I had bowel changes and weight loss, left sided abdominal pain they did a colonoscopy on the two wait, the results were unexpected complex ovarian cysts. Gynaecology did more tests and operated six weeks later, the operation was over 4 hrs and difficult due to extensive adhesions everything was stuck together.

l hope you have a similar benign condition thats easily treated and solves your discomfort. Waiting for scans ect is difficult your minds in overdrive, my husband didn't say much but you could tell he was worried. I hope you have some support from family and friends that you can talk to, the nurses in the clinic were helpful. 
Take care

susie

Thank you Susie for sharing. That does sound really difficult, how are you feeling now?

I'm glad you didn't have cancer and I hope I don't either.

I've had support from family. My friends have basically all gone ever since I became less socialable. I think I shared too much about my health situation as that was all that I was thinking about. I'm finding it hard to think about other things. It really helps to talk on here. 

Hi [@char1995]‍ how are you doing now? 

I sent the stool sample this morning at around 9:30am and I just checked the NHS app and saw that the testing sample was sent off at 11:40am and now just seen that a doctor will call me at 12:25am (I'm such a stalker about my health lol). I wonder what that's going to be about.

Hello amelia98 I'm doing good thank you how are you doing? Is this your second fit test you have done? I checked my app this morning and I've seen that I've been given an telephone appointment with one of the nurses from the colonoscopy team to just speak about everything and then we're just go from there I'm so worried it's unreal all I keep thinking is I have bowel cancer it's freaking me out :( the appoiment isn't till Friday I hate having to wait so long I wish someone would just speak to me now :( I'm the same I hate waiting :( I hope everything goes okay for you 

I'm doing okay thank you. I've noticed I'm getting pain from eating but I don't know if it's just from being anxious.

I'm not sure what the stool sample is for. I think it's to check my faecal calprotectin as it was normal in March the first time I did it so might have changed now.

Friday feels so long away - I hate waiting aswell. I think in the meantime you should make a note of all your symptoms and worries to tell the nurse from the colonoscopy team.

Thank you, I hope everything goes okay for you aswell. It's good we're both on the 2ww pathway considering we're both young. I heard young people usually get fobbed off.

That's the same as me since I've been referred I feel like I'm getting symptoms I didn't even get before ‍♀️  I'm finding it difficult to eat aswell where your worried so much eating is the last thing on my mind.

im not sure I've even had one of those test tbh I did have one for Helicobacter recently because I've tested positive in the past so they just done another one just incase but that was all clear was my first time ever doing a fit test though. 
 

that's what I've been told to do and I'm going to do all of that I don't want to miss out anything important when I have this phone call have you had a call or anything yet? Or a letter for a date? 
 

thank you so much I Appreciate it :)  and I've heard the same, even when I've spoke to doctors there like oh your to young but still that doesn't mean anything, how old are you? Is the number in your name correct? 

Also how did your phone call go with the doctor? 

Yeah stress definitely doesn't help with symptoms. I had a banging headache while I was waiting for the call and now the headache's gone.

I'm not sure if I had that test. When my GP called about my results back in April, she said it so simply, 'your blood tests were all normal but you know the test that looks for blood (FIT test), that came positive, but that's nothing surprising as we already knew there was blood'.

Afterwards I requested my medical records (hypochondriac geek alert) and found out my FIT test was positive at 400 and that my stool sample test for faecal caprotectin (I think it looks for inflammation) was normal.

That's good that you're not going to miss out anything important. I've had times when I have and then regretted it.

I didn't get a call so I messaged the medical centre asking if I'm supposed to be expecting a call. The receptionist called saying that I wasn't supposed to have a telephone appointment and that it was just them sending a notification to the doctor to send off my stool sample. I felt a bit embarrassed thinking the receptionist probably thinks I was expecting a call about my results. 

Yes I'm 23. I'm glad my GP hasn't mentioned anything about my age until she told me about the 2ww, but even then she just said 'you are young, so it would be unlikely for the cause of your symptoms to be something serious like cancer..' (me thinking she was about to fob me off) '.. but I don't want you to be losing weight this quickly and you've been having a lot of symptoms and been waiting for a referral since April, so there's something called a 2 week wait pathway I could refer you on'.

I was so relieved. It felt like such a huge weight lifted off my head as I was expecting to wait another 10 weeks since I was told by the hospital at the beginning that the waiting list is 25 weeks. 

Hi [@char1995]‍ have you had your appointment yet? Hoping it goes okay. 

I found out I have an appointment next Friday at 8:30am. I'm guessing it's a colonoscopy as they're going to be sending laxatives through the post. I feel impatient waiting to get further info.

I sent a message to my GP asking for the results of the stool sample and usually if the results normal, they send a message back saying it's normal. But this time they called and said it's nothing to worry about (exactly what they said when my FIT test came positive) and they said I'm already on the 2ww so they'll review me after that.

