Recent changes in poop habits, cause for concern?

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Arcade42
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:05 am

Recent changes in poop habits, cause for concern?

Postby Arcade42 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:41 am

Hi all,

I'm 22m. Recently I've been paying more attention to my bowel movements and a couple of my symptoms point to cancer (though I guess all symptoms kind of point to cancer on the internet).

-My stool has always been of variable size but last week it looked like it was just plain thin and needed considerable strain to pass.

Pictures of a couple of them: Poop https://imgur.com/a/Tjp0u.

Additionally, there was an excess of mucus, generally I'd wipe once after finishing and there would be some yellowish brown mucus. Last Thursday, the night after a pretty strained poop earlier that morning, I pooped out a few drops of mucus and blood. Yuck https://imgur.com/a/mx16k.

I promptly went to the doctor the next day, where he did a rectal exam and a test that tests for blood in the upper areas? He found mucus but no blood, and no blood on that other test either. He didn't feel any hemmeroids or fissures and thinks I strained too hard and probably just caused a small cut that healed up before I went to the doctor. He thinks I should just eat healthier and get more exercise (office job).

He almost seemed like he wanted to say it's a waste of time to see a specialist but said, "if you feel the need to see one, I'll set you up an appointment, but I really think you're just constipated from your lifestyle and strained too hard."

Should I trust my doctor and forgo the specialist and just see if it returns to normal after eating healthier? Am I just being a hypochondriac? Or should I insist on seeing a specialist? Thanks and sorry for the essay.

Pemba
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 7:52 am

Re: Recent changes in poop habits, cause for concern?

Postby Pemba » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:25 pm

I’m also quite young, and i would say blood = colonoscopy always. Unless you have a really large stool you can feel cut up your anus and there is a little drop while whipping. The stools in the picture don’t seem constipated to me. And it’s true if you have constipation there can be extra mucus to help it along.

Even though your doc may have seemed annoyed he/she did say it was not a problem setting you up with a special doctor.

Thia can be caused by a 100 different things, but even something not cancerous can be important to treat
Age: 26
2017: 15mm Tubulovillous adenoma- Low grade dysplasi.
Next scopy: original 2020 probably 2018-19

Arcade42
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:05 am

Re: Recent changes in poop habits, cause for concern?

Postby Arcade42 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:36 pm

Pemba wrote:I’m also quite young, and i would say blood = colonoscopy always. Unless you have a really large stool you can feel cut up your anus and there is a little drop while whipping. The stools in the picture don’t seem constipated to me. And it’s true if you have constipation there can be extra mucus to help it along.

Even though your doc may have seemed annoyed he/she did say it was not a problem setting you up with a special doctor.

Thia can be caused by a 100 different things, but even something not cancerous can be important to treat


Thanks for your reply. Yeah I guess I'm associating the pictures with constipation because its taking more effort than it did a month ago, I had to strain really hard Thursday to the point that it hurt. Later that night was when I found the blood in the pictures. No blood since then. I'm still pooping daily, though I had to take miralax following the prostate exam I had done on Friday, after not pooping for the rest of Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.

And yeah in all seriousness it probably is diverticulous (butchered spelling?) Or Ibs as they both run in the females of my family (even though I'm a guy). Or it could just be my diet and lack of exercise. I'm probably being a hypochondriac but I have a questionable family history (all blood related males in my family died before prime colon, rectal, prostate cancer age) and would rather be safe than sorry given the change in stool size and the instance of blood.

DarknessEmbraced
Posts: 3816
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:54 pm
Facebook Username: Riann Fletcher
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: Recent changes in poop habits, cause for concern?

Postby DarknessEmbraced » Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:30 am

Due to your family history it wouldn't hurt to have a colonoscopy. I would ask to see the specialist to set one up.*hugs* I hope you get answers soon!*hugs*
Diagnosed 10/28/14, age 36
Colon Resection 11/20/14, LAR (no illeo)
Stage 2a colon cancer, T3NOMO
Lymph-vascular invasion undetermined
0/22 lymph nodes
No chemo, no radiation
Clear Colonoscopy 04/29/15
NED 10/20/15
Ischemic Colitis 01/21/16
NED 11/10/16
CT Scan moved up due to high CEA 08/21/17
NED 09/25/17
NED 12/21/18
Clear colonoscopy 09/23/19
Clear 5 year scans 11/21/19- Considered cured! :)


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