Advice please

[Adviceneeded]

Hi, would I be able to have advice please.

I'm 24 years old this month and my bowel issues started maybe two years ago. They would come and go. I went to my doctors and they gave me a flexible sigmoidoscopy last march but could only go to the distal transverse as i'm too small apparantly. Everything was normal to the point of insertion. My symptoms went so stupidly I left it at that, a few bouts of dodgy bowels in the mean time but nothing major. Fast forward to now and my bowel issues are really annoying. The other day i went 5 times, very urgently to the point where i had to rush to the toilet. Then the next day I was constipated and today still am and have had a lot of gas. Its never liquid its just very loose stool. I'm basically petrified as unfortunately i do seem to have a lot of the symptoms of bowel cancer.

My main symptoms: loose stool/alternating solid stool with yellow mucus. Constant gas all day long. Indigestion in the centre of my stomach. Occasional cramps. Blood on toilet paper twice in two years and I saw the tiniest amount mixed in my mucus the other day.

I'm under investigation with my GP, my bloods are all fine however I am severely deficient in vitamin d, it dropped from 24 in December to 17 this month. I'm just waiting on a gastro appointment which will hopefully be soon. Out of anxiety I must admit I just today paid for a private ultrasound of my upper abdomen for £100. The nurse said all appeared fine however she was looking at my liver inbetween my ribs if that makes sense but she said from her view everything looked absolutely fine. So my next hope is a colonoscopy.

I forgot to say, an examination of my back passage by a doctor found specks of blood.

What are the actual chances of a 24 year old having bowel/colon cancer. Surely so small? Or am I in denial. My doctor said it could be IBD but he would expect me to be in pain and i'm really not.

Thank you

[KimT]

We are not doctors. We are colon cancer survivors or loved ones of survivors.

Talk to your doctor about your concerns. Good luck.

[Pyro70]

Your symptoms are non-specific and could be caused by a number of conditions. I’m not sure what country you are in, but you should try to get a referral to a competent GI specialist who can properly diagnose you.

You can look up the stats yourself, but unless you have a hereditary/genetic abdomality (ie Lynch) or a long-standing history of inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer at 24 is still quite rare. Don’t worry too much about cancer, just have a GI doctor evaluate what’s going on so you can be properly treated. Your primary care doc may not take your symptoms seriously, so try to see a specialist. If there is blood in your stool and sigmoidoscopy couldn’t identify a cause, a colonoscopy is likely warranted.

[Adviceneeded]

Thank you. Hopefully the colonoscopy is soon. So anxious its bowel cancer. Also, the ultrasound i had said this in the comments: the liver is examined intercostally therefore limited exclusion value. Normal appearances of the liver, no ihdd or focal liver lesions seen. Does anybody know what limited exclusion value means?

I paid privately for the ultrasound more for reassurance that nothing was on my liver however i'm now worried something could have been missee due to this.

Thank you

[KimT]

Thank you. Hopefully the colonoscopy is soon. So anxious its bowel cancer. Also, the ultrasound i had said this in the comments: the liver is examined intercostally therefore limited exclusion value. Normal appearances of the liver, no ihdd or focal liver lesions seen. Does anybody know what limited exclusion value means?

I paid privately for the ultrasound more for reassurance that nothing was on my liver however i'm now worried something could have been missee due to this.

Thank you

Again, we are not doctors. You need to follow up with your doctor and ask what that means.

[Koreysue]

Definitely get it checked out, the colonoscopy is no big deal. It could be lots of things, not necessarily cancer, but it’s good that you are getting it checked out. Then you’ll know! Oh and also- no googling!

[DarknessEmbraced]

I'm sorry you're going through this.*hugs* I'm glad you're seeing a GI. I would ask for a colonoscopy so you can find out what's going on. Good luck!*hugs*

[boxhill]

Well, I am not a doctor, but possessing a rational mind, a modicum of knowledge on the informed layperson level, and some common sense I can tell you what I think "limited exclusion value" means in this context: it means that the ultrasound was only able to get a limited view of the liver, as stated, and thus although they didn't see anything worrisome they can't guarantee that there isn't something there that they couldn't see. In other words, they can't EXLCUDE it as a reason for your symptoms.To my knowledge, an ultrasound is not the imaging of choice for liver issues: people here generally have CT scans as the first level, sometimes PET scans, and MRIs to get a really good look at the liver.

My last CT scan, for example, reported that no evidence of cancer *could be determined at that time by CT.* Meaning that if they looked with an MRI they might find something. Which they did.

My advice is to do MORE googling and kick your intellect into gear, rather than panicking and paying for unnecessary tests. It is good to be an informed patient.