I believe anything over 10 is classed as elevated ,I know mine was only 15 and I had a Colonoscopy because of that although I'm aware that numbers can go into the high hundreds ,if I were you I would take the chance of having a Colonoscopy if offered at least then you would know for certain .

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply. I guess if my sample is positive then I will go to have colonoscopy if offered. Otherwise I will always be thinking what if. We're you all ok with yours with blood levels  not too high Thanks Anne 

Hi ,yes mine turned out to be nothing worrying Diverticulitis and a couple of other little things that obviously caused the test to be elevated ,but I'm really glad I had it done for peace of mind .

Can i ask did you take sedation?  I did not when i had the sigmoidoscopy.  I watched the whole thing when i had the sigmoidoscopy. Thanks  anne

Hi yes I did and I never felt a thing but it didn't feel like I was sedated I didn't feel any different at all not sleepy tired just wide awake .

HI, thank you for all your advice.  I really appreciate it.  It has eased my fears a little, thank you. 

Hi Tempest and thank you for your post.

The bowel screening programme invites people with no symptoms to do the bowel cancer screening test to look for hidden blood in the stool, which if found, could be a sign of bowel cancer. The aim is to find cancer early.

The stool sample is sent to the laboratory and given a number. The result of the FIT (faecal immunochemical test) which will mean further tests are needed in bowel screening, depends on where you live.  For example in England and Wales, this is 120 μg/g, and in Scotland 80μg/g.

The level is different if people have gone to their GP because of symptoms they may be having where anyone with a FIT test above 10 is referred for other tests.

You can still do the bowel screening test with bleeding haemorrhoids and this certainly wouldn't be wasting anyone's time. This may cause a positive FIT ( faecal immunochemical test) meaning further testing is needed. However, you can have haemorrhoids and have a negative test.

Unfortunately, if a FIT is positive no one can say if this is caused by haemorrhoids or if it is because of polyps or cancer.  Therefore further tests are needed such as a colonoscopy so that the bowel can be looked at closely to rule out cancer.

Although you had a sigmoidoscopy a couple of years ago if you are found to have a positive FIT, the doctor is likely to still recommend a colonoscopy to be safe as this looks at the whole of your bowel, the sigmoidoscopy just looks at the rectum and the lower part of your bowel.

You mention your family history. When cancer is in the family, people often assume that this greatly increases their risk of developing it, but this isn't always true. It will depend on how close relatives are (parent, child or sibling) and the age of diagnosis.  We have further information about family history and the risk of bowel cancer on our website here.

I hope this reply helps in some way. Please get back to us if you need any more information or support.  You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Take care, all the best 

Jemma