symptoms..

i am having numerous disturbing symptoms that seem to fit with colon cancer, and was wondering what symptoms some of the people who are or have been diagnosed with colon cancer had that lead them to the dr. i am extremely worried and can't seem to get myself to think about anything else. thanks

  My husband started with alternate loose bowels and then constipation. I would suggest a colonoscopy if you are concerned.  It took him 6 months to finally get the colonoscopy which they could not finish because of a mass.  He had resection surgery, 2 lymph nodes positive,  and has done alternative treatment since.

I reported coloncancer symptoms to 3 different doctors over a period of 6 years. I got told I had hemorriods (don't), IBS etc. mostly got blown off. I finally insisted on a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Stage IV coloncancer. That was in 2006 and I have been in treatment since. Don't let them blow you off. A colonoscopy will tell you all you need to know. A very small price to avoid my life and get your peace of mind back.

my husband's only symptom was anemia.  He was just diagnosed this month.  Please go get a colonoscopy - it's the only way you'll know for sure.  You're in my prayers!

thank you all so much. So far i have had blood work, urinalysis, pelvic exam, pap smear, ultrasound of my pelvis, and a sigmoidoscopy. Mmy dr has ordered a ct scan of my abdomen, which i will be having this upcoming week. i am not sure why she doesn't want to do a colonoscopy. She keeps saying my sigmoidoscopy showed nothing but hemmoroiods, and seems to think that means i dont have cancer. my symptoms started about a month ago. i've had low left abdominal pain, bowel changes in consistency, blood in and outside of stool, and also when i wipe. my stools sometimes look like beaded or like there are circles in them. the stools are a dark to light brown and the shape is pretty normal. I am now having low back pain/cramping and some rectal pressue. I am 24 with no family history of colon cancer. and the drs are quick to tell me "i am too young for this disease, and there isn't a family history". well all i can think is my 5 year old son has epilepsy and there is no family history. i think its ridiculous that the drs are doing this to me! i am basically forcing them to do all these tests and researching my symtpoms online which is really a daily routine now i come on a few times a day and research then i get even more nervous. i feel like this is all i think about now! hopefully the ct scan will be just as good as a colonoscopy?

thank you everyone for your replies, you are all in my prayers.

They say your body will tell you something is wrong. A sigmoidoscopy only show the bottom portion of the colon.  Your age and no family history would tend to show no colon cancer however you never know.  A CT scan I don't believe will rule out colon cancer.  Will pray for you.

You need to insist on a colonostomy, if they won't give it to you seek another doctor, it is your life that could be in danger not theirs. It doesn't matter if you have a family history or not or your age, there are fewer people your age but there still are people in their twenties that get colon cancer. Again don't wait, your life might depend on one simple test.

My husband had symptoms ever since he was around 30, occasional constipation, occasional bleeding, but the first colonoscopy when he was around 32 probably missed the flat shaped tumor/polyp which started this all. After the "clean bill" from that colonoscopy doctors dismissed his symptoms as hemorrhoids or minor anal fisssure for the following five years. They only did one sigmoidoscopy at some point as he kept going back to the doc as symptoms did not go away with the creams they were giving him. Last year he was diagnosed with stage IV rectal cancer, multiple lesions in liver.

So I'd say insist on colonoscopy done by a very good doc who really knows what they are looking for. I am not quite sure I understand why they'd do a ct rather than a colonoscopy. At least ask them to explain that really well...

All the best, Mousey

I had nausea and occasional blood in my stools which I thought was due to hemmoroids. Also a low grade fever off and on the fall before I was diagnosed. All of these were mild symptoms and I was still able to continue working. I finally went to the doctor when my fever continued to reappear. They did blood work and found elevated liver enzymes. Then an unltrasound of abdomen and liver and found mulitple masses in my liver. Had a colonoscopy a week later and found the mass in my colon. Stage 4 with mets to the liver in 08. Keep asking questions till you get an answer from the doctors. My doctor blew off the fever thing when I first told him about it and said come back if it continues.  Good luck