Please help I’m terrified!

Hi this is really embarrassing but I’m a 27 year old female and a couple of days ago I went to the toilet and after I peed I farted whilst still sitting on the toilet seat. It felt like a “wet” fart and when I stood up there was blood in the toilet bowel. I wiped to check and there was blood on the toilet paper which took a couple of wipes to clear. Afterwards my rectum felt sore and painful for about 30 minutes. 
Quite often when I go to the toilet I have blood on the tissue but I always assume it’s from wiping too hard as it feels sore when I wipe and then  there’s little bits of blood on the tissue, but I’ve never farted blood! 
I suffer badly with anxiety (mainly health anxiety) so this is really stressing me out.

I’m scared to go to the doctor because I suffer from skin picking disorder which I haven’t told a soul about, ever. It’s all over my body including my bum, so I don’t want to have a physical examination due to not wanting my doctor to see this and question/judge me. I think a lot of my health anxiety is due to being scared of being ill and having to be examined and the doctor seeing my wounds/scars everywhere. 

Please could someone give me some insight into what this could be and if I can get away with not going to the doctors. 
Thanks in advance!

  • Hi Zarielle,

    A very warm welcome to our forum.

    You really must go and see your GP, as only s/he can decide what the cause is and what treatment you may need. This could be something simple like piles, or it could be something more serious like cancer. Skin picking disorder is inconsequential in comparison, so I don't think that your GP will be too worried about this. Needless to say, if it is cancer, the sooner it is attended to the better, so please don't let this disorder stop you from taking action.

    Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine xx

  • Like Jolamine said, there are loads of possible reasons for this and nobody is going to be able to tell you what it is likely to be.

    At your age, cancer is pretty unlikely. I was more than 10 years older than you when I had rectal bleeding, ongoing almost daily for weeks, weight loss, some loose stools (maybe once a week) and trapped wind and the consultant said that at my age (40), I would be very unlucky if it turned out to be cancer. And as we all expected, it turned out to be hemorrhoids.

    However, that doesn't mean you should avoid going to the doctor. For one thing, unlikely is not the same as impossible and there is that slight chance it could be and then you would really need to know as early as possible. More likely, it could be something like a polyp or IBD. In the first case, well, most polyps are harmless but some can become cancerous so if it was that, you would want it removed in order to avoid the chance of cancer later on. And if it is something like IBD, you want it treated.

    And even if it is just something like piles or a fissure, well, you're going to worry about it until you get some answers. 

    And realistically, you are going to have to go to the doctor sometime. 

  • There used to be a public health message “don’t die of embarrassment”. The message is as valid today as it was decades ago. Please see your GP. You will NOT be judged. 

  • Hi Dave,

    Well said!

    Kind regards,

    Jolamine