Fear of Colorectal Cancer

I'm 25 Years old, since mid January I've had a change in bowel movements. Before, I would have once a day, and it's usually a large easy passing, but after, it became a mild constipation, which I have had mutiple times throughout my life so didn't think much of it. Took some ducolax and thought it would be over. But still ended up being constipation, so I decided to fix my diet, eat more fibre and veggies. Nothing changed and constipation kept going, I ended up being too reliant on ducolax for a bowel movement. Recently, I've been experiencing thin stools, and the past two days, it's become dark (I dunno if this has to do with what I've eaten because I have eaten a pack of oreos that day or deep internal bleeding). It usually doesn't get worse than that. I haven't seen any bright blood in stool, I get some twitching, gurgling and dull pains in left abdomen along with thin stools and constipation but that's usually it. 

I plan to visit the GP in a week or so once I receive my medical card, but I'm concerned that I might be making things worse by waiting so long to get checked. On top of that, in case the GP passes it on as something simple, how to I make them push for more tests and scans? I've read too many stories of illnesses getting worse because of doctors ignoring patients and passing it off as so and so because the odds that it is something series is extremely low. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  • Hello Eimi

    I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with some ongoing health concerns. It sounds like you've made some reasonable adjustments to your diet to try and see if this aides the situation. It can also help to increase your fluid and exercise as these also have an impact on your digestive system as well of course as increased anxiety. 

    Ultimately it will be your GP who will be best placed to arrange any appropriate tests or investigations if things don't settle so do give them a call to make an appointment. 

    I hope that things settle and improve for you soon. 

    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator 

  • Hello,

    I have ongoing issues with my abdomen, some similar to you.

    You could just be backed up - if you have faecal impaction then low dose of an OTC laxative won't clear it. 

    I did find the GPs very quick to dismiss things, which I found extremely irritating. I was told I was constipated over and over. I now know this wasn't the case. Luckily, I don't have bowel cancer, but that doesn't change the fact that the 3/4 Drs I saw at my NHS GP surgery were all wrong. Unfortunately, this also means the referral they made would have been marked as non-urgent!

    The only advice I can suggest is to adjust your diet, as Moderator Jenn suggests. You could try cutting lactose and wheat, so if the Dr suggests this as an issue you can immediately rule it out.

    However, whilst my experience with the GPs was frustrating, don't forget that it could well be something simple!