Have I got rectal cancer?

[MyNameIsTerry]

You have had the tests, you had a diagnosis now you have to move on with life.

Exactly this. A private colonoscopy will possibly provide some temporary reassurance (and fatten a doctor's bank balance for a test he/she will very likely know you don't even need...) but will quickly fade courtesy of what ifs and lets remember Toby is also spiralling over other issues now and before. That won't change without treatment of mental health.

[BlueIris]

Serious question, Toby: what would happen if you paid for the private sigmoidoscopy, got the all clear and then bled again?

[Elen]

Exactly this. A private colonoscopy will possibly provide some temporary reassurance (and fatten a doctor's bank balance for a test he/she will very likely know you don't even need...) but will quickly fade courtesy of what ifs and lets remember Toby is also spiralling over other issues now and before. That won't change without treatment of mental health.

Exactly this.

Obviously it is up to each and every one of us which posters we engage with but I do not think that we are helping Toby in the slightest by induldging his re-assurance seeking.

[Scass]

I would just be happy if you got a job. Then you’d stop stewing in your room & listening to your mothers bowel movements.

No, I don’t think you need a colonoscopy, and you know you don’t need one.




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[nomorepanic]

Sadly some people just don't want to get better and we can't help everyone.

[Toby2000]

I'll reply to these very shortly, just so you know I'm not like ignoring the replies or anything

[Toby2000]

I'm going to shower right now, after that I'll be on.

[Toby2000]

You are the only one that can change things Toby - we are all responsible for our own health so you have to decide what to do.

How do you know what you are seeing is actual dark blood - you are not eating it again are you ?

You have had the tests, you had a diagnosis now you have to move on with life.

It wasn't like DARK blood. It just wasn't bright red and no, I'm not eating it

[Toby2000]

Don't you think a highly trained specialist doctor has been trained in what they are going to see in their specialism? I wonder how many thousands of patients she has seen over the course of one year alone, some of them she has even diagnosed with cancer?

True. It just doesn't seem to make any sense what she said about the blood being mixed in if it was any further up in the colon but people have had tumors far up in their sigmoid colon but still only seen blood on the stool. It feels like she's just reading out of a textbook and isn't adapting her knowledge

[Toby2000]

You have to be very careful with stories like this. Where is the corroboration from the medical community? How do you know what they are saying is agreed by them?

The article goes on about how these healthy people got cancer. Well that's hardly news is it? Anyone can get cancer. You can eat & train the cleanest of everyone on planet earth and you may still get it...or get run over by a bus. The article is to scare people. How many people, healthy or unhealthy, didn't get cancer? How many millions?

I haven't read more than a couple of the stories on that article but I find myself questioning how one woman had some IBS symptoms and then 5 years later has more severe symptoms that lead to a diagnosis. That easily looks lie two separate events.

To be fair, I agree that they would've been two separate events that specific time:

"But in 2013, I was going to the loo a lot more, my stools were looser and I had painful bloating. After several visits my GP diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Going gluten-free helped

"in January 2018, I saw blood in my stools and had severe back pain."

but it's stories like this that scare me:


"When I started bleeding five years ago, my GP diagnosed IBS. Twice I was reassured it could not be anything serious because of my age and general fitness.
Two years later I ended up in A&E with a suspected rectal prolapse. Further investigations revealed stage three bowel cancer; within a year it was stage four."

She went on for FIVE YEARS. It makes me feel sick thinking I could be waiting 5 years for a diagnosis


Sorry that the font size is all over the place, it's quite annoying especially when you copy and paste