Is bowel cancer rare for a 23 year old..
Posted , 5 users are following.
so it started about 6 months ago I went to the toilet noticed loose stools with bits of red streaky bits so I went to doctors right away as I suffer from severe health anxiety then done a test for bowel disease and ulcerative clossis waited 3 weeks for then it came back normal,no problems ever since so I put it down to ibs but then yesterday went to the toilet there's was a streak of red out side In the stool and today I went to the toilet it was very loose but no red steaks ,so went docs today so he done a examination said come back if it's still like that in a few weeks as I suffer from severe health anxiety I'm thinking of got some sort of terminal condition constantly stressed and depressed.is bowel cancer rare in a 23 year old ??thank you
0 likes, 5 replies
charliee94 Crasher123
Posted
hi
i had the same problem last year at your age im 24 now i drove my self insane,convinced myself that i had bowel cancer constantly went to a and e and to the gp in the end i begged for a colonoscopy and i got one, came back all fine and clear of everything,i now how your feeling and health anexity is awful stress and cause loose stool ls and for you to lose weight,and bowel cancer is extremely rare at our age even tho i didnt believe that at the time hope you get better and to be honest speak to people around you and explain how your feeljng and maybe see someone about your anexity it work for me i still have my bad days but treat the anexity thats your Maine symptom
TheToad Crasher123
Posted
Yes, bowel cancer is rare for a 23 year old! There is a blood test called a CEA test which might help your anxiety, but if you are still anxious your Dr. might ask for a colonoscopy which would be more reliable. I'm not a Dr but have had bowel cancer and colonoscopies. I'm clear of the bc now and if you have a colonoscopy it may not be as bad as most people think. Mine were no problem anyway. Oh, try not to use Dr. Google. It made my anxiety worse! All the best.
delio TheToad
Posted
CEA tests are only useful for surveillance. Due to their high false positive rate, they are not used as a screening tool.
delio Crasher123
Posted
Yes, bowel cancer is very rare for a 23 year old, especially one with no significant risk factors (like a close relative who had bowel cancer at a young age). It is usually seen in older people, with the 85-89 age group having the highest incidence. For example, these are the statistics in the UK:
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/bowel-cancer/incidence#heading-One
You can see that the 20-24 age group has hardly any cases, with an incidence rate of just 2 per 100,000 people (i.e. a 0.002% probability).
Having said that, it does happen (I was diagnosed at 33 after being dismissed by two doctors due to my age), so it is a good thing that you are getting it checked out. There is a stool test that you can do to detect trace amounts of blood. If you are concerned, you may want to ask your doctor about doing this test. It's very quick and easy.
delio Crasher123
Posted
Yes, bowel cancer is very rare for a 23 year old, especially one with no significant risk factors (like a close relative who had bowel cancer at a young age). It is usually seen in older people, with the 85-89 age group having the highest incidence. For example, these are the statistics in the UK:
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/bowel-cancer/incidence#heading-One
You can see that the 20-24 age group has hardly any cases, with an incidence rate of just 2 per 100,000 people (i.e. a 0.002% probability).
Having said that, it does happen (I was diagnosed at 33 after being dismissed by two doctors due to my age), so it is a good thing that you are getting it checked out. There is a stool test that you can do to detect trace amounts of blood. If you are concerned, you may want to ask your doctor about doing this test. It's very quick and easy.