I've never written in a forum so this is a first time but anxiety is killing me..This is my story: Two weeks ago I went in a journey and travelled about 10h by car and train; when I arrived there, I got constipated for 2-3 days in which I eliminated only few small and thin stools-that started to worry me because I learnt that pencil stools are patognomonic for colon tumors. After that I got more and more loose stools and by this week they've become greenish, somewhere like the 5 type in the Bristol scale, 2-3 times a day. I don't feel any pain only a persistent discomfort on the left side of the abdomen and I never noticed any sign of blood. Even if I know the risk is minimal, I'm quite scared about the possibility of a left colon cancer. I'm a 23 years old male, with no history of colon cancers or poliposis in my family, and I'm not overweight. I'm planning to go to a specialist if the symptoms persist because I'm getting very stressed about this possibility. What do you think?
P.S. Sorry for my English, I'm not a native speaker.
Hi
You maybe reading to much into this on the Internet and this will drive you crazy. At 23 you have a very very low chance of a cancer of the bowel.
What you describe is not inconsistent with paradoxical diarrhea. The blockade is still inside you, and the loose mucous bm oozes around it. You need to pass this stool, for many reasons. If gentle laxatives do not clear this, you would be well advised to take an enema. Not a chemical purge, you've done enough to your gut already. If that doesn't work then a trip to a physician is called for.
Thank you for your reply. Today I started to have almost normal stools ( the colour at least was nornal) but I'm still worried because I keep feeling that vague discomfort on my left iliac fossa and when I tried to palpate the region I felt sth like a flexible cord/ belt. It could be a fecaloma. I am myself a medical student and I think about a lot of possibilities but the idea of a tumor is frightening me.
My friend you are a medical student and this is why you worry! This is most likely an impacted stool. You are not going to be able to self examine your stomach. If you have a impacted stool your colon will be blocked and as such you can get the normal mucus and watery and soft stool as it passes by. You may also get hard stool as bits break off. The thin pencil stools will appear from this. colon cancer at your age is very rare but impacted stools are common. They can dry out in the body to form a rock! Sigmoid colon area where the bend is. Get some laxatives
I thank you for your response, it quite encouraged me. I took some rectal laxatives and it's all normalizing, except that my stools are still loose, not exactly a diarrhoea. And I still feel a vague mobile sausage-like mass (probably my sigmoid colon) in the left iliac fossa. I decided though to go to a specialist next week to assure myself. I know my odds of colon cancer are tiny but I still worry about it.Thank you again for your piece of advice.