Hello Alex182846

I'm sorry to hear that you've had some ongoing health problems and that you're still feeling anxious about these symptoms and your test results. 

Please do get back in touch with your GP as they will be best placed to discuss your results and hopefully offer some advice and support for moving forwards. 

I hope things improve for you soon. 

Best wishes, 
Jenn
Cancer Chat moderator 

Hello Alex182846,

                             its always easy to worry over things we cannot see, we start to look with our minds and that can throw up all sorts of concerns, the unknowns can be very difficult.

l picked up on your comment about black specks and how they cannot arise from haemorrhoids, and think l would disagree with that statement.. l would see the black specks as being stale blood and a bleeding haemorrhoid would certainly produce those. Link this back to frequency of bowel movements, obviously shorter times between evacuations and you would expect to see brighter blood, and the opposite for longer times. 

There is a very good reason for going for as little invasion into the bowel as is possible, since any intrusions run the risk of damage leading to adhesions that can create even more problems in the future. The minimum needed to provide a diagnosis is the way to go , hence the sigmoidscope over the far more intrusive colonoscopy.

As someone who has the misfortune to suffer from scarring and adhesions in the bowel, trust me when l tell you it needs to be avoided wherever possible.l have just returned from my fifth stay in hospital due to blocked bowel, the pain is excrutiating and its no fun flirting with the possibility of a perforation or sepsis if it does not resolve itself.

So to me it would appear that your treatment has been diligent and considered with a cause  identified.that explains your symptoms using the minimal risk to damage to your bowel.From here treatment should hopefully alleviate your issues, however if not remember this would be the time for further investigation.

A colonoscopy is not like peering in your mouth to look down your gullet, and l shudder to think of the repercussions if every time my bowel had blocked they shoved a camera up my interior to see if another tumour had made a reappearence.

What if questions can work both ways, what if there was no no need to carry out a proceedure that carried the risk of causing complications?

l hope your treatment goes well and your issues are resolved and disappear with your current concerns,

                 David