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Blood in my poop and I’m freaking out

frightenedyoshi
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Hi everyone, this is my first post :) I’m hoping someone can help me out here :/ I’m really sorry if this gets too long for anyone, I just thought it best if I give as much info as possible. Feel free to share your own experiences, it will probably help me if it wasn’t anything serious

 

I’m 24f, and since Wednesday 11th Jan, I’ve noticed some bright red blood in my poop. I’ve never known this happen to me before so understandably I’m really frightened and shook up and been fearing the worst ever since. Usually I wouldn’t look at my poop, but I’ve had to in the past as I usually do really big poops that sometimes have clogged up our toilet. Afaik though, I’ve never seen blood on it til the 11th, I think I would definitely have remembered!

 

I have anxiety, it’s usually generalised but I’ve been known to have health anxiety too. Like the rest of the world, cancer has always been a big worry for me and I worry about my boyfriend getting it too. However, the other month my grandma died of cancer that I think started in her lungs and ever since this happened, I’ve been more frightened than ever before of cancer. The doctors ignored my grandma’s cancer for nearly 3 years. She smoked like a chimney, I’ve never smoked, done drugs, and don’t drink. I’ve even had nightmares of family being diagnosed with it. Anything even remotely abnormal that I might notice I automatically assume is cancer. This fear is haunting me and I don’t know what to do. Also I’m sure prostate cancer killed my grandad when I was a little girl

 

The poop I had on the 11th, i strained like 4 times to get it out, and it was so big it broke in half. It was rock hard and hard to get out and my bum was kinda sore afterwards. At the time, I wasn’t eating a bowl of cereal every morning. But since Friday 13th, I have been. And the next time I went that Sunday, it was much softer and I didn’t have to push or strain. It just came straight out, but in two big lumps. I asked my boyfriend to double check with me and he said there was no blood. My boyfriend said he thinks i hurt myself while straining on the Wednesday

 

I’ve never gone to the toilet that much, for me it’s twice a week at most. 3 at a push. In the past I've had blood on the toilet wipes but never in my poop. Anyway the last time I went was yesterday. A tiny little one came out first, it had no blood on it I don’t think. I knew there was more to come though, so after a bowl of cereal, orange juice and water, I tried again. I farted a bit and then it started coming out. Another big lump, and it definitely had blood on it. I think there was more than there was on the 11th and was extra freaked out cos I honestly wasn’t expecting to see any. My boyfriend immediately rung the doctors. The receptionist agreed to book me in face to face, cos on Monday I talked to a private doctor over the phone and when I explained my symptoms, she said it sounds like piles but she didn’t look in my bum, she didn’t even see me

 

I have a face to face appointment and I think a rectal exam on Monday and I’m absolutely petrified. I can't decide if I want Monday to be over now or if I never want it to come. I hope it is piles. I sit a lot, in fact I sit much more than I stand, I’ve been straining a lot, and I think I’m constipated. It seems like my symptoms match piles. Sometimes my bum feels a bit uncomfortable if I’ve sat too long. But then I freak out and then think I’ve got more symptoms, like when I try and double check do I have abdominal pain my brain makes me think I do even though I know I don’t. But honestly I don’t think this is something minor. I genuinely think I have bowel or colon cancer. Yesterday night I started farting a bit and I think this was just anxiety as I know anxiety can give weird symptoms but I can’t stop thinking cancer is spreading round my body. I’m sure I had a bit of trapped wind earlier in the week too. My weight has also been fluctuating. When I think I have piles or something, cos I know the chances of that are higher than cancer, I feel better. But I can’t stop googling and reading about other people and that makes me absolutely convinced I’ve got cancer and at really late stage too. I don’t think there are hardly any symptoms of these cancers early on. This frightens me even more. When I think it’s cancer, I feel numb. I can’t stop crying, I can’t function, and I’m like frozen. I’m also frightened on Monday the doctor won’t be able to tell us what it is or if she will misdiagnose me. I just don’t know what to do, I don't want to die and I’m usually so healthy

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    Honestly, it's very unlikely you have bowel cancer. The most likely explanation, I would think is that that big poop scratched or tore something coming out and that scratch is bleeding now. 

    A year and a half ago, I had the symptoms you do and others - rectal bleeding (for months on end), weight loss, trapped wind and occasional loose stools (maybe once a week?). The specialist told me that as I was only 40, the odds of bowel cancer were less than 1%.

    Given that you are much younger than I was then, that your symptoms have been going on for a shorter period of time and started after you had something that one would expect to cause bleeding and that you don't mention weight loss, I would say your odds of cancer are significantly lower than mine were.

    I know how scary it is, especially when you had a relative whose cancer was overlooked. It's hard not to start worrying that that could happen again, but your situation is very different from hers. She was presumably an older woman and was at high risk due to smoking. You are young, in an age group when cancer (certainly bowel cancer) would be very unusual and your symptoms have another likely explanation.

    I am no expert but I would say I would be very surprised if it turned out you had bowel cancer. I know that is very little consolation as I have no special insight and the unlikely does happen sometimes, but it is very much "the unlikely." I was told I'd be "the unluckiest person in the world" if it turned out that my symptoms were due to bowel cancer and you are probably lower risk than I am.

    In my case, it turned out to be piles, possibly combined with a few other coincidences and the stress of the whole thing.

  • Offline in reply to MargaretMary

    Hi @MargaretMary :) thank you for your reply, really appreciate it. Sorry to hear you had some of the same symptoms :( glad you was ok though :)

    Yeah my grandma was 78 when she died. I do worry about cos my grandad died of prostate cancer, I'm pretty sure females don't have them though. I did lose a bit of weight on New Year's Day when I weighed myself, I went from about 57 to 55kg. But I was on my period Christmas week and I think that I was eating less cos of that. The weekend after, roughly the same. But last weekend, I gained weight again

    I thought my bum was itching a few days ago, my boyfriend said that's what happens when a cut heals. But it doesn't really explain why I had more blood in my poop yesterday. Today my bum was itching again for a bit. Could that be a cut? I just don't know, I'm a frightened Yoshi :( Googling is the worst thing you can do, but it's all we've done

  • Offline in reply to frightenedyoshi

    Piles can itch like mad, and they can bleed too. If something is itching and bleeding it's more likely to be a pile than a tear inside. Piles are usually a result of straining. Something you have alluded to doing in your previous post.

    All that said, you should get a doctor to check you over to be on the safe side. Really does sound like a haemorrhoid. If the itch gets too bad, you can get stuff in any chemist or even the likes of tesco for them.

  • Offline in reply to ProfBaw

    Hi ProfBaw, thanks for your reply :) 

    Yeah I'm going to the doctor on Monday, but I'm absolutely bricking it. It frightened me that they got me booked in fast too. This doesn't usually happen fast with ours. All the signs keep pointing to piles or maybe a fissure, and when I think logically I'm sure that's what it is, it does make the most sense, but when I'm distracted playing a videogame or something, my mind just starts wandering again and I can't shake the fear I have cancer or incurable cancer. Which just repeats the vicious cycle of feeling numb and depressed. This is really horrible and I can't take it. I wouldn't wish this feeling on anyone. I'm frightened she will misdiagnose me during my rectal exam (I think that's what I'm having) or can't tell me what it wrong, meaning I have to keep waiting I just don't know how to cope

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