Have recently been reading this forum. Find it really helpful and resourceful. I know nobody here can give me a diagnosis, I'm just worried and don't have a lot of people to vent too. Super sorry for the long post.
My story is; On New Year's Eve my mom told me she was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. A rare and aggressive forum that sort of came out of nowhere. After weeks of tests and scans all was confirmed, stage 4 with mestasis to her liver. Literally my whole world got flipped upside down. Panic, fear, stress, couldn't eat couldn't sleep. Constant nightmare. Around this time I started getting weird pains in my stomach. I spent a lot of time on google, googling stuff about my moms cancer diagnosis and I sort of stumbled across colon cancer and its symptoms. All of a sudden I started to think back about my stomach issues and made myself even more worried.
In what I believe was January of 2014 (could've been a little before then) I noticed my left lower stomach stuck out a little more then my right side. Barely noticeable. Didn't think much of it. Around the summer of 2015 I noticed I would wake up with a flat stomach (still had the slight left lower distention) and by night fall I would be bloated. Still didn't think much of it just maybe thought I was getting older and metabolism was slowing down. Always been really thin 6'1 145. Started getting lower abdomen almost pelvic pain? Not sure how to word it. Right where your pubic hairs are (sorry) also had pain in right testicle and inner right thigh. It would come and go so I didn't think much of it just knew I should get it checked out.
Fast forward to January of this year after my moms diagnosis. I started getting pain under left rib. Started getting gassy sounds after I ate anything. Still had the bloating and the pelvic pain. Went to urgent care for pelvic pain. Had a pelvic ultrasound and testicular ultrasound. Was told it was epydimitis. Gave doxycycline for 10 days. Haven't had the testicular pain or pain in inner thigh but still get the pelvic pain maybe 3-4 days a month. Saw my primary care doctor told her I was concerned about the bloating and the lower abdomen pelvic pain. She ordered a complete blood test and a hplyori test. Blood test and hyplyori came back regular. She told me I had ibs and work on my diet and not to worry. Asked her if she could recommended me to a GI just in case so she did.
I met with the GI and we talked for maybe an hour about my symptoms and my recent life experiences. He's leaning towards ibs as well but I expressed my concerns about colon cancer and he said he won't ignore that and scheduled some tests. I had a fecal occult blood test that came back regular no signs of blood. I've never noticed any blood in stool or on toilet paper. I had a lactulose breath test for SIBO which came back positive for having bacteria in my small intestine. He put me on Flagyl and neomycin for 10 days. I just finished the antiobiotics but still have the bloating and the left lower distention.
I have a follow up appointment this Friday the 14th and I'm just wondering what tests I should push for if any? Ive always been a really anxious and stressed person and I know stress and anxiety have effects of the digestive system. I've been a single dad for the last 7 years and my mom and my daughter are super close so it's just been extremely hard. On top of that me and my girlfriend of 3 years just broke up so everything's just been super stressful and emotional. I'm wondering if it's the stress that's causing all these problems but I want to have a colonoscopy just in case. I have a good job and I'm hoping my insurance will cover it but talking to my therapist she said she doesn't know if insurance will cover it for people under 50? I'm only 27.
Sorry for the long post just kind of a wreck right now and feel bad talking to my mom about it, she has a lot on her plate.