Hi I am a 33 y/o mother of 2 small children. For the most part I am healthy. I did have an episode of Tachycardia back in November that landed me in the hospital for 3 days and they found nothing wrong with me. For over almost 2 months now I have been unable to go on my own. First I went over a week and tried to go but I couldn't. I was told to apply pressure to the inside of my vaginal walls to help bring the stool out. This worked a bit but I never felt like I went all the way. Another week or more went by still and no stools at all again. I used a laxative it didnt produce a stool the first day so the second day I took 2 and finally 12 hours later I went. This continued for a month. I never went on my own. I used laxatives 2x and suppositories 2x in a little over a month. After going I always felt like there was more. When I pushed it even felt as though something was coming out but there was nothing there. Although when feeling the inside of the vaginal walls I often felt something up higher than where I felt something while pushing ( hope that made sense). Once in a while I have narrow stools ( before this bout of constipation) but not often at all maybe a couple times a year or a bit more. I do however suffer from lower back pain and abdominal discomfort ( lower and upper) Last night I felt sharp stabbing pains for a couple hours. I have not noticed blood except one time when I wiped it was bright red not a whole lot but that could have been because I strained a long time trying to go. In total I have not been able to go on my own for 2 months. I am getting scared as that is sooo not OK.

Anyway I was scheduled for a colonoscopy last week on the third but the anesthesiologist refused to work on me as I had my second episode of Tachycardia that morning and needed meds to lower my heart rate to normal. So now I go on the 13th. Yep I must do the prep all over again goody me. That was horrible!!! Has anyone ever heard of palpitations being a symptom of colon cancer? MY Gastro Dr. did mention Colon Cancer as a possible cause for all this ( but not speaking of palpitations at all) I put it in my medical history but to be honest I dont think she read it all. I know I am having the procedure in less than a week so I will know something then but I was still wondering your take on all this. Maybe if you told me your story it could help.

Thank you in advance.
Edited to say after reading more posts here I keep reading about shortness of breath. Is that a sign? I am about 30 pounds over weight so I always assumed that was the reason. I would get tired when I lived in our apartment just going up one flight of stairs .... soo out of breath I was breathing heavy it was embarrassing. Why would shortness of breath be a symptom of colon cancer?

Andreanna

Adreanna:
You have DEFINITELY done the right thing scheduling a colonoscopy. I certainly hope that you are on medication for your heart (a beta blocker) to stabalize the tachycardia. Especially going through a prep again will most likely cause an imbalance to your electrolytes which could cause palpitations. I would hate for you to have another episode after prep because of the prep and nerves of having the procedure. If you are NOT on medication, please call up you GP and get on a beta blocker before hand.

The symptoms you describe certainly could be caused by colorectal cancer. I haven't heard of tachycardia being a symptom of colorectal cancer, but anything's possible??? :confused:

Try not to worry about the procedure... it really is very easy. The hardest part is the prep... and you have already been through that!

I wish you the BEST of Luck. :angel:

Please come back and let us know your results.

Regards,
CancerDad :)

You have been through so much. Maybe the palpatations are from anxiety. I have had that happen to me. I was tired before I was diagnosed because I was anemic from losing blood, which I did not see. Your blood could come from straining. Good luck to you and keep us posted.

B.A.Mc.

For me, that's how my diagnosis came about, I had heart palpatations and shortness of breath. I went to the docs in Feb complaining about this and it gradually got worse over time, the reason was, my body had lost so much blood, my tumor/polyp was bleeding, that by the time it got really bad my blood levels were 6 and 22, for my age 12 and 36 are normal. They said I was probably getting ready to have a heart attack or go into organ failure because of the constant blood loss and deprivation to my body. I had to have two blood transfusions immediately and then they put me on procrit to keep my levels up. I was tired too, and losing weight, but at the time, we were selling one house and building another, the holidays were around, I was taking care of my dad who had a reoccurance of lung cancer and putting in over 60 hours a week at work, in addition I had lost weight, but I was on Topamax as a migraine prevention and that causes weight loss as a side affect. I was very lucky to have it bleed because I would not have had another colonscopy until April of this year, but had one two months earlier instead. My mother passed of this illness, and this is genetic for me, I am 29 btw. I don't say this to scare you, I just wanted to share my story. Just remember everyone is different, our bodies are not the same, and with your previous hx of tachycardia, it might play into it, but I wouldn't think it would be directly related to colon cancer. I am sure you're blood levels (hemoglobin and hemocrit) have been checked, it's done with a CBC (complete blood count) to see if they're normal.

The colonscopy is the best thing to finding out, the prep is rough, but the piece of mind is worth it a million times over. Good luck and keep us posted, and try not to worry, again, I know, easier said than done!