The Colon Club

Hi all,

I'm 22m. Recently I've been paying more attention to my bowel movements and a couple of my symptoms point to cancer (though I guess all symptoms kind of point to cancer on the internet).

-My stool has always been of variable size but last week it looked like it was just plain thin and needed considerable strain to pass.

Pictures of a couple of them: Poop https://imgur.com/a/Tjp0u.

Additionally, there was an excess of mucus, generally I'd wipe once after finishing and there would be some yellowish brown mucus. Last Thursday, the night after a pretty strained poop earlier that morning, I pooped out a few drops of mucus and blood. Yuck https://imgur.com/a/mx16k.

I promptly went to the doctor the next day, where he did a rectal exam and a test that tests for blood in the upper areas? He found mucus but no blood, and no blood on that other test either. He didn't feel any hemmeroids or fissures and thinks I strained too hard and probably just caused a small cut that healed up before I went to the doctor. He thinks I should just eat healthier and get more exercise (office job).

He almost seemed like he wanted to say it's a waste of time to see a specialist but said, "if you feel the need to see one, I'll set you up an appointment, but I really think you're just constipated from your lifestyle and strained too hard."

Should I trust my doctor and forgo the specialist and just see if it returns to normal after eating healthier? Am I just being a hypochondriac? Or should I insist on seeing a specialist? Thanks and sorry for the essay.

I’m also quite young, and i would say blood = colonoscopy always. Unless you have a really large stool you can feel cut up your anus and there is a little drop while whipping. The stools in the picture don’t seem constipated to me. And it’s true if you have constipation there can be extra mucus to help it along.

Even though your doc may have seemed annoyed he/she did say it was not a problem setting you up with a special doctor.

Thia can be caused by a 100 different things, but even something not cancerous can be important to treat

Pemba wrote:I’m also quite young, and i would say blood = colonoscopy always. Unless you have a really large stool you can feel cut up your anus and there is a little drop while whipping. The stools in the picture don’t seem constipated to me. And it’s true if you have constipation there can be extra mucus to help it along.

Even though your doc may have seemed annoyed he/she did say it was not a problem setting you up with a special doctor.

Thia can be caused by a 100 different things, but even something not cancerous can be important to treat

Thanks for your reply. Yeah I guess I'm associating the pictures with constipation because its taking more effort than it did a month ago, I had to strain really hard Thursday to the point that it hurt. Later that night was when I found the blood in the pictures. No blood since then. I'm still pooping daily, though I had to take miralax following the prostate exam I had done on Friday, after not pooping for the rest of Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.

And yeah in all seriousness it probably is diverticulous (butchered spelling?) Or Ibs as they both run in the females of my family (even though I'm a guy). Or it could just be my diet and lack of exercise. I'm probably being a hypochondriac but I have a questionable family history (all blood related males in my family died before prime colon, rectal, prostate cancer age) and would rather be safe than sorry given the change in stool size and the instance of blood.

Due to your family history it wouldn't hurt to have a colonoscopy. I would ask to see the specialist to set one up.*hugs* I hope you get answers soon!*hugs*