Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 35

Thread: colon cancer?

  1. #11
    KK77's Avatar
    KK77 is offline NMP Complaints Mismanagement Controller
    Country:
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    7,649

    Re: colon cancer?

    At 17 you really don't need "tests". Your symptoms will be enough for a doc to make a diagnosis - the elephant in the room being your anxiety.
    __________________
    KK

    Never Surrender, Comrade

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    49

    Re: colon cancer?

    oops, accidentally deleted my last message instead of editing.

    will the doctor really be able to figure it out just by my symptoms? i'm scared they'll miss something only for it to be serious or the start of something later.

    i also read through some old forum posts that constant or frequent diarrhea is a symptom of colon cancer, not narrow stools. is this confirmed? i'm trying to avoid google but that really scared me since i deal with it very often.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Posts
    7,747

    Re: colon cancer?

    Even by looking on this forum, if you check the number of people who struggle with their bowels it will probably be the majority of us.

    As far as I can see, only one user here has ever been diagnosed with colon cancer.

    I know it can be hard to believe, but your worries aren't grounded.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    261

    Re: colon cancer?

    I think I read the same forum posts that you are talking about and freaked out. I think that user meant constant watery diarrhoea mixed in with blood (maroon or black tar like). Diarrhoea can be caused by a sensitive stomach or IBS or other IBD diseases. My dad gets frequent diarrhoea ever since he was 20 or something, but he is still okay, and doctors could not find anything through endoscopy. Colon cancer at 17 is extremely rare. I am in the same boat as you, I am 23 though (6 years older than you), and I know that even for 23 year olds colon cancer is rare.

    I know it is hard to believe it because your anxious thoughts and overthinking is making you think of every single outcome out there, and then focusing on the worst outcome. I do the same, and I suffer.

    I know what you are thinking:

    1) Well google says that you should never ignore your symptoms, because they might turn out to be something very serious
    2) Younger people are getting bowel cancer and I have read their stories on daily mail or some forum. Why would I be any exception? I might just have the same disease.
    3) What if one day I wake up and see that my symptoms are just getting worse? What if then I find out that I have colon cancer?
    4) How will I fight such a terrible disease?

    ^ that is my thought pattern, and I assume so is yours. However, i would like you to replace those thoughts. Like this:

    1) Google says a lot of things but they do not get into details. For example: Google will say "If you get constant headaches, please get yourself checked as you might just have a brain tumor and you will die," but they won't tell you that headaches need to be VERY severe for being a brain tumor and even then most people get headaches caused by stress, migraine, sinus, etc. But a person suffering from HA would think that they have a tumor.

    2) Younger people are getting bowel cancer but younger people dying of a road accident or suicide is actually higher than that. There is a slim chance that you might die of an earthquake or a fire breaking out, but that is just how life is. The only certainty is uncertainty. Just because very few young people got it, does not mean that you will too because the truth is that MOST people do not have colon cancer at your age. But you know what they have? A lot of young people have IBS. Even a lot of old people have IBS and not colon cancer.

    3) Every time your mind jumps to a "negative" what if, think about a positive "what if." For example: What if all my IBS symptoms go away one day? What if my doctor says I have nothing wrong with me? What if good things happen to me like good things happen to most people? What if I don't have bowel cancer like 99% of the young people around me?

    4) Even if you get a terrible disease (which is most likely never gonna happen), the treatments these days are advanced and most young BC patients are cured.

    You know a part of me thinking that something "bad" will happen to me has to do with the fact that I always think I do not deserve anything good, and thus, I end up thinking "what if I am the unlucky one?" If that is the case with you then tell yourself that you deserve happiness and good things will happen to you. These symptoms mean nothing but just a sensitive stomach or IBS.

    Much love

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    261

    Re: colon cancer?

    And if you are REALLY worried, just for your reassurance you can do a CBC test, calprotectin test and a FOBT test. However, let me tell you that when I first had those symptoms I was thinking that if I get these tests done I will stop worrying. I literally promised myself.

