What were your symptoms like before you were diagnosed?

[LittleLady]

I'm just very curious to see what everyone delt with before being diagnosed.. Im very alone with this, and only 19.

What gave you the clues that something was a bit off?

Did any of you experience chills/feeling thirsty while having abdominal pain?


Thank you so much! ~

[Lisa90]

Wow! 19? I'm sorry you have to go through this. Have you been diagnosed with CRC?

I had bad abdominal cramps, bloating and erm... I didn't go to the bathroom a lot. And yes, fevers and chills sometimes.

I realised something was seriously wrong when for a two week period I felt like I was dying - permanently on the toilet, feverish, non-stop abdominal pain.

Mostly though, I just knew something was wrong. Maybe having had multiple cancers my gut instinct (heh) just told me :p

My doctors kept telling me nothing was wrong and even when I specifically asked about colon cancer, they said I was too young (I was 24)... Glad you seem to be being more proactive about it!

[Andrea1976]

Sorry to hear:-( in my case I had IBS since childhood. So it was kind of hard to tell. But I did notice more up and downs. And the last 2 month before my diagnoses I felt pressure on left side of my abdomen. Went to my OBGYN and checked for cysts but nothing. Than on 1/1/16 I started to bleed and went to ER. Looking back I felt pressure exactly where my large Pedunculated polyp was located.

[Chayo]

I had been having digestive issues for a couple months, with changes in bowel habits from my norm. I would feel like I needed to poop, but when I tried to I couldn't, like I was constipated. When I would eventually be able to, it was always a loose stool rather than what I'd expect with constipation. When I saw blood in my stool I knew I had to see a dr. By the time my surgery rolled around, I was in constant pain. Always at least mild discomfort, but at certain points in digestion, severe abdominal pain.

[DarknessEmbraced]

Wow 19 is so young!*hugs* My symptoms before surgery were change in bowel habits, even more constipation and would I would have bowel movements they were thin. Horrible left side cramping abdominal pain, maroon colored rectal bleeding in the toilet and mixed in with my stool. Sometimes I would just pass blood. I went to the ER when I couldn't take the pain anymore and was referred to a gastroenterologist who immediately ordered a colonoscopy. I was diagnosed with cancer at 36. I'm 38 now.

[KElizabeth]

By the time I was diagnosed a LOTof blood in my stools and terrible abdominal cramping with fevers and chills. I Had symptoms of blockage and every bowel movement was as painful as giving birth.
The first sign was blood every once in awhile. I went to doctors but since I had hemroids I was told it was just IBS and blood from the hemroids. The doctor suggested I eat better, take peppermint extract and drink more water. It took a few years to get sick enough that someone took me seriously. I was told there was almost zero chance I had cancer and that a colonoscopy was a waste of my money. I was subjected to a barium ennima which didn't detect anything one year before my diagnosis. I wish I had known how terrible and worthless that procedure is before I agreed ( i will spare you the details).
I had struggled with constipation for years so it's hard to say when I really should have known I had cancr, but for me the bleeding should have been the thing to get me into a colonoscopy.

[Andrea1976]

Hard to believe the ignorance of your doctor. My doc immediately scheduled colonoscopy in few days. When I came that I was experiencing blood in stool. It should be a norm. More and more young people are diagnosed.

[JDinNC]

I would be constipated for weeks at a time...with really bad gas cramps....my last sign was blood in my stool...butt my doctor kept telling me I had hemmoroids....it finally took getting a new doctor to find my cancer...so please be sure you get all the tests needed to verify your symptoms. Just don't take your doctors word for what may be wrong with you.

Hugs....

[kandj]

My husband had right sided abdominal pain and constipation for TWO, yes 2!, days before he was diagnosed @stage 4. So no symptoms that would have led us to see a GI doc. We ended up in the ER after passing out at the doctor's appt I made him go to for the pain. He thought he had pulled a muscle in his side. The Doc thought maybe it was his gallbladder. The ER doc thought gallbladder. The u/s showed spots on his liver, the follow up CT scan showed a mass in his colon and the mets to his liver.

