[Mudskipper]

Thanks. Problem is I've got no-one to talk to about this stuff; wife doesn't get it at all and tells me to get a grip, kids are teenagers, parents are too old to worry them with this sort of thing, brother and sister too wrapped up in their own lives and impossible to talk to anyway. I just have to go on carrying the load and trying to manage all the other everyday crap including job etc and frankly it's just a bit too much. It seems like a long time since life actually felt like it was worth living.

[jojo2316]

I know that feeling!
Where are you at with the investigations? Has your stool sample come back?
Like you say, given your fissures etc, it will likely be positive and that shouldn’t alarm you. Then after that you will get the extra reassurance of a colonoscopy. I was terrified in the run up to mine, but it wasn’t all that bad and I’m actually really pleased now I had it.

[Katie55]

I became anaemic from bleeding from hems. My brother actually collapsed and needed a blood transfusion due to bleeding hems. Both of us had ops to deal with the problem. Before the ops we both had colonoscopy. He just assumed it was his piles causing the anaemia but I of course had diagnosed myself with advanced BC. My colonoscopy was clear of course! I'm glad I had the colonoscopy as that's one fear I can put to bed for a few years

---------- Post added at 22:31 ---------- Previous post was at 22:30 ----------

PS the actual colonoscopy procedure was fine, I was nice and dozy and didn't feel anything

[Mudskipper]

Haven't heard back yet, I'm thinking I might have to chase them up. Ironically I haven't had any bleeding lately, partly because this latest anxiety flare-up has caused my bowels to do their usual thing go a bit soft on me TBH I find it hard to believe hems and fissures alone could ever have been responsible for a low iron count which kind of suggests there's something worse at work which I don't know about.

[Katie55]

Well as I said piles bleeding caused my brother and myself to become anaemic, my brother severely

[Mudskipper]

Well I got fed up with waiting and stopped into the surgery this morning to see if anything had come back. Apparently the FIT test came back normal on August 1st but they didn't think to contact me. Torn between being relieved and slight ****ed off at a fair amount of needless anxiety, but at least it's not hanging over me for the holiday. There's also a small part of me (very small!) that thinks a colonoscopy wouldn't have been a bad thing as it's considered the gold standard and gives reassurance for quite a long time. Still they don't hand them out if they think they don't have to and at least I've had the FIT which is something they wouldn't normally give you until you're 60, and I'm 52. I was reading that George Alagaiah, the newsreader who's currently fighting bowel cancer, is convinced that his would have been picked up earlier if FIT screening had been available from 50 in England as it is in Scotland.

Anyway, now I still have to meet with my doctor and figure out the cause of my low iron. No symptoms of stomach cancer or ulcers, the other nasties that can cause it, so I'm trying not to think about those. I'm wondering about gluten intolerance or even full-on coeliac as many of my symptoms agree with those. Mind you, they also agree with plain old anxiety, stress and depression.

I'd like to thank you for your kind responses and I'll add anything relevant in, it might be helpful to others. I'll also try to be a bit more active on the board. When I've got it under control, I kind of instinctively steer clear of too many triggers but then after 20 years of this I do have a handle on some aspects of the condition so I guess I should try to help more.

Thanks again guys.