Concerned/Symptoms

Cancer
1

Apologies for long post in advance.

49 yo male, for the record. For the past 2 months, I have been in a frenzy. A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with GERD, based on upper right and left quadrant pain. A month later, I was freaking out over this, plus stool color change. Went to gastro, did abdominal ultrasound, blood work and a stool test. All came back clear. In June of this year, had upper quadrant pain again, but when I went to bathroom, for a few days, not much coming out. Freaked out, I first went to Urgent Care. Got told GERD again. Not satisfied, went to gastro next day. He said same, didn't seem concerned. However, I remained in panic mode since. Stools have been all over the place- some well formed, some soft. Sometimes high volume, sometimes just a bit(should be noted that I have always had stomach issues since childhood but never diagnosed with anything). And frequency for me is 2-3 times daily.

Now, ever since that June appt, I have lost 10 lbs. To be fair, my diet was all over- tons of fruits and veggies(had days where it was hard to eat, but ate), and at times was able to just eat anything. Lost 8 lbs in first month, when the panic was super high, and maybe the other two when it may have lessened? Or when I started eating differently?

Anyway, gastro doc did more blood and stool work. Again, all came back fine. I was so obsessed over stool, I took pics of every movement for 2 months. He looked at pics, was unimpressed- thought nothing about size, color, shape. A few even had mucus. He didn't seem worried. Asked him if he was worried about the weight loss, he said "no, but watch it." GP said he wasn't concerned. Thinks anxiety, because it began since the first gastro dr appt in June. Referred me to a psychiatrist.

Have colonoscopy scheduled for October. But I am really afraid something is wrong, and panicking because I feel like my drs dont.

I don't feel sick at all- never had a fever. Never nauseous, no vomiting. Fstigue? I can't say, because I am able to do everything I need/want to with no issues. As in, I don't feel overly tired, to my understanding. Occasional night sweats. No problems sleeping, however. And no issues eating for the past few weeks at all.

A doctor friend believes this is all ibs, but I am not sure. She says my anxiety over it all- and symptom checkkng online, along with taking stool pics is making everything worse. My wife feels the same, and I think that's what my GP believes, too.

Any thoughts from fellow forum members? I am driving all around me crazy, as well as myself, and it's not fair to them. Is a psychiatrist the right move, too?

Thank you in advance, and again- apologies.

2

Hi Rob, 

Sounds like the GP, gastro and doctor friend are on the right track. No blood in your stool? that should be reassuring. Colon Cancer is caused by polyps growing in the wall of your colon. They bleed, some a lot, some a little. if you had a stool test, it would measure the amount of blood in your stool. 

My symptom was blood. I was told hemmoriods from giving birth twice back to back. But, when the symptoms didn't go away, I went back and demanded a colonoscopy. Low and behold a polyp was found, removed and tested for cancer. Came back negative but given a few years, it could have turned to cancer. A FEW YEARS. 

Relax, deep breath. All signs and symptoms point to IBS or GERD. The colonoscopy in October should hopefully settle the matter and put you at ease. 

Keep us posted. I go for my yearly colonoscopy in Oct as well 

3

Hi Vwerin,

Thank you for the reply! I cannot tell you how you've eased my mind. I should also have mentioned that I have a friend going through CC right now. Spoke with him a month ago, and firsr thing he asked was "seeing blood in stool? Stool red/maroon/black? No? Well, no blood, no cancer."

I think the weight loss lately was been the most disconcerting symptom for me lately. Then again, I have never been in such a panic mode before, either.

Anyway, thank you for your reply. I actually posted in the ibs community recently, and had my fears temporarily eased. But found myself back in panic mode.

Good luck with your colonoscopy, too!!! Thanks again!

4

Sounds like all of your anxiety is making this worse. No blood in stool is a good sign. But even if you do have blood in your stools, it could be something other than bowel cancer, like bowel disease (colitis and crohn's). That's what happened to my brother when he was only 16.

Mucous in stools is quite common in IBS, and that could be what you have. A colonoscopy will sure ease your mind, and I don't think you should have fear going into it, since you had an abdominal ultrasound which can usually pick up tumors relating to cancer. Abdominal issues can have many causes besides bowel cancer.