IBS, Colitis, Crohn's, Cancer?
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I'm 24 and I've been dealing with serious bowel issues for the past year, and minor bowel issues for ~8 years.
It started with pain when I was ~16, I'd get sharp stabbing pains in my gut/intestines, and occasionally further down in the rectum. This went on pretty steadily for ~6-7 years with no further issues. More recently over the past 1-2 years I've noticed further changes in bowel habits, changes in size, severe constipation/feeling blocked, color, texture. More recently I've noticed the sharp acute pain becoming more localized to the rectum rather than intestines. It's just getting worse and worse, bowel movements are mostly diarrhea or small and floaty and sometimes multiple different colors/shades in one turd. One day I was so backed up I had severe localized pain in the colon area. I'm going to the washroom multiple times per day and passing gas constantly. I seem to also have difficulty/frequency urinating as well, but maybe that's my caffeine habits.
I've yet to actually see definitive signs of bleeding, and certainly nothing regularly, but I'm wondering if I'm just looking for the wrong thing and my doctor is relying to much on my ability to know what to look for. I've mentioned the occasional variance in shades/colors but haven't actually had any tests done so far other than a blood test and urine test for the urinary issues. I don't have any unexplained weight loss yet but I also have a binge eating disorder so... My doc is ~65 years old and seems to be of the opinion that bowel cancer just doesn't happen to young guys, after some research I'm beginning to realize that is nonsense. I meet most of the risk factors, overweight, lack of exercise, typical fast food western diet loaded with sugar, recovering from a couple years of alcoholism, I don't smoke but that's more related to lung cancer anyways.
I'm not sure what I can do here to convince my doc that bowel cancer is a very real possibility. I seem to have a few too many symptoms for typical ibs, and neither Crohn's nor Colitis seem to match up all that well? I'd really appreciate some info on whether any of this is common with ibs, I know I won't have anything more definitive until I can at least convince my doc to do a sh!t test to check for blood and other cancer related markers. It took me many months to work up to courage to even go over this stuff with my doc/get over the embarrassment, and now that I'm over it I've spent another 6 months or more just waiting on things to get worse to the point where I'm either bleeding, can no longer crap, or I lose significant amounts of weight... That seems to be the only thing the doc is interested in pursuing any further.
0 likes, 3 replies
chris69676 mk1
Posted
Ibs can be completely random for everyone I highly doubt you have cancer because I'm pretty sure you'd be dead by now from when the issues started. I would consider taking some activated charcoal tablets if you have issues with gas, eliminate gassy drink and try taking some buscopans which will take some of the paint away by slowing your bowel spasms down and should also stop you from getting the runs.
pippa58442 chris69676
Posted
pippa58442 mk1
Posted
Cut out processed foods and cook from fresh. Eat more fibre and try a stool softener. Try a food diary to see if you have any food intolerances. Take more exercise and and lose weight. Stop worrying because this will make your symptoms worse. Try distractuon techniques like taking up a hobby to take your mind off your stomach. Unintended rapid weight loss and bleeding are red flag symptoms for bowel cancer, however, you don't have these symptoms. This is good news for you Bowel cancer is very rare for someone of your age. Your doctor would only be concerned if you had these red flags. He/she is not pursuing these avenues because you do not have these problems. Trust your doctor's judgment and not Dr Google which will give you rampant health anxiety.
Your symptoms sound more like IBS. I have IBS and get stabbing dull, deep grinding and sore to touch stomach pain which is generalised and moves about. It started as constant and now is come and go pain. I have change of bowel habit from constipation to loose, urgent stools or diarrhoea. My pain improves temporarily after a bowel movement. My stools have changed in size, shape colour and consistency. Stress triggers it.
I had a urine test, stool tests for h pylori and fecal calprotectin, an ultrasound and a celiac test which were all negative. This is how I got my IBS diagnosed. Ask for these tests. If they come back negative, IBS can be identified.
With IBD, symptoms would include weight loss, bleeding and diarrhoea. A fecal calprotectin test looks for high inflamnation which would indicate the presence of IBD. A colonoscopy would confirm it and would also ease your worries about bowel cancer.