# IBS, Fecal Impaction, Colon Cancer?



## SerenityNow05 (Feb 26, 2011)

I've been constipated for over a year now, and I'm guessing it has to do with my chronic stress/anxiety. I never paid much attention to it. Occasionally I would take some laxatives, but usually after a few days my stool would just become liquefied and so the use of laxatives wasn't necessary. However, a few months ago I noticed my stool was thinner and bowel movements became less frequent. For a while I've been thinking it's impaction. I can feel a mass inside that won't move, but wants to be evacuated. I was advised that the best way to get rid of it is to break it up manually, but I did stick my index finger up my rectum and around the corner in to the colon, and I found no hard mass. Lately I've been trying a combination of enemas, suppositories, oral laxatives and metamucil. I'm hoping it'll work within a month or two. Otherwise I'll head to the doctor. I've been avoiding the doctor for a while now because every time I visit they want me to pee in a cup and take half a dozen vials of my blood. I don't want to add someone sticking their finger up my arse to that list.My stool is the same brown colour, and I've noticed no blood in my stool or abdominal cramping (except when I take laxatives). I have no fever and my weight is perfectly healthy.Do I have IBS? Do I have an impaction? Maybe I have colon cancer?


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Now we couldn't possibly tell you that via the internet. Whether or not the Dr wants a urine sample or bloodwork done.. I really think you _need_ to see one to get this sorted out. Self-diagnosing is never a good idea.Make yourself an appointment with your Dr or a new one if you do not care for the old one. And then ask these questions there.Keep us posted on how you do and all the very best!


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## SerenityNow05 (Feb 26, 2011)

BQ said:


> Now we couldn't possibly tell you that via the internet. Whether or not the Dr wants a urine sample or bloodwork done.. I really think you _need_ to see one to get this sorted out. Self-diagnosing is never a good idea.Make yourself an appointment with your Dr or a new one if you do not care for the old one. And then ask these questions there.Keep us posted on how you do and all the very best!


I'd like to hear if anyone has some similarities to what I have. I'd only go to the doctor if I had no choice.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

There are a lot of things that can feel like a mass. Levator ani syndrome can feel like you are sitting on a ball all the time like there is some kind of mass in the rectum.If you can't feel the stool in there, then it could be other things rather than stool you are sensing.If you won't get medical tests of any kind there is not much a doctor can do. It is hard to base a diagnosis on nothing but medical history and symptoms. It takes the right data to find out what is going on.


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## regulus (Jun 7, 2011)

