symptoms of colon cancer

[walkingdread]

I cant afford to go to a doctor and I don't have medicare .

I'm a 30 year old male been having symptoms of narrow stools lately, lower abdominal discomfort' like my colon is put threw a vice grip' and loss of appetite at time. No bloody poop though...

I very concerned and worried that I may have colon cancer as my father died of colon cancer 6 years ago. Is cologuard effective as they say to rule out cancer

Thank you

[KimT]

We are not doctors. Any concern about your health needs to be addressed with a doctor. We cannot help you. It would be irresponsible of us to give out medical advice as we are not qualified to do so.

[Lee]

So sorry you are going through this.

A colonoscopy will give you a true diagnoses, anything else is just a speculation. I'm not sure how good the cologuard is. I do hear the words "for those with average risk" on the TV commercials, since your dad passed away from colon cancer, that might not apply to you.

Find a GI doc, explain your situation. Many times for those with out insurance, they cut you a discount. I'm sure there are some GI doc out there who will set up a payment plan.

Really a colonoscopy is the best way to go.

Good luck,

Lee

[del]

Welcome to the forum and sorry for the reason that you're here. Unfortunately, colon cancer symptoms are very non-specific. The symptoms you describe are possible symptoms of colon cancer, but they are also symptoms of many other diseases. The only way to accurately diagnose colon cancer is with a colonoscopy.

[Jannine]

If there are polyps involved you would need to have them removed during a colonoscopy regardless, so I would be hesitant to add another test like cologuard that can't actually address any problems (e.g.removing polyps or taking a biopsy).

Consult with your doctor or the GI doctor about cost for a colonoscopy without insurance; hospitals can arrange to give you a break on the price. The cost of going to the ER if it is something serious that you don't get addressed would be far, far more than the colonoscopy.