I don't mind if my stool sample's abnormal. I just want to know the result. I was more scared that something would be wrong and not picked up.

Hello [@amelia98]‍ how is everything going did you end up having your appointment? I still haven't had mine yet as they didn't have any appoiment Available mines this Thursday coming I'm so scared :( 

Did you find out if your fit test came back positive? I hope your keeping well ️

Hi @char1995 Oh no, it must be stressful having to wait that long. In my experience, the specialist was really kind and spoke gently. I hope your specialist will be like this.

Thank you. It came negative at 5ug/g so only some blood was found which is quite a surprise as I thought I wasn't passing blood anymore. Back in April, it was 400ug/g so that's good it's decreased a lot. Now I see blood so I'm guessing it would come positive now.

I've had a sigmoidoscopy now and found out I have haemorrhoids which is so relieving for me. I'm shocked as my GP didn't find haemorrhoids and my only symptoms of haemorrhoids were bright red blood and incontinence. They took biopsies so hopefully, those will be normal.

I hope you are also well and find out you have something that's not serious.

[@amelia98]‍ it really is so horrible I've been waiting near to the 3 week mark and I just can't stop panicking :( 

oh that's great news that not that much blood was found when I have my telephone call the lady told me mine was 47

that's great news I'm so glad everything had come back fine for you apart from the Haemorrhoids I know they can be a pain as I know I currently have them and no treatment seems to be working :/ 

I hope so to I only have 3 days to wait but I'm just so anxious that there's something wrong :( 

[@amelia98]‍ it really is so horrible I've been waiting near to the 3 week mark and I just can't stop panicking :( 

oh that's great news that not that much blood was found when I have my telephone call the lady told me mine was 47

that's great news I'm so glad everything had come back fine for you apart from the Haemorrhoids I know they can be a pain as I know I currently have them and no treatment seems to be working :/ 

I hope so to I only have 3 days to wait but I'm just so anxious that there's something wrong :( 

It sounds horrible that you have had to wait that long. When did your symptoms start if you don't mind me asking?

I hope the blood isn't caused by something serious. My doctor didn't mention to me when my FIT test was at 400 (I found out from my medical records) so I'm guessing she didn't think it mattered. She just told me it came positive but it just looks for blood so I already knew that. She then said the reason she referred me is to find where the bleeding is coming from.

It's sad no treatment seems to be working, I hope you find out what is causing your symptoms so that they can be treated.

Hopefully, the 3 days go quickly. Are you studying/at work and have had to take time off for this? Maybe use this time for yourself and do things you enjoy like watching movies. I know it is hard to think about other things. I'm here if you want to talk. 

Yeah it really isn't nice waiting so long when you have health anxiety we'll I've had on a off ibs symptoms for quite sometime so that's when it al first started but for the past couple of years I have also have a few bouts of haemorrhoids but I also know there common when your pregnant or given birth and I have 3 little ones and my youngest is 6 months old, but after I had her a few months later I noticed some blood in my stool so o got checked out by my gp and they confirmed the haemorrhoids which I did get treatment for but they didn't seem to go and I started to just panic more about my bowels and just worry that there was something wrong with me and my doctor said rather then do a colonoscopy there do a fit test and I honestly didn't think I would come back positive but I couldn't see anymore blood in my stool so when it did I was so shocked but I end up going back to the gp because I had seem more blood in my stool and it felt like the haemorrhoids had gotten worse and they confirmed they were still there but just with an outside examination not internal so that's where it all started from and all my go said to me was if a fit test comes back positive they just instantly have to Refer you.

I hope so to it's just hard not to think the worse and no I'm not currently studying or working at the moment are you lovely? And did they said how long it would take for your biopsy? 
 

thank you so much that means a lot x

Aw I can imagine having 3 little ones keep you very busy and it  must be even more worrying having health concerns when you have children.

You're doing the right thing going to your gp. Make sure you still go if you get new symptoms. That must have been shocking to find out there was blood when you didn't see it. This test does look for microscopic amounts of blood which is great for the screening program as it leads to earlier diagnosis or just ruling out.

It's good that they still referred you even though they knew you have haemorrhoids incase there's another cause. Especially since you mentioned that treatment is unfortunately not working.

It is so hard not to think the worst. I remember because I never used to have period problems and then I suddenly had a long heavy black period in June, I thought that I had bowel cancer and that it had spread to my uterus.

It turned out that there wasn't any abnormalities found in my abdominal ultrasound and I want to feel reassured but I want to have other tests like transvaginal ultrasound, cervical smear etc but I can't have those since I've never been sexually active. I felt like just lying so I could find out if something's wrong but I'm religious so I can't lie ahaha and I'm guessing it would be painful.

They told me I should get it by the 2nd September. I hope it comes sooner. 

I hope your appointment goes well xx

Also I'm studying primary teaching. I was in my 2nd year block placement when the bleeding started. It was just after I taught an observed lesson badly and the observer said my lesson idea was (I don't know if I can say this word on here but it's the word when someone takes their own life) and that she needed to re-assess me in a few weeks.

