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?

That close after havong dc did you have pikes at the time, could it have been an internal one?

Was the baby large - have you split your stomach muscles?

A friend of mine had similar symptoms and was diagnosed with bowel cancer, but.....his fitt tests results were sky high whereas yours are normal. I don't know what you have, but I don't think it's cancer.

Of course it doesn't help, but neither does telling her that you were unwell for twenty years because doctors didn't test for the right thing - you're just going to fuel her fears even more, which IMO is actually quite unkind.

If you don't look after yourself, don't get enough sleep, eat a poor diet and don't get any exercise - all while trying to look after a toddler (and as you approach forty) then you are going to feel unwell.

Advising OP to improve her diet and overall health isn't harmful, at least.

No. With the kindest of intentions and without dismissing the possibility that there is something chronic going on (that is likely just a rubbish part of, you know, being a woman - not cancer) In all honesty I think you really need to calm down a bit.

I’ve read the full thread and you sound stressed as all hell and like you’re imagining all sorts now and obsessing about cancer with NO good reason.

Have you spoken to your doctor about your mental health at all? New motherhood can send general anxiety through the roof even without PND or inability to cope on a practical level.

A little bit of bright red blood once in a while that separate from a stool is usually caused by a tiny injury of some sort in the anus and is very, very common.

It sounds very much like a combination of IBS and me/cfs (chronic fatigue syndrome). Are your symptoms worsened significantly if you over-exert yourself? IBS and me/cfs is a common combination, and they can account for all your symptoms and the lack of results on your scans and tests. It could easily be triggered by a combination of stress, poor sleep and a poor diet. Maybe even a virus you didn't realise you had.

Do you have symptoms of depression and/or anxiety? Those can easily worsen seemingly physical symptoms.

Other things that might help:

• Getting better sleep. You said you had your DH swap nights with you and had your first uninterupted 6 hours of sleep, but didn't see immediate improvement. Give it time!
• Better diet. Fruit, veg and whole grain. There are specific diets too, that might help - such as low fodmap, low histamine diets and/or cutting out gluten and lactose.
• Gentle exercise with a slow and gradual increase. Always take daily variations in your condition into consideration! You're already working with a physiotherapist - that's good!
• Pace yourself. Do small activities, then rest. It's hard when you feel fatigued all the time, but see if you can spot a pattern, and try to stabilize your energy as much as possible by breaking tasks and activities into manageable bits and testing in between. Ideally take rests before you're completely exhausted to shorten the recovery time and prevent burnout.
• Meditation might help, too.

I hope the best for you. Neither IBS nor me/cfs will kill you, but they can severely compromise your quality of life.

Nope. A little bit of bright red blood is usually just a small tear at the rectum. Painful and annoying, but harmless. Blood in the stool from something more concerning is usually darker and less "fresh"-looking. And it's not cancer if the problem went away on its own. Cancer doesn't just go away. A small tear, on the other hand, will heal very quickly without any treatment.

Have you tried Deflatine (specifically that brand) to see if that reduces your bloating? I was like you post birth and a GP friend suggested it and it really helped. Are you breast feeding? I didn’t feel better until I stopped and got my hormone, vitamin and mineral balance settled again.

Could be an ovarian cyst which causes bloating but is usually accompanied by pain.

With respect, if you're fueling your body with that kind of diet, why are you expecting to feel healthy and energetic?

Hello @Wobblyheart glad to hear you have had so many thorough checks and they have all been fine xxx

I’m currently on my sofa in pain with a very bloated stomach which is self inflicted from drinking a cup of tea.

I did not realise how badly milk affected me until I gave it up for a few days and then had a cup of tea and I blew right up and got gassy.

If you haven’t tried it already then give up milk for a week and see how you feel.

I've read all the comments with interest.

Whilst I 100% have awful health anxiety, it I'd driven by the fact that I have this unexplained fatigue. And by fatigue I don't mean your usual being tired thing that I have experienced for years before. No, it's debilitating. It's crushing me, it's an elephant on my chest, breathing is an effort, washing hands is en effort. Even sitting down I feel something is just pressing on me. I am miserably exhausted. It feels like a disability and doesn't change day by day no matter what I do.

