Positive FIT test after new (mild) anaemia diagnosis

[HeathisWealth]

AIBU to ask for some postivitiy as I'm sat here trying not to panic and fall down a hell-hole of panic and anxiety.

Perimenopausal teacher. Mum. Knackered is my normal but been soooooo tired over the last couple of months, I asked for some blood tests. Bloods came back mildly iron deficiency anaemic with lowish stores (both have decreased since tests were normal 2 years ago).

Did a urine and FIT test the next day. GP called saying blood in urine and no obvious infection. Will wait for cultures. Keep getting updates saying no further results have come back- turns out GP requested another urine test 11 days ago and didn't send me the message so it's not been done.

I finally got access to my records late afternoon. Urine test looks ok to me- normal red/white cells, high contaminants- I've a lot of derm issues.

Looked at other results. FIT test is 22. Marked as 'Borderline, no further action' but under that, in capitals, it says, 'POSITIVE RESULT >10 REFER 2WW'. I've not been referred! 2 weeks have passed and they've been more bothered waiting for a urine sample result for a test that hasn't been done because no-one told me to do one! I went in to get the test and the receptionist looked a little surprised and asked, 'Has anyone referred you on?' She said the Dr had left and she'd leave him an action for the morning.

I'm going out of my mind here. Anaemia caused by loss of blood (somewhere) and blood found in poo. I should have had a check already!

Has anyone got any positive, hopeful stories, please?

It is much more likely to be IBS / IBD / Piles / Diverticulitis / bowel polyps / benign growths than anything sinister. Call your GP to discuss results but most low end FIT test scores turn out to be small haemmorhoids than anything cancerous. 22 is a very small amount of blood in the stool. Try not to panic x

I do not write this to panic you, but to advise you to push for testing.

My husband had unexplained anaemia, was sent for FIT test. Came back as 12. Doctor wasn't unduly bothered but he did a repeat test six weeks later. Came back as 19.
Referred to the endoscopy suite, doctor scheduled him for colonoscopy and endoscopy. They found a mass, immediately put him on the cancer pathway and he's having major surgery on Friday.

I appreciate that percentage wise, it was incredibly unlikely that his results would lead to where we are now. But equally, if the doctor at the surgery hadn't pushed, and the surgeon at the hospital agreed, our outcome might be very different.

My heart has just sank. I wish him lots of luck. I'm glad he was seen and I really hope he'll get through the op and have the all clear in no time.

I will push as we do have family history albeit related to other bowel conditions. I'm at a loss as to why this has been seemingly ignored.

Sending love, it's a horrible time. My husband had a FIT test of 71 and I was in panic central, it's was all clear. A few months later, mine was 231, again all clear and absolutely fine. They tell you at the scan if it's okay. We both had an infection and antibiotics cleared it up. Hoping and praying yours is a positive outcome xx

Exactly this.
My neighbour had pretty much the same experience, she had the op to remove a mass and has just started chemo.

she had no symptoms at all though, just a small amount of blood in the FIT test.

you need to push for referral, might be nothing, might be sinister. You just don’t know.

Similarly mine was 47 and I was referred on a 2week pathway as I am on the younger side and had very very visible blood when moving my bowels and pain pretty much constantly throughout the colon area. Mine turned out to be diverticulitis and nothing sinister. The dr told me that the ones you get sent in the post dont even register a result under 100. Visit your Dr and be guided by them. They know more than we do and know your history

It could just be a polyp that they can remove. A positive FIT test is very common and usually not sinister. I'd be more concerned about the blood in the urine. Has he had an ultrasound to check on that?

I had similar, had colonoscopy and it was nothing. Could have been a fissure apparently. Most positive fit tests aren’t anything scary, but you should definitely chase up your referral. Mine took 3-4weeks on the 2 week cancer pathway!

I had a positive qfit mine was nearly 400!!! I was 38 and panicking I had to fight for my referal they were so laid back about it just being useless...anyway 4 weeks later I got a colonoscopy 3 internal piles. I also had a very high family history of bowel cancer. So please don't think the worse good luck

Nope as he's still waiting on the results of the urine test I haven't don't as no one contacted me to ask me to do another. I can see the results- says red and white cells within
normal range, no crystals, no thrush.

My only symptom was anaemia and my FIT was negative but I was menopausal- so that blood loss was coming from somewhere. Because of my family history I requested a colonoscopy and it turned out I had stage 3 bowel cancer. That was 3.5 years ago and after major surgery and chemo I’m doing really well.

If you are perimenopausal you are still having periods and potentially even flooding? So that could explain the anaemia.

My husband had a positive FIT, had observed bleeding but no anaemia. He had a colonoscopy which found an internal haemorrhoid.

So there’s no way of knowing for sure without a proper investigation. Please push for a colonoscopy.

I'm so glad you're doing well ❤️‍🩹