Scared I might have advanced cancer

[ubiyca]

Hello!

I know that you guys are not doctors but as I've seen others ask questions here I thought I might do the same.
I am a 38 year old male.

I have had problems with what started as stomach problems since 2013, which started more as burpings, and stomach sounds growlings, etc. due to a change in workplace where I felt the stress was to big for me, and This was 2013. Over the coming years I started to get more bowel problems, which was on the more constipated side, it stained and hurt sometimes when the first "turd" was to come out and also the paper had red streaks. This was going on from about 2014-2017. My first doctors visit was 2014 and they took weight, my hemoglobin (150) and also FIT-stool test x3, calprotectin and also liver tests and stool tests to check for celiac disease and giardia, h-pylori. Everything came back normal.

Then in 2017 the "harder stool", which then was bristol type 4 went to looser stool, that is after almost 4 years since the symptoms started. Since the stool got looser, more like bristol type 5 and 6 (rarely watery/like "sauce") the bleeding when i wiped stopped I guess because it didn't burst open my irritation around my red anal opening area.
I have now been symtomatic for 6-7 years, and last 2 years the stool has been loose in the sense that it's semi-formed, leave skid marks in the bowl 1-4 times every morning first 1-2 hours before breakfast. It takes time to wipe because you can see on the paper that has more water content.
I NEVER have to go during the day, after meals, or at night. Althought I might wake up 1-2 hours before alarm-clock rings because the bowels are "moving" and like a dry tumbler in there.

The stool is rarely anymore a "turd" you know sausage which I had before all this started many years ago, only time I see this is if i take bulk-supplements. I also lack the width of stool, sometimes it's like thin dreadlocks down there in the toilet bown, so called pencil thin stools, and if you google which is unwise almost everything says it can be due to blockage and cancer! However, I've also read that it's a medical myth and often is more a result of the consistency/soft stools. It's like the poop comes out in multiple small pieces and doesn't have had time to gather and form. In my paranoia Im thinking it's because something is blocking the passage in the colon or something. I recently started to get liquid bowel and stomach sounds whenever I swallow water for example, once it goes down there is a bubble sounding response in the lower left side.

I always have gas, and always a "bubble" on my right side where the passage from small intenstine and cecum meet, this is gas because sometimes if flattens out and gas moves to another place. I'm also often bloated in my lower abdominal, below belly button, i also feel pressure here when i bend forward to e.g. drink water from the stream.
During these years I've had stool FIT-test x3 first 2014, then another september 2017 and last time was this year 2019 in january. Never found any blood here. My hemoglobin january (after 6 years of more or less daily symptoms) was 150, also weight about the same. They also checked liver ALAT, ALP, and pancreatic-amylas, creatinine, and SR/CRP. Everything within normal range. I did a rectoscopy and proctoscopy in the late 2017 which came back normal without fissures or haemoroids.


MY QUESTION to you kind people is, what are the chances of having cancer? When you read the internet it says that most don't have symptoms in early stage, and once they get them it might be advanced stage or stage 3 atleast. I've had my problems with daily symptoms 6-7 years now, STILL with normal labs. I never seen blood in my stool either, or on the stool.
Wouldn't I be dead now? I'm a hypochondriac no doubt about it.

Thanks so much for your time and I really appreciate some input. Sorry for the long info!
/dan

[CF_69]

Did you have a colonoscopy? If not, get one.

[ubiyca]

No, thats about the only test they haven't done yet.

I'm afraid of having one fearing the results!

Does what I have described sound like cancer or alarming?

Did you have a colonoscopy? If not, get one.

[KimT]

We are not doctors and it would be irresponsible for us to speculate on what is going on with you.

Take all this information you have gathered about your symptoms and request a colonoscopy. Could be something, could be nothing. But we are not qualified to guess on your situation. We are just cancer survivors or loved ones of survivors.

Good luck.

[ubiyca]

I know and I realize this. It was just to reach out and see if someone thought the symptoms was similar to what he/she has went through, etc.
Best wishes

We are not doctors and it would be irresponsible for us to speculate on what is going on with you.

Take all this information you have gathered about your symptoms and request a colonoscopy. Could be something, could be nothing. But we are not qualified to guess on your situation. We are just cancer survivors or loved ones of survivors.

