Can you be tired for 1,5 years, have bloating and it is not cancer?

[Wobblyheart]

I know you all are tired of me. Heck, I am tired of me. I am so tired of feeling absolutely exhausted. It's been 20 months now and every day no matter rest or not... just full body total exhaustion.

So many tests done, nothing to be found. I also lost my appetite or seem to get full quicker than before. Put on weight and my belly really is big and feels heavy like I am pregnant again (I am 100% not).

My thought is now colon cancer but I had normal fit and calprotectin tests. My bowels habits did change a bit? But seems that I have normal weeks sometimes too. I am awaiting a referral for a rapid diagnostic center and just so scared. We couldn't find any innocent explanation for my tiredness and I read about cancer fatigue and it is exactly how i feel.

I am 38 and have a 1,5 yo.

My sleep isn't great but not the worst, I don't do more than a normal mum would do with regards to household etc.

So if a kind person reads this, is this possible to be tired for over 1,5 years, have normal blood and normal fit and to have cancer?

Once you’ve had all the tests to rule everything out that drs can think of try an elimination diet. It’s tedious but was the only way I found out what was causing my bloating/ exhaustion/ and non stop going to the loo. ( once had to drive the M6, had to stop at every services for the toilet)
Elimination diet I did was steamed rice, steamed veg and eggs. I allowed myself a banana for breakfast. No dairy, no wheat.
Gradually added in one thing at a time until I hit on the culprit — gluten. Even though I tested negative for coeliac. Been gluten free ever since.

Sounds like Endometriosis on bowel (bowel Endo affects digestion etc). Also adenomyosis. Leads to bloating and inflammation.

Interesting you are hyper mobile as this can also link to autonomic issues such as postural tachycardia syndrome (dizziness/faintness/exhaustion) and mast cell activation syndrome (lots of little reactions to histamine foods)

I became very ill with this all in my late 30s and had excision surgery to improve things, although it never totally goes away :(

I do have prolapse too and urinary issues. Now I am worried it's due to a tumour!

I lost so much muscle mass across my body after pregnancy so I can relate.

My bmi is 23 now, after pregnancy though at my worst it was 18.5.

Thank you for sharing this with me. I do actually suspect I might have endo... I have had some gasto issues forever and sometimes I have like a whole gut like spasm when it really hurts like million of stabbing pains and then it passes on its own.

Oh thanks, definitely worth trying once (I hope) all the sinister stuff is ruled out

Thank you, that's so thoughtful. I am pretty sure ovaries are fine as I was scanned a couple of months ago and they found adenomyosis. Been reviewed by gynea consultant since and they are happy.

Yeah I am actually feeling better with grains , gut-wise, it stabilises my bowls lol so to say

Things have been varied I suppose.

Pre pregnancy I was 1, max 2 a day. Now its more like 2-3 a day.

Absolutely, I think I need a lot more looking after myself better.

And yes, I really hope that all that would he found is a case of a total health anxiety nuthead... I don't know... I keep going from one concern to the other but it's because I feel no better than I did and nobody properly looked at my abdomen, especially the bowels.

Also, having negative fit doesn't exclude cancer but it's good of course that it's not positive.

What was your ferritin OP? X

I really think that, with all the tests you've had, they would have discovered cancer if that was what was causing all your symptoms.

I really would focus on getting yourself healthy - decent quality sleep, improving your diet and getting outside for some exercise, even if it's just a walk around the block every day to start with.

I know it's all very "boring" but honestly, it will do wonders for your mental and physical well-being. Unfortunately, the things you can get away with when you're younger (bad diet, little exercise, no sleep) suddenly all start to hit you once you approach middle age and they can make you feel absolutely horrendous.

Have you had a sehcat test for bile acid malabsorption?

I had this at 60 and was then diagnosed with coeliac disease and milk allergy.

I could have written every word of that post including the bowel changes and my belly is bigger than that at least some of the time. All tests came back fine. I’m pretty sure you’d have known if it was cancer well before now.

For me its all caused by peri menopause, and mild ibs. I still have regular periods and have not had classic symptoms like night sweats (yet).

I’m obviously not diagnosing you in any way.

I’m not on hrt, not ruling it out, just don’t feel ready yet. Improving my diet and getting more rest and exercise and less stress is helping enormously.

If I eat dairy I get like you OP, I became Lactose intolerant about age 30. Even eating small amounts has a cumulative effect.

In your shoes I would start an elimination diet and a good multivitamin. It certainly can’t hurt and if nothing else rules out more options for the doctors.

Just because nothing have shown up in tests yet doesn't mean there isn't something going on.

It's really frustrating when people trot out the mental health /diet type thing without even caveating it.

I was told for years my heavy, awful fatigue was due to stress /mental health (even when I assured drs I felt fine)/ diet and lifestyle (even when I explained how healthy I was)

It wasn't. I had Myasthenia. That's two decades plus of my adult life I battled without treatment because GPs can't see beyond the original blood tests they do being normal. My condition only shows up in highly specialised tests, so of course the tests the GPs ran were normal. And I have met so many other people with rare conditions and similar tales to tell, that increasingly I suspect some of these conditions are all that rare , just "rarely diagnosed"

Thing I can't get out of my head now... over a year ago shortly after giving birth but maybe 2 months in I can't remember I did have blood in my stool. Tiny bit, bright red. And I just ignored it. Thinking it was due to episiotomy or something like that even though that would have healed by then.

Have I..... massively screwed up?

I was told for years my heavy, awful fatigue was due to stress /mental health (even when I assured drs I felt fine)/ diet and lifestyle (even when I explained how healthy I was)

Right, but that's not what's happening here @CassandraWebb .

This has been going on since she had her baby 1.5 years ago - it's not something long-term that doctors are ignoring. She's had multiple different tests for multiple different issues and they're all coming back clear.

The most likely explanation is that she's an exhausted parent who isn't getting enough sleep, a healthy diet or enough time to herself.

Are you getting help for your anxiety?

I second this question. Obviously having health anxiety doesn’t mean you don’t have health issues, but I am concerned that anything we could suggest wouldn’t help. I feel that once you’d (mentally) ruled that out you would go back to believing you have bowel cancer.

The only way to definitively rule out bowel cancer is by having a colonoscopy. However, I wonder if you would then worry that the doctor had missed something.

There are many potential bowel problems that are not cancer.

Its interesting you say this because when I tried to suggest to my GP that my fatigue could be due to undiagnosed endo, she said endo didn't cause fatigue!

She also said to me that they might never find a cause for my fatigue which feels me with much hope 🙄

Ah but lots of conditions can on set at any time. It's why health conditions in new mums often get missed

I also started having peri menopausal symptoms at 38. They included tiredness, bloating, constipation/ diarrhoea, feeling panicky and anxious in different situations. Taking supplement with a lot of magnesium helps. Hope you get it sorted soon!

Of course they can, but she's had multiple tests and every single one has come back clear.

I really don't think comments like "health conditions can start at any time" to someone who is clearly incredibly anxious are particularly helpful, either.

You've missed my point that all my tests came back clear for two decades - because they weren't testing for the right thing.

I appreciate op is anxious but feeling really unwell all the time and not having an answer doesn't help with anxiety

Sounds very like chronic fatigue syndrome/ME. Adenomyosis does cause bloating. I get that with mine frequently and was told it was normal with adenomyosis. There's a higher proportion of women with ME who have gynaecological issues too.

Look up the diagnostic criteria for ME and see if it fits.