I'm 33, male, no family history of cancer of anykind, 4 kids, in good health although over weight and I could probably eat healthier. My family tends to be prone to diabetes but we are all on the heavy side. 3 months ago I had a bit of blood on the toilet paper after a BM. Doc said "no biggie just a hemmorhoid your young and in good health what are you worried about" BUT he didn't actually check. 2 weeks ago I had a bit more blood on the toilet paper, not in the bowl, not on the stool just on the tp.
Now I panic, I am a worrier and a clinical depressive so I could just be over reacting. I see a another doc and she does the finger test and the stool card. No blood in stool and she didn't feel anything on the finger test no anemia. She didn't feel anything is what worries me. She says "your young and healthy colon cancer rarely happens to people like you plus there would be other symtoms."
I have a consult with a GI doc scheduled and am deathly worried even thought it's probably nothing.
Am I over reacting? I have no other symptoms at all and feel good other than the massive deppresive episode this has sent me in. While colon cancer rarely happens to people like me the truth is it does. My questions is if it was something serious like colon cancer would there be other symptoms? Am making a big issue out of nothing and should I see the GI doc?
Thank you for the advice. I told my docs the exact same thing and they looked at me like I was crazy. I think the last guy only gave me the referral because he could see the terror in my face and figured it was the only way to get me to shut up.
I don't get why some docs act like that. While odds are improbable nothing is impossible. I wonder if people get mis-diagnosed because of this. If I was a doc I imagine I would want to rule out everything possible and be able to give a patient concrete answers the first time.
Men and women in their 20s and 30s do get colon/rectal cancer. Far fewer than the typical post 60 age group, but the numbers of young people being diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer are growing. Unfortunately, the cancer is usually not discovered until it has reached a late stage because as your MD did, most will suggest hemorrhoids as the cause and say not to worry because you are too young. I have friends on the colon board that were diagnosed in their twenties or early thirties. One young man, age 35 passed away two days ago from colon cancer, leaving behind a wife and two young children.
A stool guaiac and rectal examination is not sufficient to rule out colon cancer. A colonosocpy is the gold standard that will definitively determine the cause of your rectal bleeding. Polyps bleed intermittently, so the stool test is unreliable. The rectal exam or even a sigmoidoscopy doesn't reach very far into the colon, whereas the colonoscopy examines the entire length of the colon and if polyps are found, they can usually be removed before they have become cancerous, because it can take 7 to 10 years for a polyp to develop into a cancer.
Definitely keep you gastro appointment and insist on a colonoscopy, which will put your mind at ease as to what you have or don't have going on in the colon.
It's alright to over react since it is about your health. You are just worried and want to know why you had blood in the toilet paper. Even though you're in mid 30's, and you feel like there is something wrong, you should request to have colonoscopy. That way, you could see if there is cancerous folips or not. But at least, once you done that, you will know if you have cancer or not.
Anytime there is blood in stool it should be figured out. I know someone who ignored for a while then no one ever had an answer. Things didn't turn out clear at all in the end. He was 27 at the time.
You are not over-reacting. Any type of rectal bleeding is not normal. Get yourself checked. The bleeding could be caused by any number of things such as hemorrhoids, stricture (tear), polyps, colitis, cancer etc.
It's in your best interest to get the problem properly diagnosed and dealt with. Do not ignore it.
