Hi beth_n. Welcome to the forum.

At age 22 you really are very young for bowel cancer, but the rule is that if you're worred, see your GP.

As for the dubious joys of IBS, well I've suffered for the best part of 40 years.  Certainly I have flare ups for no obvious reason, even when eating foods I've had many times before. In my experience, the FODMAP diet is fantastic for some people, useful for others, and useless for many.  I fall into the useful category, where I've identified some food groups that might cause me symptoms and which I can exclude, but despite all this, I still get flare ups. FODMAP is not a magic bullet or a cure all, despite the hype. 

I don't know what medication you're one, but I have found Alverine tablets useful, but you have to take them every day before meals, plus Buscopan which you can buy over the counter. Aloe Vera juice can be useful for settling down a flare up, too.  You might find taking two or three Fybogel sachets a day helpful, too.

Please don't say that anyone is too young for bowel cancer. 

I was told continuously for 5 months I was too young at 19.  

October last year I was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer.  

Text book symptoms   I was fit ate a healthy diet.  I was ignored because of my age.  If that hadn't of happened it may have only been a polyps instead a 2 inch t4 tumour. .  I have had 25% of my bowel removed and chemo.   Share Awareness for bowel cancer in young don't discriminate. 

I presented myself to the GP at the start of 2020 with loose stools, as my mother had had bowel cancer & I was worried. I was given a FIT (Faecal Immunochemical Test), which showed there was blood in my stool, so I was sent for a colonoscopy, but nothing remarkable showed in the results (6-20% of abnormalities can be missed). I was then told I had IBS, but I argued that I had none of the symptoms - no diarrhoea, no constipation, no bloating, no cramping, no stomach pain, just looser stools than normal. Fast forward to the end of last year when I went to my GP as I was passing bright red blood, so he said he’d refer me to a colorectal clinic. I heard nothing for a few months, so complained & immediately got a referral to a private colorectal clinic, which means he’d forgotten to refer me when he said he would! The private clinic did a sigmoidoscopy & a biopsy confirmed a 2.5 cm cancerous polyp! I’m still waiting to start treatment. If I had been taken seriously when I insisted that I didn’t have IBS & had had my family history taken into consideration, perhaps I wouldn’t be where I am now! IBS must not be used as a “go-to” fob-off diagnosis - it’s dangerous!! I have family members & friends who were misdiagnosed with IBS & a couple of them actually had cancer, not IBS & 2 of them are now dead! :o(

I'm so sorry you were ignored and that you have cancer. Really hope you are being looked after now and you have a treatment plan can I ask how the diagnosis of the cancerous polyp was made? I recently had a colonoscopy and they found a 1cm sessile polyp and took 3 biopsies. The biopsy results were possible concerning changes and I've since had a ct and MRI. I'm now awaiting news. Take care 

Hi Kerry - it was the sigmoidoscopy in May this year that detected the polyp & a biopsy taken at the same time confirmed it was cancerous. I start treatment next Monday, which will take about 8 months from start to finish! I hope you hear some news soon & they sort it out for you swiftly.

Hi Kerry - it was the sigmoidoscopy in May this year that detected the polyp & a biopsy taken at the same time confirmed it was cancerous. I start treatment next Monday, which will take about 8 months from start to finish! I hope you hear some news soon & they sort it out for you swiftly.