Hi everyone,
I am new here and feel a bit of a fraud compared to the many brave people posting on this forum, as I have not been diagnosed with cancer. But I am worried sick about some symptoms and looking for any advice or comments from people who may recognise my symptoms from their own illness.
I am a 41yo male and I am booked in for a colonoscopy in about 2 weeks. I know I should just wait for the results, but unfortunately I have made the mistake of googling and am now convinced something awful is wrong.
A few weeks ago I had a bowel movement, and when I looked back, the toilet was full of bright red blood (mixed in the water, on the loo roll, on the sides of the toilet etc). The stool itself didn't seem to have blood in it, but it was hard to tell because the water was red. I have not experienced this before or since, other than some occasional tiny spots of blood on the toilet roll which I have always dismissed as piles or something similar.
For the last few years, I have had increasing incidents of diarrhea to the point that I now almost always have loose stools and a diarrhea incident a couple of times a week, usually after a large meal. I haven't really been able to figure out if it's triggered by a particular food type. It seems to get worse when I am away from home e.g. on a recent driving holiday I ended up having to regularly find a public toilet in a panic (anxiety about it definitely makes it worse!)
The specialist I saw was reluctant to suggest anything other than that I have the colonoscopy. I did some blood tests. I asked about the possibility of cancer, he said it was unlikely but tests/colonoscopy would be the best way to check. My mind is racing and I am convinced that the combination of the diarrhea and bleeding can only mean one thing. I have a parent dealing with advanced cancer and the thought of having to tell them I also have something wrong is horrible. My partner is very positive but quite dismissive, saying that the one-off nature of the bleeding probably means it's something minor like an internal haemorroid.
I have not lost any weight and don't have any pain, but I know these are not always present as symptoms anyway.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.
