Bowel Issues after cervical cancer

Hi Loulou pee 

I’m sorry to read you have this additional worry after your treatment. The fit test only identifies that there has been blood found, but cannot indicate where it is from or why it is happening. 

The colonoscopy is the “gold standard” next step to check your bowel, and there can be lots of reasons for the blood being found-radiation proctitis being one of them, but it could be piles, a tear, irritable bowel etc.

I haven’t had this happen myself, but if others have they will hopefully be along to tell you their experiences. I hope everything goes well at your colonoscopy and that there is nothing serious going on-you are usually told at the time if they see or find anything of concern.

Sarah xx

Hi Loulou pee

I still get blood and slime during bowel motions, and occasionally quite significant amounts of blood, 8+ years post treatment. Have had 2 colonoscopies, one in 2022 and one earlier this year, both of which just revealed post radiation changes and one showed a small benign polyp.

Hope all goes well for you.

Hi Lou 

I have had exactly the same - colonoscopy prep was worse than the actual procedure 

I have been diagnosed with radiation colitis and have changed my diet completely as it terrified me. 
I will be thinking of you and hope all results come back ok for you 

debs x 

Thank you everyone; I have just discovered that they are doing a face to face appointment now on Thursday before deciding if I need a colonoscopy.

Hi , I also have had vowels problems but it mostly started after radiotherapy and brachytherapy which I thought was odd. I suffer from lots of mucus but more embarrassing is that I don’t get any warning signs . I have normal bowel movements so no diarrhoea etc just this mucus . I have mentioned this to my cancer nurse but was told it’s normal etc . I have taken to wearing pads when going out . Strangely it doesn’t happen everyday but about 75 percent of time . I must admit  thankfully there has been no blood . I do get collickly pain sometime and have found foods I used to eat upset my stomach . While im on here can anyone please explain about the ongoing checks ? I’ve been told I’ll have 3 month checkup for couple years . I’m really grateful to have these checks but can anyone advise what they entail etc is it internals or scans . Val 

Hi Granny55

Sorry to hear that you are regularly experiencing mucus from your bowel, i can understand how stressful that must be, especially as it is happening without warning - i would definitely mention this to your consultant that you will see for your 3 monthly checks, my bowel movements were way too frequent and unpredictable post radiotherapy/brachy and i always checked in with my consultant about it. When i got to 18 months post treatment she recommended a colonoscopy to take a look as although she was confident it was as a result of treatment (damage to the bowel from brachy which can happen unfortunately) she wanted to rule out another possible cause.

I did not have the best experiences with the CNS team at my hospital - an example is that a CNS referred me to a wig clinic as she stated i would loose my hair during chemo, i checked with my consultant and she said that my hair may thin but the type and dose of the chemo i was given (cisplatin) did not typically lead to complete loss of hair. I was relieved i double checked because i was going to shave my head before treatment which would have been upsetting and unnecessary based on the CNS advice - this is just one example of not being given accurate information so i prefer to share all my concerns directly with my consultant whom i have a trusting doctor/patient relationship with. I know there are some amazing CNS out there but for me i always check things out with my consultant too.

In regards to the 3 month checks, i always have bloods taken approximately two weeks before and they test for lots of things Renal,liver and bone profiles, magnesium, squamous cell cancer antigen, white cell count, red cell count, haemoglobin HCT MCV MCH RDW and platelet count, Neutrophiles, moncytes, lymphocytes, eosinophils,basophils and xe Nucleated RBCs - my consultant willthen go over the results at the start of the appointment and have a check into how i have been and whether i am worried about anything, asking about any blood/pain/symptoms etc and will then do an internal examination. Around the same time of my consultant appointment, i often have a scan (PET/MRI/CT) these were more frequent in the first year

Hope all goes well at your check 

Hi Val

Bowel issues can be common after pelvic radiotherapy as the bowel is the field of treatment when you’re having it done. Sometimes this can be managed by diet, so it might be an idea to keep a food diary to see if any foods in particular are giving you the colicky pain. Sometimes you might need further investigations if problems persist to see if you have any inflammation for example, and to check if there has been any damage done to your bowel caused by the radiotherapy. 

Ladies report different protocols for ongoing checks, but for me the plan was 3 monthly check ups for 2 years, followed by check ups further apart for a total of 5 years. I was told there would be no scans unless I had any concerning symptoms, so my check ups involved a chat about how I was doing, a feel around my tummy and groin to check I had no raised lymph nodes then an internal examination. I only had 3 of these check ups before there was concern about something seen on the internal examination, which then led to an mri and confirmation of a recurrence, but other ladies would be able to tell you what their post treatment checks were like if they had them for longer than I did. 

Sarah xx