    Guess what? I got those tests done but now my HA mind is thinking:

    1) What if the test results are wrong?
    2) What if the doctor did not check properly?
    3) What if I did not bleed when I had a FOBT test because tumors dont always bleed?

    Now my HA mind wants to do a colonoscopy

    When you have HA, try to look at the people around you. I look at the people around me who get similar symptoms or worse, like my mum. Doctors only did a normal stool test and blood test on her, and she is happy with the results. She is not even thinking about "What if the doctors missed this?"

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    49

    Re: colon cancer?

    thank you so much for responding glittery!! that is EXACTLY my thought process!! i think my HA has been kinda relaxing because my stomach problems aren't so bad for the past two days. everything seems pretty normal. i keep telling myself if i did have colon cancer, it wouldn't be up and down. i would always have symptoms getting progressively worse. it's hard to keep believing this sometimes but i think it's the truth, right?

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    73

    Re: colon cancer?

    I had a calprotectin test done. Does this help detect BC?

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Posts
    261

    Re: colon cancer?

    Quote Originally Posted by 48tce View Post
    thank you so much for responding glittery!! that is EXACTLY my thought process!! i think my HA has been kinda relaxing because my stomach problems aren't so bad for the past two days. everything seems pretty normal. i keep telling myself if i did have colon cancer, it wouldn't be up and down. i would always have symptoms getting progressively worse. it's hard to keep believing this sometimes but i think it's the truth, right?
    Yes, and please do not Google. Google always presents with the worst and rare cases of everything. Like I googled "brown stool" which is basically the normal color and someone on google was like "my so and so had darker brown stools before being diagnosed with cancer," whereas the truth is that probably that person had hidden blood (which is naked to the eyes) and it has nothing to do with your stool being brown. The problem with cancer chats is that a lot of cancer patients relate a lot of unrelated symptoms to their cancer as well. That is why you should not read them.

    I have a lot of anxiety about everything, so I once googled "The signs that your bf is cheating on you" and trust me, a lot of articles, psychological research, reddit users wrote a lot of rubbish like "If your boyfriend doesn't reply to you within 5 hours, he is probably with some other woman." I freaked out xD But that wasn't true in my case at all, my boyfriend was just super busy with work as he is an entrepreneur. When I told him about it, he was like "You can't be serious" and laughed a lot xD

    The point of me telling this is that Google will tell you a lot of rubbish from a lot of people. It applies to every case out there.

    My mom told me something very important today morning as I was panicking. She told me that the best way to overcome your fear is to face that fear, and for that, the first thing you need to tell yourself is "Okay, look, I don't have colon cancer at all, it is rare, and it won't ever happen, but IF BY ANY CHANCE one day I do get a terrible disease, I will go through it because I am strong." That sort of made me feel better.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    49

    Re: colon cancer?

    glittery, i really needed to read that right now. i have an appointment coming up and i'm afraid of what my doctor will say.

    ever since this fear has started, i've been examining my every stool and twitch in the abdomen or whatever. i'm freaking out again. i'm not even sure what's considered a narrow stool and i have been going less than before. my stools aren't really loose but they're... soft? is that a sign of cancer? i've also been feeling more gassy than usual. no pains though. i've also been trying to figure out what blood in my stools would look like and panicking over that.

    are you sure there are no tests i should ask for? would a blood test catch it? do i need a colonoscopy? i'm so confused.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Posts
    73

    Re: colon cancer?

    I hope someone can correct me if I'm wrong, a blood test can't diagnose cancer, but it would very likely show an abnormality that requires further investigation. There's a reason blood tests are the go-to thing for health complaints. They can't tell you WHAT'S wrong, but can tell you SOMETHING is wrong.

Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-03-19, 00:52
  2. Do I have stomach cancer or colon cancer?
    By UsatoUk in forum Symptoms
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 05-06-18, 22:17
  3. Replies: 4
    Last Post: 23-04-17, 15:18
  4. Ibs, anxiety or colon cancer? Convinced I have cancer at 20
    By Lockey1995 in forum IBS, IBD, Bowel, Stomach problems
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 14-05-16, 21:03
  5. Replies: 7
    Last Post: 04-01-10, 10:25

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •