I just had a physical with a CBC and my doctor said I am mildly anemic. As a 33-year-old woman this could normally be written off to blood loss from menstruation BUT for the past 8 months I've been on a type of birth control pills where I don't get periods. I told my doctor this and she said she wasn't that concerned but would recheck the CBC in 6 months. Meanwhile, I'm convinced that I have colon cancer and am bleeding internally from some type of horrible tumor! I'm terrified that in the 6 months I wait for a new blood test, whatever is wrong with me will get worse and progress to something incurable.
I know that this type of cancer is relatively rare for my age/gender but of course you read tons of stories online about how colon cancer is on the rise among young adults, and there are so many stories of people not getting diagnosed until their disease is too far gone because doctors brushed off their concerns (which is what I'm scared is happening to me!).
On the plus side, I don't really have any colon/bowel symptoms besides the anemia; I had an abdominal MRI in July for an unrelated issue that didn't show any cancer (but I understand that wouldn't specifically show colon cancer like a colonoscopy would); and my RBC was also this low in 2019 when I was getting periods (it's 3.47) although it had gone up since then but now back down.
[If anyone knows how to interpret CBC results here are my results that were abnormal: RBC: 3.47 (normal is 3.93-5.22); Hematocrit: 33.5% (normal is 34.1-44.9%); Mean Cell Hemoglobin: 35.7 (normal is 25.6-32.2); and Mean Cell Hemoglobin Concentration 37 (normal is 32.2-36.5).
Any thoughts/reassurances? Should I wait 6 months for the re-check or push my doctor for more testing now?
Reply With Quote