Blood in Stool

spat
spat Member Posts: 7
edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
Hello, my dad has Stage 4 lung cancer and was diagnosed and started treatment last June. He was on carboplatin and alimta and now just alimta. He's been doing well overall and his doctor said that his cancer cells (including those that metastized) have reduced. Today he noticed blood in his stool and we are concerned what that could be...i tried to research and didn't see anything associated with lung cancer and blood in the stool as a sympton. Has anyone has similar experience?

Comments

  • cabbott
    cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
    #2
    Blood in the stool is a symptom that can have many different causes. If there is pain, it may be a fissure. If not, it may be an internal hemmorhoid. Both of these are aggravated by constipation and relieved by higher fiber intakes and things like metamucil or over-the-counter stool softners recommended by your doctor. However, blood in the stool can also be an indication of an ulcer or even cancer. Scary thought, but it is something the doctor has to check out. So give the worrying to him. Give the regular physician a phone call and go in. He'll check how long it has been since your Dad had a colonoscopy and possibly check for hemmorhoids. A specialist can also take a look-see, but they prefer a whole colonoscopy if it hasn't been done in the last couple of years and you are showing a problem. You can have oatmeal for breakfast and a bran muffin with lots of water for a snack, a few prunes later in the day and switch to whole-wheat bread instead of white if it is just constipation. But if it is a met or a new kind of cancer(once you get one kind of cancer, you are more prone to another kind, which I think stinks!), waiting will just make things worse. Get it checked realizing that it is probably nothing (we gotta keep our blood pressure down somehow!) but don't ignore it. Ignorance is not bliss.
  • spat
    spat Member Posts: 7
    #3
    cabbott said:

    Blood in the stool is a symptom that can have many different causes. If there is pain, it may be a fissure. If not, it may be an internal hemmorhoid. Both of these are aggravated by constipation and relieved by higher fiber intakes and things like metamucil or over-the-counter stool softners recommended by your doctor. However, blood in the stool can also be an indication of an ulcer or even cancer. Scary thought, but it is something the doctor has to check out. So give the worrying to him. Give the regular physician a phone call and go in. He'll check how long it has been since your Dad had a colonoscopy and possibly check for hemmorhoids. A specialist can also take a look-see, but they prefer a whole colonoscopy if it hasn't been done in the last couple of years and you are showing a problem. You can have oatmeal for breakfast and a bran muffin with lots of water for a snack, a few prunes later in the day and switch to whole-wheat bread instead of white if it is just constipation. But if it is a met or a new kind of cancer(once you get one kind of cancer, you are more prone to another kind, which I think stinks!), waiting will just make things worse. Get it checked realizing that it is probably nothing (we gotta keep our blood pressure down somehow!) but don't ignore it. Ignorance is not bliss.

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