Right - This needs to stop!

[Crocodile007]

Hi All,

It's been a while since i last posted as i have been trying desperately to break the cycle. My ongoing colon cancer fears are still as bad as ever. To reiterate i generally have normal bowel movements but occasionally (about once per month) i see a streak of blood on the outside of the stool which i bright red as far as i can tell. I have seen 3 GP's. 2 gastro specialists and even posted my symptoms to 2 different online doctors. I have had blood tests, FOBT, a digital exam (twice) and a flexible sigmoidoscopy. All were negative and everyone i speak to (the dr's) are saying the same thing - there is nothing wrong. My last digital exam with a scope was a few days ago and the specialist said he could see some small hemmorrhoids and this is most likely what is causing it. I wouldn't accept this and kept asking for a full colonoscopy but he kept saying that there was no need and he couldn't recommend one as in his opinion it was more dangerous to have one based on my "symptoms." This time i was determined though and kept pushing so he went and spoke to another colleague and came back with the suggestion of a Barium Enema as he still felt and i quote 99.9% sure that there is nothing wrong but this represented a safer way to view the entire colon and was nearly as sensitive anyway as a colonoscopy, so i accepted. He said it would be a non urgent referral though so i might be looking at a waiting time of around 2 months!
I came out feeling a bit better knowing he wasn't concerned at all but low and behold the next stool a passed was streaked with blood and it all starts again! I can't keep doing this so i was wondering if anyone has any advice on getting over this.

I know in my mind i am being crazy as surely (surely) 3 GP's, 2 specialists, 2 online doctors all of whom are completely unrelated all came to the same conclusion - they can't all be wrong, right? I add this to all of the tests i have had done and the info i have gained from the different doctors and understand i may well be being unreasonable but i just can't stop. By the way, i am only 26 so even without the dr's visits and tests having colon cancer would be extremely unlikely anyway.

I just need some mental help as this is getting out of control.

Thanks to all.

[marc]

I will tell you a story that happened to me at age 25 (I am 56 now; old fart I know). I went to the bathroom and
wiped and the whole toilet paper was filled with red blood. I looked in the toilet and the water was all red with
blood. I had an immediate meltdown and rushed to the ER. They found nothing and I was sent to have a flex sig
and they found a large hem. The colorectal surgeon at the time told me not to strain, don't sit there if nothing is
happening and drink plenty of water. Odds are you are fine, especially at age 26.

[Crocodile007]

Hi Marc,

The thing is, i know this is most likely nothing, realistically with all the dr's i have seen and the tests i have had done i would have to be extremely unlucky to have something that very dr and test has missed BUT the thing is i am still booked in for a further test "the barium enema" that i basically had to beg for as the Dr didn't see the need for any more tests.

No matter what reassurance i get the fear doesn't go away - the Dr even said this time that even if he did a colonoscopy he feels that i would focus on the 5% of the colon that the test can't see - which is probably right. The thing is i already feel that if the barium thingy comes back normal i will be focusing on the fact that it is only 85% accurate - this is why it is getting crazy.

I know in my own mind that i am going crazy but i just can;t break the cycle.

At this stage i honestly don't know what will have to happen for me just to accept the Dr's diagnosis????

[marc]

I had a barium enema myself many years ago. I remember going there, and a nice Asian physician
stuck the tube up my rectum and shot the barium in, with an attractive youngish blond haired girl
assisting. I remember him telling me that I would get constipated and I told him nothing
constipates me. I remember passing odd looking stools after the test.

[Crocodile007]

Ha, sounds similar to my sigmoidoscopy....there was an attractive assistant present for that too!

I just want to break the cycle - i don;t not what will have to happen for me just to accept the diagnosis?

At this stage i feel that the test is pointless because i probably will focus on the chance that they have missed something anyway. its all getting a bit desperate now.

[MrMoleHill]

If you have a gastroenterologist that speaks of a 5% portion of the colon that can't be seen with a colonoscopy, then you need to find a new doctor. This is how my father ended up with stage IV colon cancer. He started getting colonoscopies at age 55, by a certain doctor up north. At age 65, he retired and moved down south. The very first colonoscopy he got, from a new gastroenterologist, discovered the cancer at the end of the exam - probably this 5% your doctor is speaking of. It was right where the small intestine joins the large intestine. This would be at the end of the exam, the last portion. That gastroenterologist told my father the cancer had probably been growing there a long time, like a decade.

NOW DO NOT FEAR! I am NOT saying that my opinion is that you have colon cancer. While not impossible, at a young age it is the least of your worries, because it is highly improbable.  This is most typically an aging/lifestyle/diet cancer that takes decades to develop. There are rare hereditary conditions that can cause it in younger people, however. RARE being the key word.  There are so many other benign reasons for your symptoms, and blood was never a symptom for my father.

Keep investigating, but relax and do not lose sleep over it.

[Slangevar]

MrMoleHill - didn't you just tease me for saying something no one should ever say to someone with HA?  And then you go and do it to poor Crocodile, who has the clearest case of hemmorrhoids I've ever heard of.

I'm sorry to hear about your father, but I suspect Croc's doctor was talking about the fact that a colonoscopy can't see up into the small intestine, and she would ultimately worry about that.

BUT she doesn't have to. Because she's 25, has no other bowel symptoms, AND she has visible hemmorrhoids. Hemmorrhoids cause bright red blood on the outside of stool. A first-year medical student could diagnose her.

[MrMoleHill]

True, Slangevar.

Yes, Crocodile007, I didn't mean to come across as saying there was anything concerning here. I agree about the hemmorrhoids, and the doctors, that nothing is [seriously] wrong. And that's why I said, do not fear.

I was just trying to make a general statement, for anyone that reads this post, that if they do ever have anything truly concerning with the colon, and a colonoscopy is recommended, then be sure that the performing doctor searches the entire length of the colon, and gives no excuse for missing 5% of it. (The small intestine is an entirely different issue, and that is outside the scope and question of this post.)

Hope that clarifies.

[mollyfin]

Sounds like hemorrhoids to me, too.  I have them, and anal fissures, pretty much nonstop (IBS is fun!)  Occasionally I get more blood from them than I do when I'm on my period.  No need to worry unless the blood is blackish and sticky.

[Crocodile007]

Thanks for the previous replies. I have had a bout of diarrhea yeasterday and it was laced with blood. More than normal and it looked darker. Obviously as the stool was loose the blood was mixed in with it rather than previous episodes where there were streaks on the outsdie of a normal stool.
My question now is - would what i descirbed also be caused by piles or is this something else?

[gridder]

Croc,
You are never going to have 100% certainty. Even if you got scoped, your mind wouldd find a way to find the "what if." Your problem is not in your colon, it is in your mind.
I think the enema will exacerbate your HA, but since you aree doing it, why not make a deal with yourself to not look before you flush until then?

[shakymcgee]

I have had the same symptoms due to hemorrhoids. It started probably seven years ago and the first time I totally freaked out and went to the ER in a panic. There was nothing sinister involved, and it still happens from time to time. I have always been told that if the blood is bright red, not to worry about it because that means that it is coming from a source very close to the anus, not from the intestines. If it was coming from that far up, it would look less like.blood and more like tar. The fact that your doctor actually found hemorrhoids should be very encouraging. It makes sense. But I know that our brains don't always run on logic when it comes to this stuff. Just try to hold on to that logical part of you for as long as you can before you fall back into the catastrophic thoughts again.