worried about bowel cancer aged 20?

hi so as the titles says, i am worried. for a couple years ive always had odd bowel movements (i assumed i had ibs), however these past few weeks it feels i’m going 2 days without a movement (i poop daily) and i’m so gassy. my poops seem a light brown. no weight loss or anything. this past week i have had what seems to be small amount of blood in my poo. i’ve bled before, presumably from a pile (i’ve had blood but it’s been there when i wiped) but this time it seems to be like IN my stool rather than on top of. any help? should i worry?

  • Welcome to the forum as146 although I'm sorry for the worry your symptoms are causing.

    If your symptoms don't improve, or continue to get worse, then it would be best to book an appointment with your GP as it's always worth getting any unusual or persistent symptoms checked out, if only for peace of mind, which hopefully your doctor will be able to provide.

    Quite a few of our members have contended with similar symptoms, so you are not alone as146, and hopefully you will hear back from some of them soon.

    In the meantime, we're sending you all our support and will have our fingers crossed everything will be o.k.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • I wouldn't think you need to worry too much, but you should probably get it checked out if it continues. Not that cancer is likely - at 20, the odds are very strongly against it - but the options aren't just cancer or nothing. Many things could cause those symptoms. Most likely, it's something minor like IBS or stress, but it could be something like colitis.

    Cancer is highly unlikely. When I was 40, I had rectal bleeding for months on end, weight loss, some loose stools (maybe once a week) and trapped wind and gas and the doctor said that if my mother came in with those symptoms, he'd be concerned about cancer, but that at 40, the odds were "less than 1%" and I'd be "the unluckiest person in the world" if that turned out to be the explanation. You are a lot younger than I was and your symptoms are vaguer, so your odds are probably even lower than mine were.

    But whatever it is, it's worth checking out if it continues, both for your peace of mind, assuming it turns out to be something minor, which is likely and also to get any treatment necessary.