Symptoms similar to colon cancer?!
#282758 - 09/18/06 05:41 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm freaking out a bit because my stools have become more ribbonlike of late and I seem to be having more difficulty with constipation. I'm scared I might have colon cancer because I never had a colonscopy in my diagnosis of IBS!
I have had symptoms now for almost two years. Last year a G/I doctor did the following on me: barium Xrays, sitz markers transit study, pelvic ultrasound, and a sigmoidoscopy, besides bloodwork. He told me to choose the sigmoidoscopy over colonscopy because the colonscopy might cause perforation. (It's now dawning on me that my right colon may not have been adequately examined.) With these tests he declared me IBS-C. He also said that the sitz marker study showed slow colon motility. He tried me on Miralax, and Zelnorm without good effect.
I have been following an IBS diet without wheat and dairy for awhile and it has somewhat helped. But my main symptom is that I bloat out as soon as I eat, no matter what. That and pesky constipation. But the ribbon stools which I'm having sometimes just presented over the last several months.
I was just reading up on the symptoms associated with colon cancer and I am panicked, thinking that my testing was not complete - I didn't get my stool sampled for blood nor parasites neither.
Since I am in my 30s I think the doctor may have assumed the sigmoidoscopy was sufficient, that and it was an HMO so I just bet that procedure is far more cost-effective.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
I don't know anything about colon cancer, but you HAVE to have a colonoscopy...you must rule out EVERYTHING else before you accept an IBS diagnosis. Don't let a Dr. just run a few tests and tell you it's "just IBS." They're known for doing that. If this Dr. won't do it, find a new one. You have to rule out everything before you know you haev IBS.
--------------------
~Mary
Had surgery for rectal prolapse in Sept. '06 and feeling good now! Loving life with our IVF miracle #1.
 
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Good point...I don't know why I was so pacified about settling for the sigmoid--I guess I was nervous about a colonscopy and the doctor said what I wanted to hear.
Just wondering if anyone has a lead on a good G/I doctor in the Bay Area, preferribly near San Francisco?
I am now off of the HMO and newly on a PPO, but I could really use a solid doctor at this point who will get me in for a colonscopy without hassle.
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Yes, make sure you rule out everything! Good luck, I hope everything turns out ok.
--------------------
Courtney (IBS-D)
"Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible." Romans 12:18
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
|
|
Ribbon stools are not necessarily colon cancer - you may also have internal hemorrhoids or you may be having colon spasms that are deforming the shape of your stools. So don't panic. But, yes, do absolutely have the colonoscopy. You really shouldn't be diagnosed without it anyhow and since the ribbon stools are a new symptom they warrant another go round with your doctors.
As for finding a good one, you can check out this thread. You just have to dig through all the posts. Check out a couple by Jennifer Rose in particular. She recommends a GP (I think it is), but she also says she saw a good doc somewhere else and will post the name later. It doesn't look like she ever did but maybe I missed it.
If you don't find anything in the doc thread and no one comes along and suggests something in this thread, then start a new thread with a subject like "Looking for good doc in Bay Area".
HTH. Good luck with this.
--------------------
[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
