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I’m 21 with bowel cancer symptoms and I’m too scared to phone GP

Moiiii
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I’ll start off by saying I’ve suffered with chronic constipation my whole life and honestly been wiping blood for a few years too, what’s worried me this past month is the frequency of blood after a particularly hard stool passed. My stomach has been hard and bloated all month and recently I saw a small bit of blood in my stool. Overall the blood has been bright red but with the added severe bloating and fatigue (could just be because I’m a full time student and working although I’m not sure) I’ve done all the right things like increasing fiber, excersize and water intake but my stools still seem to be hard as a rock and causing bleeding. It’s also a bit of a harder situation for me as my GP is in a different city that I’m living in for uni at the moment so even going back home just to make an appointment will take a lot of effort up, and with how young I am the likelyhood of being sent away being told I have IBS and not taken seriously is unfortunately high and because of my living situation I do not have the time to be going back and forth. Does my symptoms line up with bowel cancer? Should I get an immediate appointment? Should I be concerned? 

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    Hello Moiii,

    do your symptoms line up with something not as it should be----l think you know the answer to your own question, just not what, and you will not if you do not get it seen too.Alternatively you could continue to ignore it until you reach a point where its got somuch worse and you can no longer do so. 

    Sorry l could put it more gently, but where do you think someone writing back to you is going to have the neccesary skills to diagnose from your written words.Be sensible and talk to a Doctor, you have a good chance of them taking you seriously than the 99.9% of those using this site that have already seen a medical professional.

    Make that appointment,

    David

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    You should definitely make an appointment. There are many possible explanations for your symptoms and bowel cancer is probably among the less likely, but the options aren't only bowel cancer or IBS. There are a whole load of possibilities - at your age, IBD is more likely than bowel cancer - and some of them could be treated or need treatment to avoid them becoming more serious.

    I don't think you shoudl be too concerned yet. I think the first thing to do is see a doctor and see what they say. It might be something very simple that they could diagnose in one or two appointments and put your mind at rest and sort out your symptoms. And if it is something serious - which more likely means something like a polyp or Crohn's or ulcerative colitis than cancer - then the sooner it is dealt with, the better.

    Do you have access to doctors or a medical centre at uni?

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