The Colon Club

hey everyone,
first time poster. let me try and explain my situation here.. so i just recently turned 19, ever since i was little, i remember having chronic problems with constipation. throughout my teen years it began to worsen, i tried drinking coffee, tea, a high fiber diet, changing my diet, you name it, it didn't really seem to work. my stool was always very painful and often times very bloody.
over the last year and a half my constipation has changed into on and off diarrhea. it comes and goes in random bouts, sometimes its impossible to control, others not so bad, and other times its just regular 'ol constipation. again, i have tried everything including avoiding common allergy triggers and changing up my routine and such. again, nothing really seems to help. about half a year ago, my stomach pains were so severe that i spent a night in the hospital. (keep in mind, i try and avoid hospitals because of trauma, so this was a big deal for me) i was given blood tests and urine tests and according to the GP, everything was normal. he gave me a rec for stool samples and an ultrasound on my stomach. i foolishly, did none of these things as i was scared. i wish i could report that the symptoms had subsided, but no they have not. one time i took a look down there, and noticed a few strange bumps inside. i googled this and yes, they are definitely polyps. more often than not, i wipe and notice that i am bleeding and its visible in my stool. my butt also is very irritated and itchy and soar all the time.
im concerned because this just hasn't gone away and has become very painful to deal with. my cousin at the age of 23 passed away from colon cancer, because he was so young he didn't think 2 get screened and by the time they caught it, it had been too late. i just wanna know if this is a valid fear, if theres some legitimacy 2 my worries and such.
thanks

We are not doctors. You need to follow up with your doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment if necessary. Best of luck.

I am really sorry to hear about your cousin . I think your fears are legitimate.
I really hope you can get the strength to follow up with your Doctors . Did your cousin get genetic counselling?
It pays to get into the system and have good monitoring put in place .
Take one small step in the right direction . Phone your doctor .
Much kindness to you ,
Stu

One thing that will really help is to make sure you have a list of what you want to tell and ask your doctor, and have it with you when you're talking so you can double check and make sure you're not forgetting anything.

Make sure you mention your cousin to your doctor. That's really important.

The only way to find out the answers is to talk to your doctor. Make sure you mention your hospital-related trauma to your Dr. too; this is something that your care team needs to know about and should be able to work around. If it helps to have a list of things to say for that, too, then do that too. Take whatever approach you think you can be most comfortable with that will communicate the information. You might need to push a little to make sure you're understood. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Do your best to follow up on what the doctor tells you; if you have any adults in your life that you trust and who you think would be able to help you with any of this, don't be afraid to ask them for help. I have a friend who takes a friend with her whenever she needs to go to the doctor or hospital for certain things, because she needs someone she trusts to be there who will keep things on track in case she loses her cool or disassociates because of past trauma.

The hospital can work with you to provide any anti-anxiety or sedative medicine you might need for any procedures. They deal with these kinds of things frequently. If someone you talk to doesn't seem inclined to listen, say you want to talk to someone else. They should honor those sorts of requests.

Many of us put off talking to a Dr. because we were afraid or just hoped it would go away. Some of us did it for months or years. You're not alone in this.

Good luck and please let us know how it all goes!

butt.hurt wrote: . . . i wipe and notice that i am bleeding and its visible in my stool. my butt also is very irritated and itchy and soar all the time.
im concerned because this just hasn't gone away and has become very painful to deal with. my cousin at the age of 23 passed away from colon cancer, because he was so young he didn't think 2 get screened and by the time they caught it, it had been too late. i just wanna know if this is a valid fear, if theres some legitimacy 2 my worries and such.
thanks

Yes you do need to follow up with this, especially since you had a cousin die from this cancer. Make an appointment with a GI doc. I would recommend getting a colonoscopy. That will give you a true diagnoses of what is going. Anything else is just a speculation.

For what is' worth, I had no pain. My mother ended up in the ER with serious stomach pain and rectal bleeding. They did a colonoscopy, no cancer, not even one polyp, just a bad case of diverticulosis.

Itchiness is generally is associated with hemorrhoids. Your other symptoms could be caused my many things, including IBS, cancer is just one possibility. BUTT that colonoscopy will give you that true diagnoses.

good luck, but try not to worry.

Lee

Yes. Follow through with your present doctor or another one. We feel your anxiety. Please know that the worry of the unknown will not go away until you get a definitive prognosis. Once you have that, whether complicated or not, you will feel better, believe it or not. The unknown is scarier than the known. Best of luck to you, and there are knowledgeable people here who can help you.

I'm so sorry you're going through this and for your cousin!*hugs* I would make certain to follow up with your doctors and to get a colonoscopy.*hugs* Good luck!