That's why I am freaking out. As I read about cancer fatigue and that matches what I experience 1 to 1.

God knows I hope I am wrong. I will gladly committ myself to all therapy I can (I am already on meds) but I don't think anything can help until my abdomen is checked.

I would say it's the broken sleep. You're not getting your REM cycle as your waking up 2-3 times a night which is disturbing your rem, you're not getting to that restful sleep stage just enough to keep you going.

The bloating could well be off lack of sleep or it could be IBS. Ibs is triggered by stress and if you're constantly stressing about cancer that's most likely what it is especially if your tests are all coming back clear.

But @Wobblyheart , you've been checked. And the tests are clear. You seem to have some health anxiety on top of everything else. You have a poor diet, you suffer from a gynaecological condition which most people say is debilitating (I have a friend with this one and it has taken YEARS for her to get any real relief - the coil has been lifechanging for her but it didn't happen quickly), you sleep very very poorly and you have a toddler - these are all very normal and understandable reasons to feel completely wiped out. You may well also be suffering from PND or just old fashioned regular depression along with your health anxiety.

I feel like you need a week off. Somewhere you can go to eat healthily, sleep, rest and recharge without your DH or DC. Maybe do some light exercise. I have no idea if that's practical and most likely it isn't, but until you get a chance to reset physically and emotionally you may well continue to feel awful. This sort of feeling doesn't get fixed overnight with a pill. It takes months of things slowly but surely getting better and, frankly, a great deal of work and effort (which is hard becuase you're already exhausted and feeling unwell).

Sorry if I missed it somewhere OP, but what is your ferritin? X

Measuring ferritin on its own is not at all meaningful. I recently read something from a nutritional scientist (Dr Chris Masterjohn) who explained that measuring it alone is 100% meaningless. You can have high ferritin when you are aneamic.

Of course it’s meaningful. The other way around is also true - low ferritin with normal HB. And the OP had a range of blood tests done, so not in isolation. My GP wasn’t concerned about a level of 14. When it hit 6 a year later, he said i could consider a supplement 🙄
Mine was 6 with a normal Hb, severe joint pain, bone crushing tiredness, hair fell out, restless legs. Just read some threads on here from others’ experiences. Because the acceptable ‘normal’ range is so wide, most people are totally dismissed by their GP’s.

Apparently not, according to a leading edge expert in the field of nutritional science.

https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/understanding-iron

Get your liver checked

You're fatigued because you have a toddler, you're approaching 40 (and the menopause) and you don't look after yourself properly. These are all things you happily admit to.

You keep saying your diet etc. hasn't changed but that's the point - the lifestyle you can get away with in your twenties or even your early thirties isn't one you can get away with in your late thirties and beyond.

If you don't get enough sleep, don't eat a healthy diet and never get any exercise, then you are going to be sluggish and fatigued and unwell, because you're not giving your body any of the essentials that it needs.

A history major who then worked in a vet school. This disclaimer is at the end of his iron protocol
This is educational in nature and not medical or dietetic advice.

I wonder what his PhD topic was?

Whilst I 100% have awful health anxiety

Would it help to know what anxiety is, why it's necessary, and how to manage it? Reading your posts I would hazard a guess (not medically trained) that your body is constantly in fight or flight which has a negative/tiring effect on every part of the body. This video explains why;

He's a nutritional scientist and has a phd in that. Where did you get that he's a historian? He's known in the field as a leading edge nutritional scientist. He studies and teaches it for a living. He's been around for years.

He definitely knows more about nutrition than the average Mumsnet poster.

Also, he is obliged to put that disclaimer at the end of his posts so he doesn't get sued if someone uses his advice. It doesn't mean he's just random who is spouting shit.

I haven't had a colonoscopy though. I had FIT test but I just read they are actually quite unrealiable. They are a screening for those people who asymptomatic but if you symptomatic you should still have a colonoscopy. I wasn't offered that when I complained about the change in my stool to my GP a year ago. I was only offered FIT. I should have mentioned blood and I didn't.

I also have urinary symptoms and they are linked to my prolapse but it could be the tumour pressing on the bladder.

He is also an Assistant Professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College.