Health anxiety, 26, have found blood in stool a few times

[anonymous98]

So I have had blood in my stool 3 times.

An out of hours doctor performed a rectal exam and said nothing seemed abnormal. However, she also couldn't find any fissures or haemmorhoids (spelling?) which worried me.

I have a long history of health anxiety and am scared of not being taken seriously.

I have private health cover and am thinking of phoning GP tomorrow and asking to be referred for a colonoscopy. I don't want to faff around with FIT tests. I just want a colonoscopy and/or a scan.

This is really, really scaring me and I'm afraid I have cancer.

Had bloods done last month that were normal, so I do not have anaemia, nor do I have any weight loss. Appetite generally good. Honestly have no symptoms except the f*ing rectal bleeding and constipation.

I have no idea how to stay calm. I am really, really scared and my health seems so bloody precarious. All we seem to hear about it how younger people are getting colorectal cancer and dying. I am so anxious. I already am awaiting news of whether I've inherited a BRCA mutation. I'm so tired and I'm sick of living with fear.

Constipation and fissures go hand in hand; if it's bright red blood that'll be what it is.

I thought black stools were more of an indication of something worrying?

Before demanding all these things and potentially getting yourself barred from receiving health advice, drink more and eat fibre, get your stools a good consistency for at least a week, then see if there's still blood.

There are so many more non-deadly explanations for things than deadly, I'd try to relax a bit. As it does very occasionally happen that doctors miss a more serious problem, you can still take notes and be assertive with them if things aren't changing and you keep being fobbed off.

PS. I have never heard that young people get a lot of colorectal cancer.

A colonoscopy will be a good thing to be referred for, you say you got constipation I was thinking internal hemorrhoids? But you said an internal exam dismissed that. In most cases it's nothing too serious....my mother in-law and sister in-law went through a stage of rectal bleeding (they had diarrhea with it too) but I remember even without diarrhea they went through a phase. Tests were done and colonoscopy everything was normal, it just didn't happen again and both are fine.

I am just so terrified. I don't know how to cope.

Make an appointment with GP to discuss your anxiety

If your bloods were normal I highly doubt cancer has appeared within a month. Yes get the colonoscopy, but try to relax. I haven’t heard much at all about young people getting colorectal cancer so I think that’s your anxiety making you see it more.

Also try to breathe. And write your fears in a journal, stream of consciousness, then read them back. Do they still seem rational?

If you did have cancer, there are treatments.

Hi everyone, I have spoken to a GP today and am probably going to pay for a colonoscopy. She didn't seem particularly concerned but I am terrified that it's cancer.

I keep worrying that it's already spread. I was a bit breathless in the gym today and convinced myself that I had metastases to my lung. My o2 monitor is reading 97-98% instead of 99%. I've had an eye twitch for a few weeks and now I think it's gone to my brain. I don't know how to think rationally.

As pp said, it’s time to ask the GP for help with your anxiety.

If I were seriously ill, presumably I would have elevated CRP and low haemoglobin? The only thing keeping me from losing it is that both of those results were apparently normal

This sounds terrible, but I don't think I have anxiety. I think I'm reacting to a threat (of bowel cancer). I don't know how other people don't feel like this.

It’s beyond ridiculous that they aren’t concerned. Blood in your stool needs investigated. Get a second opinion.

I lost a close friend from bowel cancer because it was stage 4 before they were listened to and it happens time and time again.

I am sorry to hear about your friend.

To be fair, the doctor said she is happy to refer me to Gastroenterology - she just doesn't assume I have cancer, whereas I am convinced I do.

That's such a fucking useful comment to make to someone with a history of health anxiety and who is already planning to get seen. Well done 🙄

Kindly, you are behaving like someone with anxiety. You’ve even mentioned it in your thread title.

OP is your GP helping you with your health anxiety?

I am assuming the blood in your stool is red (piles or fissure), not sticky black and tar like (to be concerned about).

You really do need to speak to the GP about your health anxiety, OP. Because the problem is that when the examination proves you DON'T have cancer (as I'm pretty convinced it will), you're going to switch to worrying about what causes your lower oxygen levels (anxiety) and your eye twitch (also anxiety) and start convincing yourself you've got brain cancer or something else incredibly unlikely.

So you need to nip it in the bud now, and get treatment, because with health anxiety there is simply no end to what you can imagine is wrong with you. And you're wasting your young and healthy years catastrophising.

You have textbook health anxiety and you really need to get mental health support for it.

Red blood in stool has a myriad of reasons, the majority of which are not cancer.

Why are you so focused on cancer, do you have a family history of it causing you to hyperfocus on it?

Bowel cancer in young people is rare, cancer in young people is rare.

You need to get help for anxiety, not cancer.

Think if it is cancer that it can be treated. You need help with your health anxiety first and foremost. I got called back after a breast exam I didn't Google it, the letter said most times were fine and you know what, it was.

Are you 110% sure it’s blood and not red peppers or beetroot or something?

I know you said you didn’t want one but why wouldn’t you get a test for that to be sure rather than a colonoscopy which has its own risks?

If you had cancer bad enough to be affecting your oxygen levels you’d be severely anemic and that would show up on your blood tests .

If it is blood, given you have constipation it’s likely the constipation has caused a tear which has caused the bleeding.

have you tried improving your diet and seeing if that fixes things?

I’d be worried about blood in my stool too.

But you are spiralling due to your extreme health anxiety.

Get it investigated. It’s more than likely not something sinister.

Hey OP, please get help for your anxiety. You don’t have to live like this

You do have anxiety OP. Anxiety is ‘Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear’ about everyday situations. You are perceiving a threat but the likelihood of it is very low. You are obsessing over ‘signs’ that are very common in daily life. I often get muscle twitches and I’m healthy. They happen. Your O2 could be because you’re panicking and not breathing normally.

People with mental health issues always think they’re reasonable to think as they do. It’s called not having insight. And it’s when you’re at the extreme level of your condition.

From one chronic worrier to another, you are absolutely fine.

constipation can create little tears on the way out, so you’ll be wiping and seeing a bit of bright red blood. Bright red blood means it’s fresh blood and lower down than dark or black blood which is older blood from higher up the intestinal tract.

The eye twitch is a very common symptom of anxious stress. You’ll be noticing all these little things and connecting dots that aren’t there.

Drink plenty of water, eat plenty of fibre and give yourself a week or two to heal and see how you feel. Fingers crossed your anxiety lessens soon, I know how absolutely draining it is to be in constant fear x

Deal with your anxiety first, a colonoscopy probably won't solve that because you will probably convince yourself they have missed something.
In the meantime, try to solve the constipation because that's more likely to be the cause of the blood due to piles or small tears

I know everyone means well but I have had therapy and meds. I've been anxious about my health since childhood. I just don't respond to treatment.

At this point, I just want to be sectioned and heavily sedated.