Hello,I hope this thread hasn't died as I've been trawling the net looking for folks with the same trouble as I.First of all, I know what you're going through! About a month ago, whilst on the gentleman's throne, I was unable to pass a very large stool. Since then, I have felt it inside me, have given myself hemorrhoids in futile attempts to expel it, and have been to the doctors. In fact, I'm going back in a few hours.My trouble is that, up to this point, I'd never have guessed that I was, evidently, prone to constipation. I've had impactions before too...must have..cos I remember when I was about 18 (17 years ago) feeling a lump on the bottom left of my tummy. Im guessing that you' re probably no stragner to this feeling...I'd always thought that it was trapped wind or something...usually after a few days, it would resolve itself so I'd not think about it again.This is the first time, however, that I've been unable to fully empty my bowels and I've been going through the same fears...yeah, the big C. True, I've also been the same as yourself: no blood, light brown colour, no weight loss, no fatigue. I wouldn't want to say, mate, but all of these are really good signs that you don't have cancer, but Im no doctor...My brother is, though, and he did his Phd on bowel cancer..It was he who's put the wind up me But, better safe than sorryI saw the date of your post and would recommend that you get down to the doc as soon as possible. I appreciate you're not wanting a finger up the bum. No one does!!However, with things of this nature, you've just gotta leave your pride on the doorstep. YOu wouldn't want to find out later that you have something more serious that could have been avoided by getting a rectal examination. The worst part for me was having two pretty nurses roll me on my side and give me an enema one of them said "hey, take this blanket" you know - for covering your bits and pieces..I'd asked "what's this for?" and she replied "to preserve your dignity" to which I replied "I'm lying here on my side, trousers round my ankles, with a young nurse ready to shove a huge enema up my back passage.There is no dignity left!"haha..well, it was an ice-breaker and we all had a good laugh. It really wasn't so bad and, at least, you don't have to look at the person doing this.Anyway, i've been on all sorts of laxatives and nothing seems to be able to shift the mass inside. An x ray revealed that there was, indeed, an impaction. I was quite stumped as Im 35 and have a reasonably healthy diet. One doc suggested that, for me, it might have been a case of too much fibre and not enough water. When you get dehydrated, your body will take water from the colon, which can result in a hard dry stool that can become almost impossible to expel. At this point, all the fruit and fibre in the world won;t really help. It will certainly keep the rest of the poop in good condition but, to date, I've found no one who can actually give me a time frame on when my impaction will resolve itself. Everyone's been quite vague. Even my bro at one point had to say "I really don't know" probably the most honest medical advice I've received. However, he seemed to think that it would eventually resolve itself inside. I mean, it's organic matter..surely the body would deal with it in time?I've also been referred to a specialist for a colonoscopy, which will either give me a fully clean bill of health and have me skipping from the hospital or will give me advance notice of something worse. Mate, in the UK, 90% of bowel cancers are treatable and there's a really high survival rate *if they are caught early enough* Chances are, you probably don't have it but wouldn't it be good for peace of mind. In the UK, bowel cancer's really commonHaving said all this though, I'm in the same boat as you. One month on, the mass stubbornly lingers - I'll be giving it a name soon). I'm still having my usual morning bowel movement but the stools are thinner than normal and just at the end I can feel the mass but can't expel it. The good news is that, as long as you can still go, there shouldn't be any nasty problems. In other words, the only problem is the stool that won't shift but as long as you're not blocked, your body can still remove toxins. I think the point of laxatives, even if they produce liquid stools, is just to ensure that there are no further blockages. After all, the gap is now a little smaller.From my own observations, the time the stool has been in there is a big factor. Osmotic laxatives (movicol, laxido etc) seem to be the usual prescription for impaction but I've have no success and a mate who had similar problems also found them to be ineffective. I presume that the effectiveness of these drugs is highly dependent upon the length of time the impaction has been there. These drugs work by drawing water into the colon, thus allowing the stool to become softer...but (Im not being gross here) we've all, at some point, usually after the builders have left the house seen a bit of poop practically welded onto the porcelain and we all know that no amount of flushes with water will move it. Do let me know about your own developments...so far, you're the only person who has practically the same problems I have...I've even been thinking about creating a webpage for all the other people who have impactions, just to send out a ray of hope to what is ordinarily a very solitary and sometimes depressing experience.All the best!


SerenityNow05 said:


> I've been constipated for over a year now, and I'm guessing it has to do with my chronic stress/anxiety. I never paid much attention to it. Occasionally I would take some laxatives, but usually after a few days my stool would just become liquefied and so the use of laxatives wasn't necessary. However, a few months ago I noticed my stool was thinner and bowel movements became less frequent. For a while I've been thinking it's impaction. I can feel a mass inside that won't move, but wants to be evacuated. I was advised that the best way to get rid of it is to break it up manually, but I did stick my index finger up my rectum and around the corner in to the colon, and I found no hard mass. Lately I've been trying a combination of enemas, suppositories, oral laxatives and metamucil. I'm hoping it'll work within a month or two. Otherwise I'll head to the doctor. I've been avoiding the doctor for a while now because every time I visit they want me to pee in a cup and take half a dozen vials of my blood. I don't want to add someone sticking their finger up my arse to that list.My stool is the same brown colour, and I've noticed no blood in my stool or abdominal cramping (except when I take laxatives). I have no fever and my weight is perfectly healthy.Do I have IBS? Do I have an impaction? Maybe I have colon cancer?


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