Small Hard Lump up inside Rectum

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I've been searching to see if anyone else on here has had a similar symptom, so thought I'd start a new thread - particularly should anyone in future come searching for similar symptoms.

For the past four weeks, I've felt - intermittently - as if there was something in my anal canal low down.

A GP saw me yesterday and did a DRE (Digital Rectal Examination - with finger) and she felt a small hard lump up my rectum and has put me on the cancer pathway to get it looked at by a colorectal consultant (not anal cancer department, I noticed on her referral letter which I found in my NHS App).

I will update as I go along in case anyone else searches for a similar symptom.

I thought the sensation of the lump in my anal canal was to do with my vaginal atrophy and was possibly a rectocele forming, so was I shocked when she did a cancer referral.

So it's the waiting game for me now - for appointment and results. Expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I should add I recently did a QFiT test which came a couple of weeks ago which back normal last week (I had a diverticular flare-up in March) - though reading some of the other threads a normal QFiT test doesn't always mean anything, though I guess it's a bit reassuring.

I had a colonoscopy in 2022 as a QFiT test back then showed blood in sample, and some polyps were taken away and some were sent for analysis (which came back normal).

At the moment, I have no bleeding or pain, and no CHIB (change in bowel habits - at the moment well-formed stools 2-3 times a day, depending on how big my meals have been) - just this strange sensation in my anal canal low down which comes and goes, though the GP put on her referral letter it was at the back left. (When I logged into my NHS App I could see her referral letter and she marked it on the Macmillan Safety Net criteria as that she was "Unsure it is cancer and could have other causes").

After the appointment when I got home, I put on a glove with lube and felt and I could see what she meant. A small hard lump about a finger length up (though to me it felt in the middle, not back left. I'm guessing nothing at all should be felt inside the rectum).

In 2017 I had three 'In Situ" melanomas removed, so I think my surgery take that into account, hence the referral.

I will update in due course.

BrumDog over 1 year ago in reply to Upoupoupo

I see you've replied to Remi1230, but will give my own update anway.

Mine wasn't anything malignant in the end and I saw a colorectal consultant who confirmed the lump my GP had felt had gone!

However, what has happened is that I have a gynaecological issue. So what I felt in my rectum was actually the beginning of a prolapse. My NHS women's health physio did a rectal exam last month and confirmed my rectum has collapse - right left, front and back, with pouching. So it sounds like a rectocele. It causes me discomfort every day. My case will be considered by a multi-disciplinary team later this month. I will probably ahve to have a defecography (I am now having trouble pooping with feeling of fullness in rectum, and inability to evacuate bowels properly). All very depressing for me, and although it's not life-trheatening, it's certianly life-limiting and affects my mental health. The surgery to correct a rectocele is not pleasant with a long recovery.

Upoupoupo over 1 year ago in reply to BrumDog

Are you by any chance postpartum? There is a facebook group with help tips for women facing prolapses.

I myself have rectocele. It’s very manageable with pelvic floor physiotherapy. If you haven’t seen one please ask for referral. They can teach you for example- splinting. Or you can read about that. I myself became asymptomatic by doing exercises and using squatty stool.

I understand how hopeless this feels but there are many approaches to manage rectoceles non surgically!

BrumDog over 1 year ago in reply to Upoupoupo

Thank you. I'm 65 so in menpause. I got a bladder prolapse 6 years ago after uswing a mini trampoline (to try and keep fit haha...) and lived with that with no real problems, but since May have had ano-rectal problems so it seems something else has prolapsed. I don't need to splint at the moment - have good bowel moments in the morning, but then sometimes can get bits dropping down into pouch all day, though sometimes it settles. I feel like I'm sitting on a ball sometimes, and there's heaviness and dragging, i just have no idea what's going on. this is on a whole new level than the bladder prolapse. I'm on several prolapse support groups for women with prolapse - it has been very helpful, and I've learnt a lot 9the main take away is that we're all so different) but have had to stop reading for a while as many of the stories on there are so full of misery and suffering with the various conditions/failed surgeries.

I do have low estrogen so apply a toppical cream for that.

I'm desperately trying to avoid surgery - would like my POPY pessary to be a little more helpful for me, I think it's slipped so will go back to the pessary nurse.

I'm also doing a good regime of physical therapy which I am sure has helped, by NHS women's physio said my pelvic floor function was "excellent". So it is a bit of a mystery why something else has prolapsed. I am thinking it might be to do with a rectal haemorrhage I suffered in early May (possible due to the cryptosprodium outbreak in Brixham in May - I live udner the water plant that was affected).

It's strange, but when I when to the GP with my issue I always felt it was a gynae issue, not a colorectal one, so what a shock it was when she did a 2-week cancer pathway - it was reassuring to have that checked out, but I didn't have the language at the time to try and communicate to the consultant that I felt it was gynae problem.

I may end up seeing him again if he's part of the multi-disciplianry team.