[Mastan]

Instead of letting your imagination run away. Please go see a GI doctor and get some facts. This site gets bombarded with people who are worried but have not done due diligence to actually find out if they have a problem. This site is a community of welling meaning people who are not physicians. If you want a medical opinion see a physician.

[Nik Colon]

Many symptoms for many yrs sadly, all thought to be other reasons until 2014. Too many to list, but there were many reasons they thought could be the probs, never expected colon cancer.

[JudeD59]

I was more tired than usual, had pain in my tailbone area, felt like I had to have a bowel movement most of the time but only small bits came out, and bright red blood in toilet. I also had a low-grade fever. Sometimes there was mucus with my stool.

Hope you find the answers you are looking for soon.

Judy

[Jachut]

For about five years before diagnosis, very sporadically but always before my period started, I'd have severe episodes of tenesmus. It would come on like labour, I'd feel the need to push and strain and be in incredible pain, cold sweats, I even passed out once. Of course after this happened a few times I sought medical attention. GP was baffled and told me to ask my gynaecologist, which I did. He thought endometriosis because of its cyclical nature (I'd also had this suggestion from my lapband doctor who I trust way more than our local GP's). He ordered an ultrasound which I never got around to doing - I'd had my three babies and we have a very strong family history of endometriosis so I wasn't particularly worried about it. It might have revealed stage 1 rectal cancer, which would probably would have meant my plumbing stayed intact

Anyhow, years went by and I probably only had maybe ten episodes of this tenesmus, until January 2010 when we were away on holidays. We stayed in a cabin, sharing one bathroom with five of us, and I thought my constipation was due to never having enough peace to go to the toilet properly. I kept feeling I needed to go or that I hadn't finished and would push and push (without the pain and cold sweats) but never had any success. I was busy and eating pretty poorly (ie. hardly anything) and thought I had to look after myself better. Very quickly, my stool developed an odd smell (which in hindsight was so obviously blood I cant believe I didn't twig) and became liquidy but in tiny amounts. My stool was very dark but I never saw red blood, even though the tumour was only 8cm in. When I started to leak liquid stool if I coughed or sneezed, that finally sent me to the doctor who sent me onto a GI for a colonoscopy, where the rectal tumour was discovered.

I'd had some night sweats and I had lost weight - but I'd been trying to lose weight. I thought I was just doing an awesome job but it was probably helped along by cancer. However, despite the problems I was well and full of energy and in no pain.

[Carolinabluetec]

No symptoms at all. Routine screening colonoscopy.

[Pathfindergrl28]

Have you been diagnosed with colon cancer yet? I hope not, 19 is so young... I do not have colon cancer myself, but will have to be screened for it every several years for the rest of my life though. I am 35/F. I was having blood in my stool for about a year and a half on and off, plus suffering with occasional constipation that seemed to be getting worse. I thought the blood was probably from hemorrhoids from childbirth, but was concerned about it... So I made an appt. with a GI specialist to make sure. I had a colonoscopy in Dec. 2014, and the GI doctor found a 1.2 cm tubulovillous adenoma (precancerous type polyp) in me. Fortunately is was benign, and he removed it, but I will now have to be screened regularly.

Ironically, my husband's first wife was diagnosed at age 19 with stage IV colon cancer in 1995 he told me. He said her initial symptoms were vomiting, and stomach pain from severe constipation. She thought she had the flu at first. She was in college, and woke up one morning in her dorm and started vomiting. After several days of the symptoms, she went to see her family doctor where she was later diagnosed. She lived to be 24 years old I think my husband said and passed away in 1999. She had several surgeries & chemo, but did start to refuse some of the treatments he said in the later days, because she was tired... He thought she may have lived longer had she not refused treatments. That was also in '99, and I'm sure there have been many advancements in treatments since then... I was shocked when I was diagnosed with a precancerous type polyp, and my husband was going through all of the GI stuff again with me his second wife...

My advice is this is a great forum, read posts here & ask questions! I have learned a lot on here myself... Prayers & best wishes to you!