But once I started bleeding a lot, suddenly nothing else mattered to me anymore. The first GP that I called sounded angry and said one off bleeding was nothing. I went back to school 2 days later and my teaching mentor shouted at me for praising the kids too much. I became upset and the bleeding became more heavy so I booked a phone appointment with a different doctor for the evening and he told me to come in the next day at 9am.

It turned out that there wasn't an appointment for me and the receptionist booked me an appointment with a different doctor for the next day. I went back to school and the teaching mentor shouted at me for not preparing my lessons thoroughly. That night, I had a nightmare about her telling me everything that's wrong with me.

The next morning, I woke up and took everything she 'said' on board and I taught 2 fantastic lessons which she actually praised me about. I then went to my appointment and I was so nervous in the waiting area thinking the dr will be angry like the first one I spoke to.

I then saw a cheerful elderly lady come out and go to reception and say "dr  (the one I was going to see) has asked for me to book a blood test" so I thought that's really good. The lady was friendly and said "this place is turning into my second home". Little did I know it was going to turn into my second home ahaha.

It was then my appointment and I was so scared when I walked in that I don't even think I said anything. She probably thought I was the complete opposite of the cheerful lady she had just seen. She then introduced herself and told me that she read my notes from my phone appointment and that she found it upsetting to read. That was so kind of her to validate my feelings, I felt so calm after that. 

She looked so sad when she listened to me. I was so glad I wasn't with the angry doctor. My abdominal and rectal exams were normal so I was so scared she'd just leave it there. She then gave me the FIT test simply saying it looks for blood and asked me to book a blood test at reception. I was so relieved that I was going to have tests.

It was worth waiting 5 days to have an appointment with her because she became my allocated GP as she had to refer me afterwards. It makes such a difference when they are compassionate. 

I decided to leave placement as it got too stressful and I wanted flexibility with appointments. Now I'm just studying the theories of primary teaching. I don't know if I still want to be a teacher but I know I want to positively impact children's lives. Hopefully one day I stop being incontinent because I haven't left my house (other than to go to appointments and shopping) since it started.

Ladies can I ask if you got colonoscopies and if you got an answer for this? I have loose stools and heartburn for 2Months. I'm really anxious about it :cry:

Hello [@Smoore921]‍ I did end up having a colonoscopy because I had a positive fit test that is the only reason why my doctor would give me one I had a few biopsy's and the doctor also removed what she though that's a suction aterfact when she suction my colon to hard but it turns out it was a polyp, I k or know this from ringing up my doctors constantly, haven't had anything from the colonoscopy team so no idea if I'm going to have to do anything else but I'm like you I was constantly getting heartburn it stayed for ages then would go and then would come back so I'm not sure what's going on with that side of things. I find I'm always ringing up my doctors thinking something is wrong with me and that I'm going to die :( I've suffered with health anxiety for over 7-8 years now and it hasn't been to awful lately until my mum was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago now my anxiety is through the rough :( if your worried about your stools you could ask your doctors to do some stool samples? I have had h pylori in the past two so have been tested again for that, but maybe ask for a fit test?

Thank you for your reply. My heartburn started in July and then constant loose stools. Can I ask if you were getting loose stools and if you still have it? My stools are never normal which is really worrying me. My doctor thinks my acid reflux has flared up and the anxiety and stress has given me loose stools. I'm really struggling to believe it has caused me 2 months of symptoms. My bloods are normal and fecal calprotection normal too. Hpylori negative. I'm going insane with worry, googling constantly. My health anxiety is chronic and I can barely function when I'm like this to be honest :cry: I'm mum has cancer too so I understand how that flares your fear and anxiety. I have the FIT test here and will leave it in next week. I'm just so terrified x

That's okay and I would say the where loose but they where all over the place sometimes I could go to the toilet up to 8 times a day, I know stress can cause an awful lot of problems aswell as anxiety it's crazy some of the symptoms it can cause I've joined a few health anxiety apps that seems to help abit. Oh god stay away from google it's the worst think you could ever do if I started to google I will just sit there a panic not like I don't do now anyway but my anxiey is so much better when I don't google, I just find I speak to the doctors a lot more. I get what you mean I have 3 children and when you have health anxiety it's hard to think about anything else are you currently taking any medication? Yes do the fit test and just had it in as soon as you can xx

Yes I am on medication for my anxiety. I find it impossible not to google, I tell myself I do it to reassure myself of other non sinister things it could be but it always terrifies the life out of me! I will leave the fit test in next week, il be terrified waiting for those results. I just wish my stools would go back to normal do you get pains with it at all? I don't have stomach pains so it can't be ibs as far as I know. I just think everything points to something sinister. What else would cause loose stools constantly and heartburn. 
So are you waiting on results now then? Do you still get heartburn?