# pencil thin stools



## jay cut

I have been lurking on this board for months but have never posted. I am a big worrier. 35 yr old father of 2. I have lower left stomach cramps almost every day. once to twice a week I have pain in my extreme lower left abdomials almost in the groin area but not quite. this comes and goes within 2 minutes and its gone!I am always sterssed out. I also have weird bm's. Diarreah once per week. sometoimes I go 2 feet long and the diameter is an oval. sometimes it is FLAT and in 2 inch segments, and this morning I had pencil thin that looked like spaghettii which was my 2nd BM of the day. the 1st was 2 inch flat pieces. Should i be worried about colon cancer? I always assumed I had IBS because of my symptoms but the search engines really scared me this time. PLEASE HELP! Thanx.


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## Kathleen M.

Sounds more like you are tending to be just on the diarrhea side of the stool continuum from normal.With a tumor the shape would be the same every time.Stools that are a bit softer than usual often end up being thinner and tend to break apart exactly like you describe.At 35 it is extremely unlikely you have colon cancer. It is very rare in people under 50. If you have relatives that have died of colon cancer before the age of 50 you should have had a colonoscopy by now as some families have colons that make lots of polyps (like hundreds of them at the start of adulthood where usually in anyone else you'd see a handful of them after the age of 50). Colon cancer usually starts in the polyps.It is quite rare for colon cancer to cause thin stools anyway as the tumor would have to be in just the right spot to do that. Most of the time colon cancer causes no symptoms, which is why they do screening colonoscopies in people over 50. People don't have symptoms to let you know what is going on.


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## SpAsMaN*

Do you eat salt?I think it can dehydrat the bowel creating pencil poo.


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## Finnish guy

Hi. I have sometimes small flat and thin stools and it has tend to break apart. I think that cancer is unlikely because sometimes I have normal stools. Am I right? With cancer stools would be every time thin?


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## Kathleen M.

While it is common to believe a tumor would cause a consistent change to pencil thin stools (and the tumor would not grow and shrink from BM to BM) it apparently is just a medical myth.There is no actual data to say tumors ever do that when in the colon just people thinking the guy in the 1800's that proposed the idea sounded good and it seems logical so it gets repeated over and over. Just because a lot of people have passed that idea on doesn't mean there ever was any data to back it up.There are a lot of things like that. Everyone says it, everyone always said it, but no one really checks to see if that it is something actually known and has hard data to back it up or just something that sounded like it ought to be right.All the data we have suggests that thin stools are because of the stool consistency, not some tumor blocking the outlet. Some consistencies just can't bulk out and be full wide stool.


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## eswar

jay cut said:


> I have been lurking on this board for months but have never posted. I am a big worrier. 35 yr old father of 2. I have lower left stomach cramps almost every day. once to twice a week I have pain in my extreme lower left abdomials almost in the groin area but not quite. this comes and goes within 2 minutes and its gone!I am always sterssed out. I also have weird bm's. Diarreah once per week. sometoimes I go 2 feet long and the diameter is an oval. sometimes it is FLAT and in 2 inch segments, and this morning I had pencil thin that looked like spaghettii which was my 2nd BM of the day. the 1st was 2 inch flat pieces. Should i be worried about colon cancer? I always assumed I had IBS because of my symptoms but the search engines really scared me this time. PLEASE HELP! Thanx.


Hi Jay,I have the same symptoms as exactly what you have. I am from India.. and I am worrying about this that this is related to colon cancer ( no vomitting, no bloody stool and no weight loss). can you please update me if any.. doctor told me i have IBS. but my worry doesn't end. should i go for colonoscopy..Regards,


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## Carlos30

I'm almost 21(male) h:5 10 weight:210lbsi've never been pooped more than 3-4 times a week in my life but lately for like 15 days now i've been to the bathroom just 2 times. I dont have pain or smth but my stomach is gurgling and bloating the whole time and when i go 2 the toilet and push it, barely smth goes out. pencil like stools.I used 2 go hard sometimes before and sometimes just soft but now idk whats wrong with me.I've lost a lil bit of weight and i sweat at night.I'm STD free and i dont smoke or drink alcohol(except once a month ago when i drank 2 much and couldnt walk







) i dont do drugs. i'm not 2 active. i started goin at the gym but my muscles got sore and i think 2 much lactic acid was released so i stopped it and now the pain is gone. what worries me is this pencil thin stools and sweating at night and also my bones r crackin lately when i move(they make sound). is it coz I'm underweight? note that i also have been suffering from anxiety and i've been a lil depressed lately.I'm scared and i just dont wanna die from any type of cancer(god forbid). and we have never had anyone in our family die from that.I'd really appreciate any meaningful answer. i'm really worried. i'm thinkin 2 get my blood checked for sugar level,calcium level and iron level and also a complete stomach check up. I just dont know how to make this stange feeling disappear. when i go 2 the toilet and i wanna poop i feel like i have an apple stuck inside and cant push it. if i use laxatives i can do it but i dont wanna use them. i have lots of gas. i really cant understand myself coz sometimes i used to have hard thick stools and sometimes watery for a while and soft bit this is smth that came 2 me out of the blue.any specialist or advisor answer would be highly appreciated or someone that has had similar problem. thnx beforehand


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## Little Hedgehog

Kathleen has nailed most of what needed to be said.Just one word of advice: don't google your symptoms. Dr.Google is a very bad advisor I used to google my symptoms all the time and so far, according to Dr.Google, I think I've had every main cancer that you can have already EDIT: Whoa, didn't realize this was a 3 year old thread!


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## dejons

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to Kathleen. I am a bit like the OP and somewhat paranoid and yes, I google every time something is wrong with me - and it seems something often is lately. I am 27 years old and I was convinced I have a colon cancer before I found this thread. I had pencil-like stool today alternating with diarrhea, but my stool has changed shape to almost normal at the same time. As I am really stressed lately, I guess it could be ibs instead or even something less harmful - I'll check it with my doctor on Monday. I just wanted to say thanks as I was panicking and would be for 2-3 more days if it wasn't for Kathleen!


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## Daisy_

Hello! I have the same problem. I'm 24 years old and my grandmother died at age 81 from colon cancer. I'm stressed from my Google searching... (I know that Google is not a doctor... but that family history...  ). I have pencil stools or diarrhea almost every morning. I'm going to toilet 1 or 2 times a day. When It's happen to go in the evening (my 2nd) my stool is short but with bigger form. Sometimes I have pain lower left (down from left ovary - near the bone). Sometimes I have pain in the area of the navel (after eating). I'm worried about that "pencil thin stools".
Can be IBS? 
Anyone with that kind of problem?


 vegetarian from 10 years
"sitting disease" - work with computer
smoker


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## Fdrw

Im 36 years old. Every morning I go to the bathroom 2-3 times and usually first stool is normalish and the next are alittle flattened. I have pain very often in lower left abdomen and lower back pain on the left side as well. I have a colonoscopy 4 years ago which came back negative all the doctor said was spams. I freak out and constantly worry its cancer not sure what to do? Anyone have any thoughts or advice I would appreciate it!


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