Bowel Cancer Symptoms
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Bowel cancer refers to cancer arising out of the large colon or large bowel. The vast majority of the time, bowel cancer comes from polyps which grow in the lining of the large bowel. It occurs primarily in older adults, greater than the age of 50. This is why testing for colon cancer is recommended to commence when a person has reached the age of fifty.
Sometimes there are no bowel cancer symptoms and it is only through a colonoscopy, virtual colonoscopy or a barium enema that cancer is discovered. It is usually early bowel cancer that is found during a screening evaluation tests. It’s only when the cancer devlops to a more advanced stage that bowel cancer symptoms begin to show up.
Blood in the Stool
If you see blood in the stool, this is one of the bowel cancer symptoms you should be wary of. The blood can be surrounding the stool or mixed in with the stool. If the colon cancer is higher up in the colon, the stool can show up black or tarry, indicating digested blood. However, sometimes blood in the stool is not one of the bowel cancer symptoms at all but could mean that you have hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoidal blood is usually bright red and shows up only when wiping stool or on the outside of the stool. Hemorrhoids are dilated veins in the rectal area that occasionally bleed when having a bowel movement.
Diarrhea or constipation can also be bowel cancer symptoms. Most people know the normal pattern of their bowels and when that pattern is changed for more than several weeks it is a sign that something is going on in the gastrointestinal tract and it’s time to see a doctor for further evaluation. Bowel cancer can act differently in different people. Some people can also have "pencil" stools or a narrowing of the caliber of the stool. This, too, is a sign of possible distal bowel cancer.
Iron Deficiency
The doctor can find that you have iron deficiency anemia from blood loss. While the anemia can be due to not eating enough iron or from bleeding from other sources, it can mean you’re losing blood in the stool and don’t know it. A stool guaiac test checks for hidden blood in the stool and there is a DNA stool test that is more specific for cancer. These can be done to check for the source of the problem and to define whether or not the anemia is one of the bowel cancer symptoms.
Abdominal Pain and Fatigue
Abdominal pain can be one of the bowel cancer symptoms. People describe it as being gassy or bloated, or having abdominal cramps. Aching pain in the lower abdomen can also be a sign of bowel cancer. Any type of chronic or new onset abdominal pain should be looked at by a qualified physician.
If the tumor is big enough, you can begin to feel tired, lethargic and fatigued. If you are anemic enough, you can feel short of breath on exertion. Your appetite may begin to change and you’ll find yourself eating less. Weight loss is one of the bowel cancer symptoms that usually comes when the cancer is advanced.
Remember that there are other diseases that can cause these exact bowel cancer symptoms. Irritable bowel syndrome can be a disease causing a change in bowel habits. Crohn’s colitis or ulcerative colitis can cause bowel cancer symptoms. It’s important to remember, however, that these two diseases predispose a person to bowel cancer so if you have these diseases, you should be in the care of a specialist in these diseases who can monitor you for possible bowel cancer sometime in your life.
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