Hi Loush and welcome to cancer chat.  Sorry to hear you have been having such distressing symptoms.  There are so many things that can cause problems with your bowels like you are describing.  But bowel cancer can and does happen to people under 50.  The main thing is you have went to your doctor and they are doing some investigations, which will hopefully rule out cancer.  If your fecal test comes back negative and you are still having trouble, it might be worth asking for a colonoscopy, as this will look at the whole of your bowel to check what's going on.  Hope things work out ok for you but please keep posting if you have any more questions.xxx

hi.Beaker. thank you for finding the time to reply to me. The fob test i got done at the docs came back clear but im still anaemic. i am very confused with this as i must be bleeding inside from somewhere i done a fob test myself that i bought and it was positive. my bowel sympoms are all over the place. Between constipation and looser movements, if that makes sense.  when ive been i still feel like there is still more there and the painin my stomach is very crampy and achy. im so scared.

hi both, sorry loush to hear that you're suffering and worrying so much,

i too have been suffering from digestive upsets but today i had a brand new symptom, my stool while brown and soft had a weird metal smell, like iron. no obvious blood but it has really worried me.

i have been to my docs as i have been having a feeling of fullness on my right side underneath my ribcage, nausea, gas and bloating and dyspepsia [i've had the dyspepsia for ages and nothing really helps it] and alternating diarrhoea and constipation in the past week. i've also had shoulder pain and my gp suspects gall stones or mild gastritis. She's prescribed me omeprazole once daily, 20mg. which i started on thursday just gone, could that be causing the smell? she thinks its the after effects of too much rich food at christmas but has said for me to go back if symptoms dont settle. should i go back and tell her about the smelly poop? sorry for the graphic description!

Hi guys x

I'm 42 and I was diagnosed with bowel cancer last may.

I had no symptoms other than bloating and some intermittent pain under the right rib cage. 

My GP suspected gall stones and I had a blood test which was normal and an ultrasound scan which picked up abnormal areas in my liver.

This led to a CT which picked up a thickening in the bowel. This area was then looked at by colonoscopy and biopsies taken .

I'm now on a course of chemo and still very well.

I would push for colonoscopy in both your cases , yes there are loads of other things it can be but I would want the most serious ruling out first . I am a little biased tho because of my own situation. 

Go back to your GP. 

Love hx

Did you have any blood in your stools?

hi hayley

i've been back to gp and she's ordered bloods, including liver function and ultrasound, still suspecting gallbladder issues. I'm still having same symptoms for  nearly 3 weeks now, including smelly metal odour poop, bloating, esp after meals and yesterday i was actually sick. im very worreid but at leasts tests are being done. fingers crossed its nothing sinister but as you can see by my presence here im th inking the worst!! :(

Hi Katyemma 

It's good that your GP is doing ultrasound and bloods. My bloods were normal but my ultrasound wasn't that's how they new one had a problem somewhere.

Apart from the mild pain under my right ribs I had very little else. I did notice when climbing in the lakes i was falling behind my partner but he was actually getting fitter so assumed that was what it was.

I didn't have any bowel symptoms there was no visible blood. I didn't have any occult blood tests so I don't know if there was hidden blood .

Good luck with your tests I hope they're all OK but don't give up if you don't get a diagnosis.

X hayley

Thanks Hayley x 

How are you doing? 

Katy xx

Just an update, phoned the scanning department today and was told it can take up to 6 weeks for an appointment to come through hopefully that means my gp doesn't think it's urgent which is good but if it is and you do hear about that happening, what else can happen in 6 weeks??