Good luck.

[KimT]

No, thats about the only test they haven't done yet.

I'm afraid of having one fearing the results!

Does what I have described sound like cancer or alarming?

Did you have a colonoscopy? If not, get one.

A colonoscopy is the only thing that will definitely diagnose whether or not you have cancer or another lower gi problem. You need to get one if you are that concerned. Asking cancer patients about their experience isn’t going to help you. We cannot diagnose you or help you. Follow up with your doctor and present all the symptoms you have been having over the past couple of years.

[Lee]

A colonoscopy is the only thing that will definitely diagnose whether or not you have cancer or another lower gi problem. You need to get one if you are that concerned. Asking cancer patients about their experience isn’t going to help you. We cannot diagnose you or help you. Follow up with your doctor and present all the symptoms you have been having over the past couple of years.

Kim is correct. A colonoscopy will give you a "true diagnoses" if anything is going on. Anything else is just a "speculation". Your life should be worth more than a speculation.

For what it is worth, many years ago, my mother ended up in the ER with rectal bleeding and serious stomach pain. She described the pain as someone holding a lite match to her stomach. A colonoscopy was done, no cancer not even one polyp, just a bad case of diverticulitis. A change in her diet, it never came back. Me I had no pain, just bleeding hemorrhoids. My PCP decided those hemorrhoids were going to be my excuse for getting my baseline early in life. That referral probably saved my life. I was advanced stage III, that was 15 yrs ago, I'm very much alive and kicking today.

Truth be know, your issues could be caused my many things, cancer is just one possibility, and the one that most people assume. Does colon cancer run in your family? How old are you?

Get scoped, take it from there. "IF" it is indeed cancer, you will find a wealth of information and support here. Know that many people on this board are beating it today.

Good luck,

Lee

[Maggie Nell]

Hello!

I know that you guys are not doctors but as I've seen others ask questions here I thought I might do the same.
I am a 38 year old male.

I have had problems with what started as stomach problems since 2013, which started more as burpings, and stomach sounds growlings, etc. due to a change in workplace where I felt the stress was to big for me, and This was 2013. [...] This was going on from about 2014-2017. My first doctors visit was 2014 and they took weight, my hemoglobin (150) and also FIT-stool test x3, calprotectin and also liver tests and stool tests to check for celiac disease and giardia, h-pylori. Everything came back normal.

Then in 2017 the "harder stool", which then was bristol type 4 went to looser stool, that is after almost 4 years since the symptoms started. Since the stool got looser, more like bristol type 5 and 6 (rarely watery/like "sauce") the bleeding when i wiped stopped I guess because it didn't burst open my irritation around my red anal opening area.

I have now been symtomatic for 6-7 years, and last 2 years the stool has been loose in the sense that it's semi-formed, leave skid marks in the bowl 1-4 times every morning first 1-2 hours before breakfast.

During these years I've had stool FIT-test x3 first 2014, then another september 2017 and last time was this year 2019 in january. Never found any blood here. My hemoglobin january (after 6 years of more or less daily symptoms) was 150, also weight about the same. They also checked liver ALAT, ALP, and pancreatic-amylas, creatinine, and SR/CRP. Everything within normal range. I did a rectoscopy and proctoscopy in the late 2017 which came back normal without fissures or haemoroids.

MY QUESTION to you kind people is, what are the chances of having cancer? When you read the internet it says that most don't have symptoms in early stage, and once they get them it might be advanced stage or stage 3 atleast. I've had my problems with daily symptoms 6-7 years now, STILL with normal labs. I never seen blood in my stool either, or on the stool. Wouldn't I be dead now? I'm a hypochondriac no doubt about it.

/dan

Hello Dan,

You certainly have developed an acute and intimate relationship with your colon, the sounds it makes and the regularity of your mass movements. From what
you say, you have also maintained an ongoing connection with your primary physician to whom you have described your whole-of-life circumstances? For example
how you felt back in 2013 that workplace stress was too big for you.....

You might be a person who has a constitution where any stress whacks you in the gut. You have presenting to a primary physician for almost six years now and
the same raft of tests are being performed, nothing is waving a 'red flag' in the mind of your primary physician. It seems that you have not been referred for a
colonoscopy as after 4-6 years, how your bowels are working is seen to be your New Normal.

