1st appointment for bowels

No, they will not do this. You have to go through a bowel prep first. They will give you a lot of laxative to clean you out the day before the test. It is probably a consultation for the test. It is a good idea to have the test as it could be cancer, but not always the case. A benign growth can cause the same symptoms and they are more common than cancer. So don't worry about it. You will be ok. I used to have these done every 18 months with wide spread biopsy dur to having Crohn's disease.

Don't panic :-) clinicians take your constellation of symptoms seriously because with a change of bowel habit plus fatigue the differential diagnosis includes colorectal cancer. That does not mean you have CA. It means that a physician who sees you has to rule out CA as part of the testing plan. You do not mention your age...if 50+ you should have a colonoscopy already. I would test for occult blood in the stool. If that is positive then I would have you abstain from red meat long enough to clear your gut (5 days or so) then repeat the stool test. If the repeat is positive then I would scope you. If you are 45 or older without a recent colonoscopy I would scope you. Much depends on your blood work, too. These cancers, if you have one, are very treatable. Good luck and chin up!

Hi Sue. to help speedy diagnosis & pre-empt what they may probably want to test, i would go into your gp surgery & ask for a stool sample container, & take a fresh as possible (ie on the day if you can) with you to appointment in the clinic. they can test for inflammation, infection & blood by testing the stool. they will probably ask you to do this at your appointment, so by taking one with you it will just avoid another week or two delay for you! btw, i have colitis, ibs-d, bile acid malabsorption & fructose malabsorption & have been under gastroenterologist for about 4yrs, so know the ropes of what they'll probably test you for. xx