I (42 F) am wondering who else has experienced issues like this and what the diagnosis ended up being. In May I told my PCP about a change in my bowel habits...about 6 months of absurdly long stools (I'm talking around 12 inches). It always felt normal passing it until I looked in the toilet. They also weren't "narrow" but were a bit smaller in diameter than my usual. She referred me to a GI. It took 2 more months to even get a call back from that GI letting me know they got the referral and I'd be hearing from them, and then another 3 weeks of silence before I called them and was told they had no availability. I messaged my PCP but never heard back, so I called around and finally have an appointment elsewhere the first week of October. Now over the last couple of months since I initially talked to my primary, I've been experiencing on and off constipation (something that is not normal for me), sometimes feeling like I need to go again shortly after going (but I don't actually have to), my stools are typically well formed for the first half but turn mushier in the second half, and even when I get excited thinking FINALLY a "normal for me" stool, it tends to be very tapered at the end. I also have lots of stomach rumbling throughout the day after eating. I'm freaking about CRC and still have 6 weeks to go before I can even consult a GI, so not only am I panicking about CRC in general, but also that if it is CRC that it's going to be advancing during this waiting time. I'm hoping all of this sounds like something that is likely to have causes other than CRC, and that this 5 month wait for a GI consult isn't actually THAT bad even if it is the C word.
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