Havent 'freaked out' for a long time but now im freaked out

[bhandley]

Okay, so all other problems aside except maybe relevant burping and occasional abdo pangs but I don't think they are anything to do with this.
TMI- I went to the loo, bowel movement of course, and a speck of blood on the paper, this happened about a week later, figured I had wiped too hard.
Don't know if its relevant but I had a diffuse pain in my right hand side which only lasted one evening and that was 10 days ago and no problems since, I chocked it down to being muscular.

Then yesterday and today, blood in poop, brilliant, of course big cancer worrier, so my mind is going colon cancer, intestinal bleeding, oh ghad.
It's like not on the poop its like flecks of and all the way through it, dont ask me how I know. Anyways it looks normal to a not crazy persons eyes maybe the color is a bit richer than it was a few months ago but still very much on the brown scale but when I looked closer I realised last night that there was pinky looking flecks all the way through it, and today blood red flecks all the way through it, some are 'pieces' some of it seems like its liquid (sorry sorry) when blotted against it looks like specks of blood on the toilet paper.
I did have red bell pepper last night, and on friday night I did have salad with red bell peppers again but I dont think that would come out on monday night a whole three days later since its vegetables and digested quick from what I gather. Other than that havent eaten anything red, actually didnt eat a whole lot on saturday or sunday.
I have also been going a little more frequently -  like maybe three or four times a day sometimes when my normal is only twice, however this doesnt happen everyday. Eating a meal tends to provoke me to poop.
I also have, however, increased my water intake and my fiber so who knows that might make me go more often.

So im nearly 25, I know its rare but it happens. Of course I am worried about the combination of blood and the fact that my frequency has increased the most, but also hoping that side pain wasnt relevant.

Went to the doctors this morning and was mortified at having a rectal exam, he cant feel any hemarroids but said I look a tiny but inflammed down there and gave me a cream and told me to come back in two weeks if the problem persists to look into investigating.

Two weeks is a long long time for a cancer worrier Can anyone help ease my mind about this? Im feeling pretty low and worried.

[InTheMoment]

I've had the exact same thing happen to me -- don't discount the red peppers, even days after you'd expect to see them!

[mollyfin]

You're probably inflamed from going so often.  At some point my body switched from once a day to every time I eat, too. 

Stop eating red vegetables and see if it keeps going.  I once thought I had...I don't know, worms or something! until I realized it was seeds from vegetables from a couple of days before.  Took me a while of thinking on it to see what it could be. 

Bright red, even if it is blood, isn't that huge a concern.  If things start turning black with the consistency of tar, THEN you worry.  (And for god's sake don't make the mistakes I keep making, eating Oreos or taking Pepto Bismol, then panicking when you crap black!  It's really embarrassing even when you don't tell anyone ;) )

[bhandley]

Ok nothing today that I could see, im hoping its red veg and have been staying away from it but I am of course worried about occult blood.
Thanks for the responses, I am hoping you guys are right. :)

[SighNoMore]

Glad things are better today! I bet it was the red peppers too!

[bhandley]

Thanks I really hope so, except ive been feeling like a little bit of the pain in my right side and in the front of my abdomen like where the descending colon is, but it might all be muscular, who knows I havent been to the gym for a few days and I might just be cramping up a little.

Im going to keep an eye on the blood thing for the next two weeks and hope all is ok, but now if there is no blood I will worry that its occult and that the pain in my side shouldnt be ignored even if that goes away too. This is all very draining having HA.

[mollyfin]

Anxiety is really  hard on the stomach.  I've had chronic stomach problems for 20 years and anxiety since I was a very small child.  I would be very very surprised if that turned out to be coincidental. 

[bhandley]

I haven't had blood since I wrote this, but today passed some clear orangy (like cat food jelly) mucous. Not loads and loads and if I weren't monitoring very closely I wouldn't have noticed but enough for me to notice, I don't even know, maybe a teaspoon of it spread out, I have no idea.
First time I've ever noticed this, don't know if it's the first time it's happened though, yet again, it's another symptom of bowel cancer 
I have looked it up on this forum and notice that a lot of people say it's an IBS thing, but the only symptoms I have of IBS, is perhaps a slight increased frequency and every two weeks of so I get a bout of diarrhea/loose stools of some sort, usually provoked by something I have eaten specifically something greasy. I am somewhat gassy sometimes, have acid reflux (being controlled by omeprazole), burping, and very rarely the odd bloat which is minor.
I don't have the characteristic tell tale pain and discomfort but often I will be struck by urgency.

This mucous happened today, yesterday I was so unbelievably stressed, I thought I found a hard fixed chain of lymph nodes in my neck and lost a whole nights sleep to poking myself silly and waiting up to make a doctors appointment, I went around 10.30 and after that was a lot less stressed, but maybe stress caused wonky bowels that day, I did begin to panic attack at one point? I also didnt drink anything but tea (so no water to help hydrate the bowel), Just before I went to bed last night I probably could have gone to the loo but didnt want to because that would have been my fourth bowel movement and I was worried about the amount I am going, but the days before the stress it was only once or twice a day, I wonder whether the stress caused my frequency yesterday and suppressing a bowel movement caused the intestine to produce more mucous to help move it along more easily - it was a bit harder than usual.

SO sorry for the TMI, but I need to be graphic to get some opinions please!

[vardnas]

SO sorry for the TMI, but I need to be graphic to get some opinions please!

Respectfully, b, you don't need any more of our opinions. Our opinions don't help you, because you've been posting about these EXACT same fears since JULY. And if our opinions made one ounce of difference to you, you probably wouldn't still be here fretting over the same imaginary stomach cancer that drove you here in the first place.

You need to QUIT the negative reinforcement behaviors (googling, inspecting your bowel movements, trawling for reassurance, visits to the doctor) FULL STOP. These behaviors are only resulting in a continuation of your fear pattern. They're what's keeping your worried and fearful.  If you want to get better, then knock it off.

Getting to the bottom of WHAT is driving your compulsion to fixate on your health and WORKING THROUGH THOSE ISSUES are the ONLY way you will begin to feel better. But you've GOT to want it, and you've GOT to do the work. There is no other way, I'm sorry to say.

[bhandley]

To be fair to me, I'm not currently worried about stomach cancer, not that its any better but im worried about bowels. And since I had blood I think most people would be a little concerned over it.

Im still waiting on my counselling. I actually rang up yesterday to see whats taking so long.

I appear to be going through a period of heightened anxiety at the moment, which started about a month ago, after getting a little better I have gotten worse.

Still, even if at the moment I am indulging in bad behaviours, I am currently in a worried state and would like opinions on it, since I actually do listen to reasoning, although it might not be the cure, it helps me remain calm whilst I wait for my counselling to commence.