Worried- bowel problems

[IsThisValidEnough]

My husband has, for about 5 weeks, been passing a lot of blood 3 or 4 times a day. He went to the doctor after a week of it and she did an examination with her finger and could find nothing wrong so gave him some cream. It made no difference so he was given pessaries for piles. This eased his symptoms but, after a weeks worth, still no better. He has a blood test on Tuesday, to test for anaemia, gluten intolerance and inflammation of the bowels. She wants to test for these first. If they come back clear then it will be a look at the hospital.

He is so miserable and utterly terrified it is cancer. He is early 30s. It is really affecting him as he is having to rush to the loo.

I've happened to read my magazine tonight and it was full of bowel cancer stuff and now I am suddenly absolutely terrified too.

Can anyone shed any light on what else it could be? We have had such a shit year I don't think we can survive much else.

Ok so he took a stool sample in and had a blood test a couple of days ago. Today he received a call from the doctors telling him he has been referred to the gastroenterology department at hospital. We assume this has nothing to do with results from sample or blood as too quick. Probably his doctor took one look at the stool sample and referred straight away. He is phoning for blood test results tomorrow. Funnily enough, he just found out that the lady next to him at work has been diagnosed with chrones recently. He says his symptoms match hers, although his are easing up a bit now. I guess it comes and goes. He seems lucky as she has taken 15years to reach diagnosis, which sounds mental to me as his doctor has taken it seriously I think.
So will just wait now. Again. Sigh.

It might be something as simple as finding blood in the stool. Blood is a red flag but can also have lots of causes that aren’t cancer.

It could well be Chron's, I have an Aunt and a good friend with it and they both had similar symptoms.
I think whenever you see blood you automatically assume it must be cancer but an Uncle had blood recently and he had a cyst on his kidney and another Aunt with similar problems had a really severe inflammation of the bladder.

My DS2 (22) was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis a few months ago.. similar symptoms but he was pooing about 15 times a day. Had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed there and then.
Put on meds the same day, referral to the IBD clinic and the treatment has been great. We still don't have full control but he is down to about 5 times a day and much less blood.. he's on Pentasa tablets (8 a day!) and Salofalk enemas.

My DIL has Crohns and a similar story. It is scary but it IS treatable!

I say WE as DS2 has autism and I have to control his meds and do his enemas!!

It could well be UC confined to the rectum which isn't an increased cancer risk and is manageable. Try not to panic. It can be managed quite easily.

Hope he gets diagnosis and treatment soon.

Thank you all again. He received a letter saying he had been referred yesterday. Any idea how long these things take? I know hospitals are different but I wasn't sure if it was a "appointment within a couple of weeks" job or an appointment a couple of months away one!

When I was referred it took about a month

Two months here...

Ugh, I suspected it might take a while. God it makes me irrationally angry.

We’re his blood results ok?

Well dh phoned and they just said "you have been referred because of your stool sample and your bloods didn't show anything else that needs any other attention". My husband doesn't think to clarify anything. So that might mean bloods were clear or it might mean they bought up the same thing as his stool sample. Who knows!

My guess is that it means they have found no signs of infection or parasites. So they need to have a squint up there to look for inflammatory bowel disease (Crohns or colitis), polyps, diverticulosis, and yes cancer. But from what you have described, it could also be internal piles leading to the sensitivity of IBS.

It's hard not to worry, but there are still lots of possible causes, and stay off google

Please don't assume the worst. With the bowel, stress can really make things worse. What is he eating? Has he tried the fodmap diet yet?

He refuses to change his diet at the moment. He says until he knows then he won't. To be fair to him he barely drinks, doesn't smoke and apart from having a love of pizza his diet isn't a disaster. I have quietly planned simpler meals this week, no processed food. I will look up the fodmap diet.

In my OP I was panicking but we are actually much better now. I no longer feel it must be cancer but I am still quite convinced it is crohns or something. I've woken up a bit more positive today.

Any update on This IsThisValidEnough? X

No not really! He phoned the hospital last week to chase his referral and....they are looking at the referral letters this week

Update:

He had his appointment and they said his "levels in his stool sample were quite high" and he will be having a colonoscopy in a months time. Of course dh didn't ask any questions about what these levels are or anything so I just have an information leaflet about colonoscopy and that's it. Says they will be sedating him for it. I'm relieved we will have a definitive answer but so irritated I couldn't go to the appointment and ask questions!

I’d guess it’s his calprotectin level. It’s an indicator of inflammation, so points to a possible problem such as crohns or colitis. You can get false positives, though his symptoms sound like IBD. Hopefully the colonoscopy will find something to guide treatment. There’s always the chance things are higher in the gut than a scope can see. So if the colonoscopy doesn’t find anything make sure you push for an MRI of his small bowel, or a pill camera to view the whole bowel. I hope you get some answers soon. My diagnosis took ages (waiting for appointment and colonoscopy) but things moved quickly after that. Make sure he has the sedation, it makes it a lot easier. Also, for the prep, mix it and chill it in the fridge for an hour or two before drinking, and drink it through a straw (it’s rank, but better if you don’t taste or smell it) and don’t stray far from the loos. FODMAP diet is more for IBS than IBD, I think he’s right to wait until he knows what he’s dealing with. Often it’s high fibre foods (all the “healthy” options) that can cause more pain and problems in IBD, so things really do vary depending on a diagnosis. I hope you both get answers soon.

Thank you. I'm ready for answers now. He has basically had Diarrhea/cottage cheese type poo and lots of blood everyday for 4 whole months now. Judging by the paperwork, the hospital are pro sedation as it seems to be a given it will happen which is good.

I'm not sure if anyone is still out there but if you are, any words of comfort would be so lovely. Dh is having another flare up. He is so so down and the time is dragging by. There is still 2weeks until the colonoscopy.

Yesterday I came across an article about how younger people are often misdiagnosed when they have bowel cancer. I stupidly read it and every single one said how they were told it was unlikely due to their age, how everything took so long. I guess middle age/higher risk is at the front of the queue. All the symptoms were so varied but every one had bleeding.

What really shocked me was how it didn't seem to matter how long they had had symptoms for. Some people had it for 2months and had stage 4 and some people had it for 2years and had stage 2! So I now can't tell myself it would be ok because we got in there early!

The only positive is it has kick started him into getting our wills done. He isn't convinced he is dying or anything, more that it needed doing and illness makes you think!

He is so down and snappy. I have a busy job and we have a small child and I am just so so tired. The other night I dreamt he died. The problem is we have had some really shitty 1 in a thousand things happen over the last few years so I am definitely not a "it will all be ok" person because I lost that naivety a long time ago!

I'm rambling. And catastrophising. Feels good to put it on here though, even if nobody is there!

I read the same news article this week & found it very scary. I’m having bowel/stomach issues too, so to read those stories of people a similar age to me, is very worrying.

I’m sorry your DH is still suffering, when you say flare up, does that mean that he has times when he has no symptoms?

If so, I’d try and take some positivity from that. Has he kept a food diary at all? Can he work out if there are foods that trigger it?

I’m sorry your DH is still suffering, when you say flare up, does that mean that he has times when he has no symptoms?

No, he has bled every time he has been to the loo since March. A flare up just means his stomach is even more "bubbly" and he has more urgency. He has never stopped bleeding

It was a terrifying article wasn't it! Sorry you have also got this worry

The two weeks will soon go by.

The Dr performing the colonoscopy will give a summary of findings to your DH on the day.

Take care.