# New Here (questions and concerns)



## ks2611 (May 21, 2011)

WARNING: this post contains graphic and gross descriptions. I am so embarrassed to discuss this but I am really concerned and need some help.Hello all. I am a 28 year old female experiencing abdominal pain for nearly 3 weeks now. In addition to the mild pain, I also feel pressure (like a bloated or full feeling) that is usually on my left side (but has now moved to just about every area in my abdomen). My bowel movements have been really strange as well. Constipation to diarrhea. I also have had a few very odd stools that aren't diarrhea but not formed stool either. These are probably like a thick clay consistency and stick to the toilet. The closest to normal my stool has been recently was a really narrow bowel movement (soft but formed stool). This frightened me because I read that narrow stools are a sign of colon cancer. I've had a CT scan (w/o contrast) that revealed I have something called 'malrotation' where my cecum, appendix and ascending colon are on the left. This scan also showed "moderate to large amount of stool in colon, particularly in the cecum". My CT results were otherwise normal.I had an ultrasound that showed normal abdominal organs. I just have something slightly off with the ureter for my left kidney (doctor will be discussing Monday). All of my blood work is normal. I just had a slightly elevated WBC count (doctor said it's not a big deal). Could I have IBS? Colon cancer? I'm freaking out over this. Why would this just come up out of nowhere?


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

> Could I have IBS? Colon cancer? I'm freaking out over this. Why would this just come up out of nowhere?


Yeah you could have IBS. (But you need to hear that from a Dr.) I seriously doubt you would have colon cancer. Statistically speaking alone it would be extremely RARE at your age.Unfortunately your age IS typical for IBS onset and yeah it can happen kinda out of the blue for many.Keep us posted after your Dr's appointment.And just as a hint.. "freaking out" may make all of your symptoms worse.. so I would try to reign in that anxiety if I were you.


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## scottyg354 (Jan 13, 2011)

BQ said:


> Yeah you could have IBS. (But you need to hear that from a Dr.) I seriously doubt you would have colon cancer. Statistically speaking alone it would be extremely RARE at your age.Unfortunately your age IS typical for IBS onset and yeah it can happen kinda out of the blue for many.Keep us posted after your Dr's appointment.And just as a hint.. "freaking out" may make all of your symptoms worse.. so I would try to reign in that anxiety if I were you.


Go to your Doc and make sure he hears you out. I freaked out for months thinking I had colon cancer (I'm 26). My stools were flat, constipated and diarrhea. The flat stools freaked the hell out of me. I had blood work, a colonoscopy and celiac panel testing all came back negative. Only thing's that we wrong were Hypothyroidism and I had one polyp (benign). So what I'm getting at is go to the Doc, get checked out and when you find out that nothing dire is wrong I guarantee you will feel 90% better. Not saying 100% because unfortunately there really is no 100% with IBS.


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## ks2611 (May 21, 2011)

Thanks for the replies.My appointment wasn't great. Well, nothing really came of it anyway. I had a very mild fever (99.1) which of course has me even more concerned. The doctor doesn't think this is colon cancer and she's referring me to a GI doctor. I may have another CT scan to check my kidney (I guess it's enlarged). My doctor keeps harping on me about stress, my 2 year-old son has Leukemia and is Autistic (and I have a 16 month-old as well), but I sincerely doubt stress is going to cause these symptoms. I'm sure the stress isn't helping but it's not causing this.How can I convince the GI doctor that I need a colonoscopy? I'm afraid they will write this off as IBS or something minor when it could be something really severe.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Stress didn't break the gut (usually IBS is started as damage that doesn't heal right after a GI infection) however high stress will cause whatever part is damaged to have much more severe symptoms than if you were not so stressed out. IBS causes many, sometimes severe symptoms that can be very disruptive. Colon cancer usually is silent until you are almost dead from it.If you had asthma, the lungs wouldn't have been damaged from the stress but your asthma would be acting up big time when you are stressed out. There is a reason a college friend of mine died from his asthma during finals. The stress always made that flare up something awful.If you have no symptoms of anything that is severe that can happen at your age (unless you never told your doctor 1/2 your relative died of colon cancer by 45 you'll be struck by lighting before you'd come down with colon cancer, probably several times) it typically is 95-99% certain they will find absolutely nothing in the colonoscopy. That is if your blood work and stool analysis is normal. One of the reasons they don't automatically scope everyone with clear IBS symptoms and nothing in the blood or stool (or blood in the stool or other red flag symptoms) is that invasive testing usually makes IBS worse for next to no benefit. Except for a few families with a polyp disorder, colon cancer is a disease of the elderly, which is why routine screening starts at 50 rather than 15.If you have blood in your stools, or abnormal blood work (or other red flag symptoms) they would schedule a colonoscopy because then the risk of making you worse is worth the benefit of knowing what you are really dealing with.One reason doctors harp on stress is stress makes everything worse. There has never been a disease or disorder where the doctor says the cure is to not get enough sleep, stop eating right, and get a much more stressful job/living situation.







It would be so much easier if stress was the cure, but stress management really is something pretty much everyone needs to do more of even if they are healthy, but more so when they have a health problem.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

I agree with Kathleen and I just wanted to tell you I am so sorry your little one is so ill! Just explain everything, including how you feel about what is going on in your life rigth now & how you feel about a colonoscopy, to the GI Dr.Keep us posted!


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## ks2611 (May 21, 2011)

Thank you for the helpful replies. I am trying my best to manage stress and keep my anxiety to a minimum. This is just so scary because IBS symptoms are so similar to colon cancer (according to the sites I've checked). I'm also experiencing new symptoms that began last night. I now have lower abdominal pain (on the left and center mostly) that is like a pulsating and tingling feeling. I just hope nothing else pops up before my GI appointment next week.


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## ks2611 (May 21, 2011)

Just a brief update. The GI doctor didn't have any answers but he did put me on Amitiza and Bentyl. The Amitiza has worked so well. Constipation is gone and no more weird stools. I do have some pain and I don't like to take Bentyl because it makes me really dizzy. I am also taking Prilosec.I forgot to mention that I am having a colonoscopy later this month. He said that's the only way to rule out colon cancer. I don't have many red flags but he said I could have one if I was really concerned (which I was). I may cancel now that the medication is working.


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