Convinced I Have Bowel Cancer

Hi,

I'm 17 years old and a boy

Symptoms:

• Blood on toilet paper - occasion 1 - I passed a firm stool that wasn't loose and when I went to wipe, there was bright red blood on the toilet paper. A lot of blood. Not a HUGE amount but it couldn't have been considered a small amount either. I was shocked. I went again about an hour later and there was only a small amount on the paper but I noticed some blood dripping into the bowl. The bleeding stopped after a couple of hours and didn't happen again for 3 weeks. It was ONLY on the toilet paper though, not in the stool.

• Blood on toilet paper - occasion 2 - About 3 weeks after the first incident happened, I went to toilet again and when I wiped there was a small trace of bright red blood on the paper again. 

• Blood on toilet paper - occasion 3 - A few days later after the second time, I wiped and again, there was red blood on the paper but it looked like it could've been from wiping too hard or something.

• POSSIBLE blood in stool. Once I got really obsessed and passed a looser stool onto some toilet paper and examined it.. and I noticed very very very small vague traces of darker material. It didn't look a whole lot like blood but it looked suspicious. It could've been like the air in the stool or something, but the stool itself wasn't black, it was a normal brown colour. So I'm not 100% sure that this was blood.

• Mucus in stool. I did notice about a month ago that there was noticeable mucus in my looser stool. This hasn't happened since to the best of my knowledge. There was also a clear sticky mucus discharge out of my anus. 

• On and off constipation/diarrhea/normal stools. One day it feels like I'll be constipated, the next I'll have looser stools, then diarrhea and then the stool will be normal. I don't mean they change like every day, but frequently like every few days or every week or so. I don't know. I do have a poor diet that often lacks fibre and I eat a lot of junk food, and of course I'm ALWAYS WORRYING about something so that can unsettle my bowel. For instance, I'm constipated now and have been for about a day.. could be anxiety but I don't know.

• Thinner stools. I have noticed that my stools often look thinner. I only started paying attention to my stools over the last month or so but I've noticed when they're more solid, or not loose, they're thinner. Not like seriously thin but just like they've been pressed down on slightly with a board or something. They're not like ribbon thin or anything though. I did worry about bowel cancer 4 years ago and when I did, I noticed my stools were thinner then too and I read anxiety could cause this due to tension in your gut or something. But I'm literally ALWAYS worrying about something so maybe that could be the cause of it.

• This only started yesterday, but when I woke up after about 7-8 hours sleep, I felt tired all day, like I needed a nap. And the same today, after 8-9 hours sleep. It's not like exhaustion but I just feel like I kinda want to go back to sleep. Before yesterday though, I felt very much alert and not tired. Maybe it's because I'm worrying so much? But I was worrying before and didn't feel tired so..

• It also feels like there's a lump on the left side of my abdomen, on the same level as my hip but up a bit so it's next to the bone above my hip. It's not necessarily a lump but whenever I tense and feel my abdomen wall, it feels like a certain bit next to that bone bulges out a TINY bit more than the rest. It's probably normal, my family have felt it and they said it's normal and when I went to see the doctor (read more below), she didn't feel anything abnormal but I didn't tense when she was feeling me. It's only when I tense I can feel it. 

• I have no stomach pain or bloating or pain after I eat or whatever, or feel full. No vomiting. I also have my appetite still.

They're my main array of symptoms, that I can think of off the top of my head.

I did go to the doctors a couple of days ago and she checked for piles. I didn't have them. So she said I had an anal fissure (which makes sense because it was like I was bleeding directly on the paper rather than it being mixed in with my stools), but the bleeding was entirely painless and it didn't feel like I cut myself anywhere in there. She also felt my abdomen and said it felt all normal. And she said only to worry if I had 6 weeks of like constant diarrhoea. But I read that it can also alternate and my stools are like mostly thinner too..

Also, I'm a MASSIVE hypochondriac. It only just came back with this worry, but 4 years ago I used to worry about my health CONSTANTLY and it just would never give up. I then started worrying about other things constantly until now when I noticed blood for the second time and started convincing myself that I had colon cancer.

Now I'm FULLY convinced that I'm going to die, like I feel depressed. I know it's very rare in 17 year olds but there have been cases