Hello

I'll try to keep this short, but I'm just very anxious about some bowel cancer symptoms and would love to get some advice and reassurance.

I was diagnosed with IBS a while ago. Since January I've had some new symptoms that feel like much worse IBS (frequent loose stools and bloating in particular).

I went to my doctor in March and got a blood test and stool test - both were fine. But since then the symptoms have continued and they've gotten worse over the last couple of weeks.

I should share a piece of context here - I'm in my early 30s and a friend of mine died 2 weeks ago from cancer at the age of 29. By the time he was diagnosed he was incurable and I'm sure that's contributing to my anxiety here. It might also be contributing to my symptoms, as caring for him and watching him deteriorate has been an incredibly difficult experience. I'm going to start seeing a counsellor to work through all of this.

But I wanted your thoughts on my symptoms here. Is it worth me pushing for a colonoscopy or additional tests? I've read that stool samples miss things sometimes and after my friend's experience I'm very nervous about that.

Would really appreciate any thoughts or advice.

Thanks so much