Perhaps when you crap the bed in the early a.m. because you can't 'hold' until you get to the toilet, THAT will be regarded as a 'change in bowel habits'.

Assuming that you have been consulting with the same primary physician all these years, or at the same clinic, if you think you're a hypochondriac,
there is a strong likelihood that the doctor shares your perspective. That only becomes a problem when symptoms that are causing you discomfort
have not abated and the doctor isn't trying anything new.

Knowing yourself as well as you do, do you think that if you underwent a colonoscopy and the results came back with 'no evidence of malignancy', would
that make a substantial difference to your peace of mind? Can you even remember what it was like, what you were like, before you could describe your
bowel movements in Bristol fashion?


You wrote this :

I never seen blood in my stool either, or on the stool

after you had written this :

Over the coming years I started to get more bowel problems, which was on the more constipated side, it stained and hurt sometimes
when the first "turd" was to come out and also the paper had red streaks. This was going on from about 2014-2017.

Trust that the feedback you have been offered in this thread, empowers you to move forward in consultation with your primary physician and/or
specialist as to the most appropriate course of action. Until you have undergone a colonoscopy, you are tormenting yourself with hypotheticals.

[CF_69]

The way I got through the staging process mentally was to think what is there is already there. They need to find it to get rid of it.

I know all about the anxiety. I’m sure everyone here does. You need to find out what’s wrong in order to fix it.

Maybe you’ll get good news and some peace of mind.

Good luck.

[ubiyca]

Thank you! I am 38 years old and have no family history, the only cancer in my entire family tree is breast cancer which my grandma survived.

[quote="KimT"


Truth be know, your issues could be caused my many things, cancer is just one possibility, and the one that most people assume. Does colon cancer run in your family? How old are you?

Get scoped, take it from there. "IF" it is indeed cancer, you will find a wealth of information and support here. Know that many people on this board are beating it today.

Good luck,

Lee

[ubiyca]

Hello!


Perhaps when you crap the bed in the early a.m. because you can't 'hold' until you get to the toilet, THAT will be regarded as a 'change in bowel habits'.

I thought "a change in bowel habit" could be something as simple as a change in stool size or consistency for example??

I never wake up because I have to rush to the toilet, I sometimes wake up because there is a bit of pressure in my flanks when the morning "bowel" is starting to wake up and I guess doing it's work before it's time for BM. I always go in about 30 min to 1 hour after waking up, sometimes after a couple of minutes.

It's funny, because I have gasses all day long, it seems they are trapped but once this morning thing starts often I get like a farting festival, I can fart 4-5 times before it's time for "number 2". I guess it's a good thing but it's also a new thing. Very strange.


And I'm sorry for my perhaps lack of english skills but I'm in fact Swedish!
And I must say I have a lot of respect for all of the people here, who seem to be a lot stronger than I could ever be.

[DarknessEmbraced]

I'm sorry you're going through this.*hugs* I would ask for a colonoscopy to put your mind at ease. Good luck!*hugs*

[Maggie Nell]

It's funny, because I have gasses all day long, it seems they are trapped but once this morning thing starts often I get like a farting
festival, I can fart 4-5 times before it's time for "number 2". I guess it's a good thing but it's also a new thing. Very strange.

Can you hear the drums Fernando....

[Lee]

It's funny, because I have gasses all day long, it seems they are trapped but once this morning thing starts often I get like a farting
festival, I can fart 4-5 times before it's time for "number 2". I guess it's a good thing but it's also a new thing. Very strange.

Can you hear the drums Fernando....

HaHa. Me too! But I fart into a bag, butt yes, when I'm passing gas, I know the BM will be shortly. Other things that can cause passing gas, taking in too much air, drinking soda through a straw, etc.

Please do not take what I'm about to say wrong. At 38, your not 18 or 28, your body will start to show signs of aging. Maybe a new normal for you. Don't get me wrong, you still young, but when I was growing up, anything after 35 was considered OLD!!!

Just something to consider . . .

And the comment from Maggie is from a song, a long time ago.

Lee

[Maggie Nell]

And the comment from Maggie is from a song, a long time ago.

Lee

......in a galaxy far far away.....