Hi Dan. 

Yes, you do need to push for an answer.  Blood in the stool isn't normal, and given your other symptoms,  you do need answers. 

The two week cancer pathways are good, but once cancer has been eliminated, the specialists consider that they've done their job and lose interest in you - or rather, they have to concentrate on the next lot people coming through. This means it's up to your GP to follow through and get you a diagnosis, and probably you need to do some chivvying to get a referral to a suitable consultant. 

So, go back to your GP and ask for a referral.  You'll probably have to wait, so the quicker you can get in the queue, the better. 

Thanks, I'll get it chased up at the doctors. I just presumed all this would be done anyway unitl a conclusion/diagnosis. But you're probably right that once they've done the urgent checks for cancer they move onto the next case. 

Hi Dan,

Have you been abroad on holiday before all this started? The reason I ask is that I lost a lot of weight over a 6 week period & suffered blood in my stools. A colonoscopy showed no cancer so after a few stool tests it was found I had contracted giardia whilst on holiday in Madeira. Giardia is a parasite that lives in infected water (I'd got it from a prawn dish) and it's 2 weeks before symptoms appear so no one thought it was due to my holiday! The blood was due to an internal haemorrhoid (which show as bright red blood) caused by the giardia. 

I hope your GP arranges for some more tests to find the cause of your problem.

Angie

Thanks

No not been on holiday before it all, but I am partial to eat alot of seafood so you never know. I've been back to the doctors since who did another exam and didn't find anything. But they admitted that unless I chase up with them to persue a diagnosis nothing would happen after the colonoscopy. They are writing to the specialist for further follow up. Hopefully I get an answer, and its something and nothing.

Danbo - any updates to your post ?  I am in exactly the same situation and revisiting GP every 2 or 3 months when I get blood

Hello, im having similiar issues to you and was wondering how things went for you? I am due to have a colonscopy soon

How are you getting on Anon545 ?  I still have intermittent blood.  The colonoscopy revealed nothing except diverticular disease but I am finding it hard to determine whether this is causing the bleeding periodically or not (no further information from the hospital).  They also noted a lipoma but said this was just fat tissue and nothing to worry about.  I am ok for months and then have some blood ......

Hello Dan,

                  the thing l picked up upon in your post was the fact that you can go so long between passing stool,and wonder if this is connected to the blood.Having reared pigs over a lifetime we would certainly notice blood , and sometimes sloughed bowel lining in stoools if another problem had caused their bowel to stall. It always resolved instantly the moment they returned to normality, and we put this down to impacted faeces irritating the bowel lining and hence bleed. Giving the physiolgy of the pig is so very close to ours, one could imagine the same scenario being applicable, so l would definately raise this with your doctor,since 4 days is not normal,but can be caused by many reasons,

                                                                        take care,

                                                                                             David

Hi,

it's abit weird getting a reply so long after I posted it, but i can give you an update as to what happened since.

i ended up having a ct scan in jan last year for my problem, which didn't show any thing wrong in my bowels etc. But it did show up an unrelated issue in my spine which after 9 months of being fobbed off about turned out to be male metastatic breast cancer. Which was not great and i have had loads of surgery/treatment since.

with regards the blood in the stool, it's turned out to be a combination of slight haemorrhoids and anal fissures mainly caused by constipation from pain killers. My advice would be first to get it checked out by your gp, improve your diet, take stool softeners and mild laxatives. If the blood keeps appearing keep pushing for a full body scan to rule things out.

Dan