Hello. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I have bowel cancer. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2016. My grandmother had colon cancer. For several months now, I've been having abdominal pains I didn't used to have. I've also been feeling very tired all the time. There is also blood. My bloodwork showed I was anemic and low in folates. I have very slow bowels. I often wake up nauseous. But I've been too chicken sh*t to get another colonoscopy as the first one I had in 2016 was awful and I can't bring myself to go through that again. Also, part of me is scared to find out. But I am also getting really fed up with always feeling unwell and constantly having stomach issues. What can I do.
Hi jg898 and a very warm welcome to the Macmillan Community but sorry to hear about your concerns.
Navigating a diagnostic journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but getting support from people who have walked or are walking the ‘exact same' journey can help a lot…… I have a completely different type of cancer but the one thing I can say is the sooner you find out the exact truth the better the outcome if you do unfortunately have cancer…. so please do get checked out as soon as possible.
This New to Community area is like our reception desk where we look to try and direct you to the best part of the Community for you to get support. The Community is actually divided into dedicated Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so can I recommend that you look to join and put up your own post in our dedicated Bowel Cancer Support Group.
This group is a safe place to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support. To connect in with the group please click on the link below…….
Bowel (colon and rectum) cancer
……. and once the group page opens you will see a [Black - Click to Join - Banner] at the bottom of the page, click in this box and this will then confirm that you have joined the group.
You can then introduce yourself to the group by putting up your very own post by clicking [+ Create new post] or [+] in the top right of the group page.
You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.
The Macmillan Support Line is open between 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00…… this service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support or just a listening ear.
We also have our Ask an Expert section but do allow 3 working days for a reply.
Do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community.
