Bowel cancer

So i had a fit test and it came back postive 17.4 

and my gp refered to do a colonoscopy within 2 weeks 

i have a little baby 1 year old and im terrifed i might have a cancer

i have blood in my poo sometime for last 5 years first we thought is from piles but when my gp checked me they haven’t noticed any 

And i did blood test everything is fine only white cells are low 

do u have any suggestions or do u know anyone who was in similar postion and everything was fine 

many thanks

  • Hi when people have fit tests the results can come back in the high hundreds so your result of 17 is very low , the other thing is its much more likely to be something far less sinister than cancer ,but if your result is over 10 the GP will nearly always send you for a Colonoscopy to rule out anything nasty ,its much better to get tested than to keep worrying about it , I've had 2 now and both times its been nothing alarming ,the fit test is to measure the amount of blood found but it could be coming from many innocent things .

  • Thank u so much i pray that is case for me to 

    thank u , all the best for you

  • Hi Anisaa

    After presenting with chronic anaemia My FIT came back at over 800. I was whisked off for a colonoscopy within 4 days of the result coming back and considering they were convinced I’d have colon cancer (my Dad died at my exact age of 47 from colon cancer) I was told I had a textbook perfect result. Not even a single biopsy or polyp. 

    I was then sent for an upper GI gastroscopy (camera in stomach) within 5 days of the colonoscopy and that showed a “giant” ulcer of 2.5cm and they took 10 biopsies because there’s something they’re not happy with but her exact words were “we might have got there in time”. That was last Friday, I have my CT scan tomorrow and a meeting with the consultant on Monday. 

    There is zero point worrying - I know that’s easier said than done. I will likely be told I have stomach cancer on Monday and there is sod all I can do to change that. We live in an incredible country where we haven’t got to debate if we have treatment OR keeping a roof over our family’s head. We are so lucky in so many ways. 

  • Hi thank you for your reply 

    i wish you all the best

  • The odds are strongly against it being cancer. From what I've read, about 1 in 10 postive FIT tests are cancer. Now, the numbers go well up into the 100s. I think somebody here might have gotten a result over 1,000 at some point. And bowel cancer is more common among older people. So with a result that is barely positive and given the age of your child, I am assuming you are under 60, so the odds in your case would probably be lower than that,

    I didn't have a positive FIT (mainly 'cause Russian hackers messed up the health service in Ireland's internet and all at the time so they couldn't process results; it is very likely I would have gotten a result like yours had they been able to do one) but I did have rectal bleeding, some weight loss, some loose stools and trapped wind nearly 4 years ago. The doctor said that at my age - 40 at the time - I'd be "the unluckiest person in the world" if cancer turned out to be the explanation. It turned out to be piles, probably combined with the affects of my thryoid medication and possibly the stress of the whole thing.

    The GP also couldn't find any piles and the nurse for the colonoscopy said that is very common and that piles were still the most likely explanation.

    Lots of things can cause a positive FIT - piles, a fissure, a polyp, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's, an infection, diverticulitis and yes, cancer, but many of the other options are more likely in younger people and I think cancer might tend to give higher results too.

  • O thank you so much for your reply 

    i wish you all the best