Hi all
I wanted to share my experience to help anyone waiting for colonoscopy following a positive FIT TEST.
I had on off symptoms of cramping, indigestion, constipation and diarrhoea for a 4-5 yrs that ramped up over past 6-7 months but had no visible blood in stool.
I am a NHS senior nurse and felt these symptoms may be due IBS so I self managed over last winter into spring but flare ups became more frequent and I noticed the usual OTC meds not working as well.
Then I had Covid and post infection when I should have started to feel better I felt dreadful, extremely tired and no appetite, which was likely post Covid but I asked GP to run a set bloods. While there I mentioned my IBS concerns and she requested I submit a stool sample.
Bloods all came back normal, FIT test came back at 10! GP did 2 week referral and I immediately started to panic, imagining the absolute worst case scenarios.
My referral to an appointment time was 10 days and I had the colonoscopy this morning.
Nothing abnormal found thank god, Consultant said haemorrhoid was the likely cause of positive FIT test. Some diverticulitis seen that I can manage with diet.
The procedure was done under sedation and not as bad as I expected and I had some Entonox throughout, the worse part for me was the bowel prep!
Drinking so much fluid made me nauseous but I didn’t get the cramping I expected I would get when having diarrhoea… just spent a lot of time in my bathroom. I felt weak, headachy and had muscle aches in legs. Didn’t really sleep well last night due to laxative effects and muscle aches oh and anxiety!
Being a nurse doesn’t help because a little knowledge and awareness ramps up al ready off scale anxiety levels, the team who looked after me were amazing which really helped bring down my anxiety and my blood pressure!
I would urge anyone with and change in bowel habit, increased tiredness bleeding, pain, cramps etc. to escalate asap to get the investigations such as a FIT test and if needed colonoscopy.
A positive FIT test doesn’t necessarily mean bowel cancel, even though I knew this I did consider not attending out of fear but so happy I did. The wait for the colonoscopy is dreadful and I would stay off the internet if you can while waiting to be seen.
Good luck to anyone going through what I have these past 10 days xx
