The Colon Club

Hi i am a 22 year old male and have booked an appointment with my doctor

about 8 months ago i had a colonoscopy because my doctor recommend one for a different health reason. that colonoscopy came back fine and they took a biopsy which came back fine.

fastforward to now and about 5-6 months ago i noticed small drops of blood in my toilet paper after wiping but i didn't know it was blood because it was such a small amount, 3 months ago i notied blood in my stool, it is on the surface of the stool and on 1 side like a streak of red blood on 1 side, and also when i wipe. i did stop bleeding for a month but during this time i had pain when passing a stool, then recently the bleeding came back, streak of blood on 1 side, fresh blood by the look of it.

my biggest concern is whether or not my colonoscopy from 8 months ago missed something even though i had no bowel issues at the time. does a colonoscopy also look at your rectum and anal area? because it seems like that is where the blood is coming from. what are the chances this is cancer?

earthguy wrote:Hi i am a 22 year old male and have booked an appointment with my doctor

about 8 months ago i had a colonoscopy because my doctor recommend one for a different health reason. that colonoscopy came back fine and they took a biopsy which came back fine.

fastforward to now and about 5-6 months ago i noticed small drops of blood in my toilet paper after wiping but i didn't know it was blood because it was such a small amount, 3 months ago i notied blood in my stool, it is on the surface of the stool and on 1 side like a streak of red blood on 1 side, and also when i wipe. i did stop bleeding for a month but during this time i had pain when passing a stool, then recently the bleeding came back, streak of blood on 1 side, fresh blood by the look of it.

my biggest concern is whether or not my colonoscopy from 8 months ago missed something even though i had no bowel issues at the time. does a colonoscopy also look at your rectum and anal area? because it seems like that is where the blood is coming from. what are the chances this is cancer?

Yes, they do look at your rectum and anal area. That's the first and the last look.

It sounds more like you have hemorrhoids. They come and go. Two of my colonoscopies didn't show any hemorrhoids but this last one did. Colon cancer is typically slow growing. You wouldn't present any symptoms in just a few months.

If you have any doubts, talk to your doctor.

earthguy wrote:...My biggest concern is whether or not my colonoscopy from 8 months ago missed something even though i had no bowel issues at the time.

Your colonoscopy from 8 months ago might have missed something if you did not have an adequate bowel preparation prior to the procedure:

... If you really want to know what’s going on inside your colon, don’t show-up for a colonoscopy without a clean colon.
That’s because a clean colon happens to be the most important part of a successful exam.

“If the prep isn’t done right, and your colon isn’t completely clean, the danger is that we won’t see important, potentially cancer-causing, polyps,” says Robert Bresalier, M.D., professor in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at MD Anderson".

Ref: Ensure Success with Colonoscopy Prep
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/march-2014/colonoscopy-preparation.html

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O Stoma Mia wrote:

earthguy wrote:...My biggest concern is whether or not my colonoscopy from 8 months ago missed something even though i had no bowel issues at the time.

Your colonoscopy from 8 months ago might have missed something if you did not have an adequate bowel preparation prior to the procedure:

... If you really want to know what’s going on inside your colon, don’t show-up for a colonoscopy without a clean colon.
That’s because a clean colon happens to be the most important part of a successful exam.

“If the prep isn’t done right, and your colon isn’t completely clean, the danger is that we won’t see important, potentially cancer-causing, polyps,” says Robert Bresalier, M.D., professor in the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at MD Anderson".

Ref: Ensure Success with Colonoscopy Prep
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/march-2014/colonoscopy-preparation.html

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In that case, the doctor will most likely tell you!