Symptoms?

birdee

Hello all,

I have been looking for symptoms of colon/rectal cancer online and was led to this great site. I am wondering what type of symptoms you all had prior to diagnosis? I appreciate any input, the websites are mostly a laundry list of lots of symptoms. Did anyone have abdominal cramping? mucous? thick, dark jelly stool(blood)? Yes, colonoscopy pending- severe denial due to my medical training, I always had ways to explain away symptoms. Thank you all so much for any information.

Best Wishes to you all!

paula44

I go in for surgery tomorrow and had no symptoms. My colonoscopy was simply routine, due to colon problems I've had for several years (e-coli 11 years ago and problems ever since).

Good luck. I just came here this past Friday. These are wonderful people.

birdee

paula44 said:

I go in for surgery tomorrow and had no symptoms. My colonoscopy was simply routine, due to colon problems I've had for several years (e-coli 11 years ago and problems ever since).

Good luck. I just came here this past Friday. These are wonderful people.

stay strong, I hope they get everything and this will be over for you. good luck in surgery

claud1951

I Birdee,
I didn't have the symptoms you had. Acutally, mine was crunching ice! I started crunching ice (I never did that before) and knew something wasn't right. That is a sign of anemia and sure enough, went to doctor,...blood test..I had anemia.

Doctor wanted to find out if I was bleeding and the colonoscopsy was the first thing he did. Found a "little" place which ended up being Adenocarcenoma (sp)

None of the blood test, CEA, ETC or CT or PET scan showed I had cancer cause it was so little.


Had surgery and removed 12 inch of colon and resection and I'm back to normal now.

Stage III so I am still on chemo but half way done and I know I will beat this thing. No doubt about it. I feel I've done better than I thought I would through all of this.

Hope your results are good ones and I sure will be thinking of you. Just don't spend your eneregy on worry and fret...leave it for the future!

My best
Claudia

jams67

Welcome to this site. I'm glad you are not ignoring all of the symptoms you described.
I had no symptoms except in retrospect (loss of weight), but a routine colonoscopy revealed cancer. I was shocked! Things like cancer always happen to someone else. Hope your fears are unfounded.
Jo Ann

KierstenRx

Hi,
I had the same symptoms you described as well as feeling like I always had to go to the bathroom. I also had severe leg cramping due to being anemic. I passed the mucous and blood for a couple of years. I first had a Dr tell me it was just hemmorhoids (28 at the time), but it continued and got worse. I was also in serious denial, also due to medical training. It was still a shock when I was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer at 32, but I am glad I found out and received treatment. Don't panic until you get your results it still could be several other things.

Kiersten

birdee

Thank you so much for those who responded. I know I should not be bothering all of you, and I feel silly for doing so; you all have much more serious things to worry about. I will heed your advice and not fret about the unknown, I will have my answer soon. I wish you all well. Reading your stories makes me stop and appreciate my life. prayers of health coming your way.

KathyMH

Hi. I just noticed (what I thought was) blood on toilet paper after bowel movements. I went to Dr. and then had colonoscopy. Had a polyp removed. Supposedly, I am OK, but I'm very nervous. I am 43 and have twin babies, 9 mos. old.

josie1952

I had NO symptoms..other than occasional bleeding but it was bright red and I thought due to hemorrhoids, but was stage I cancer...

vbkeller

claud1951 said:

I Birdee,
I didn't have the symptoms you had. Acutally, mine was crunching ice! I started crunching ice (I never did that before) and knew something wasn't right. That is a sign of anemia and sure enough, went to doctor,...blood test..I had anemia.

Doctor wanted to find out if I was bleeding and the colonoscopsy was the first thing he did. Found a "little" place which ended up being Adenocarcenoma (sp)

None of the blood test, CEA, ETC or CT or PET scan showed I had cancer cause it was so little.


Had surgery and removed 12 inch of colon and resection and I'm back to normal now.

Stage III so I am still on chemo but half way done and I know I will beat this thing. No doubt about it. I feel I've done better than I thought I would through all of this.

Hope your results are good ones and I sure will be thinking of you. Just don't spend your eneregy on worry and fret...leave it for the future!

My best
Claudia

I never thought of crunching ice as a symptom---but looking back I did have a few. I was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer in March, after a colonscopy, and had surgery a week later( like yours) and I am currently in my second week of oral pill form chemo. The tumor was "big" and "deep", but no evidence of it anywhere else. So, in October I too had been crunching ice(and I never had before)--and eating LOTS of cucumbers and green pappers! In December, I had a routine check up( yes, I have one yearly) that showed I was severly anemic--only a "6"---so the doc put me on 400 mg of iron daily with little improvement. I had skin and nail changes and a color change----very pale. I now feel/look better then I have in 3 years! But now the Chemo.... Thank you for your messages---it does help! Best wishes to you that you may continue to better than you expected thru your second helf----which should be over by now. Let me know how you are!!!