Bowel Cancer Screening Test positive

I am bumping this as I have just had news that a FIT test was positive. I am waiting for the GP to phone me, but I have read the result online and it recommends that I be referred on the 2 week pathway.

The test wasn't routine, but ordered because my iron levels are low, and the GP wanted to rule out losing blood as a cause. I also have health anxiety, so have, of course, googled like mad, and it seems that one of the symptoms of colorectal cancer is breathlessness, which I have had for years now, with no diagnosis, despite numerous scans and tests. I have asthma, but I have always said that this is different. Despite every test imaginable, no cause has been found, although the tests were all on the heart and lungs, not the bowel or colon.

The only other symptom I can think of is that I have had a few painful anal spasms at night. They aren't regular, which is why I forgot to mention them, but can be very painful. They were also mentioned on the list of symptoms, so I am now panicking.

I have read the thread from the start and it has helped, but as I'm sure we all know, accepting that most people come through things like this unscathed is not the same as thinking we will do so ourselves.

I’m pleased and relieved for you. Please do accept anns advice and seek help from your GP for the anxiety, it’s so exhausting and most of the time fears are unfounded. Sleep well, you deserve to.

So happy for you

So relieved for you x

I would suggest that you don't rule out "Mindfulness" - again with a decent "coach".

Ask your GP - it may be available via the NHS?

So pleased for you Sillyoldbird.
Reading your posts it seems to me you are halfway there with dealing with your anxiety.
You have such good insight with your trigger points, how it effects you and those around you and most importantly a strong desire to want to do something about it. That's half the battle..... Good luck!

MadeInYorkshire sounds like you’ve really been through it with your prep. I can understand how you were sick - the sheer volume (and consistency) of the Devil’s brew is enough to make anyone nauseous. Best of luck with your procedure tomorrow - it really isn’t horrible at all and I’m sure things will be absolutely fine. Let us know?

To everyone who’s talked about anxiety, you have my sympathy and complete support.

LadyGaGa It’s not a sign of weakness . Grandyma you definitely aren’t ridiculous.

For me, hypnotherapy has got to be worth a try. The way I see it, the mind is a very powerful force and if it can cause such havoc, surely it can be persuaded to work in a positive way too.

Im going to book in with someone recommended by a good friend who seeing her at the moment. She tells me she’s seen an improvement with her issues so it seems a good place to start. 😁

So pleased for you Sillyoldbird I haven’t posted but have followed your story - as I too have extreme health anxiety. Every time I feel that way I promise myself I won’t let it happen again - but all my self help and mediation doesn’t seem to work. ‘Resilience’ is definitely hard to achieve if you haven’t got it in the first place! You should be proud of yourself for sharing - I find that hard, as I see it as a sort of sign of weakness, so I just make out to everyone that I’m fine. Which is ridiculous of course! I just feel sometimes that I’m wasting my life by expecting a disaster round every corner. But well done to you for getting through this, and best of luck for the next time!!

I am so pleased for you!

So pleased for you 👍

Excellent news!! So happy for you. Good luck with your quest to find some therapy to help you cope with the anxiety. I am just about to start a course of one to one talking therapy to help tackle my ridiculous anxiety levels.
Sorry you didn’t get toast with your cuppa 💐

i was going to suggest hypnotherapy OP, for the anxiety.
it's worth a try i think, but choose carefully. read reviews and always start with the lowest rating.
that helps get a feel for what are more likely to be genuine reviews, rather than their own advertising puff pieces.
good luck; onwards and upwards, OP.

Well, that was a relief for you, thanks for letting us know.

It's not a pleasant procedure but who'd have thought having piles was such a relief!

Glad you had a reasonable outcome. Well done!

Yes, I shall covet the piles from now on. Apparently they’re quite feeble at grade 1 😂

Annsixty I’ve done the GP thing before - medication, counselling etc which did help to a certain extent but I’m going to try some hypnotherapy or explore something else ‘alternative’ this time.

As for being brave, if afraid that’s not quite as it was - I’ve been an absolute wreck the whole way through. That’s what needs to change. Life throws some real challenges and I need to build resilience to deal with them without making myself ill.

Sillyoldbird

I had a routine test recently which came back positive. I’m quite an anxious person when it comes to health matters so I’m not coping at all well at the moment.

There is a family history of bowel cancer (my brother was diagnosed10 years ago and was successfully treated) and I’m in the higher risk group being 66 years old so this adds to the worry.

I’m feeling generally quite well but have IBS so it’s difficult to say whether I have other symptoms.

I have to have a colonoscopy and there’s usually a two week wait, but have been told they’re running behind so may be up to six weeks, so I’m considering booking in for a private test as I can’t cope with the waiting

I wondered if anyone had any positive experiences they can share with me that would ease my mind?

I’d be very, very grateful.

I'm having EXACTLY the same scenario - familial high risk (should have had a colonoscopy last autumn, so asked GP for a FIT Test which came back positive - although the number wasn't high and because I have a colostomy, it could have been contaminated)

I should have had my colonoscopy last Thursday - went through days of a low residue diet, stopped eating on Wednesday and started the bowel prep at 7pm. I had to drink 1 litre of the stuff plus a further 1/2 litre of other clear fluid. I got close to the end of it (vile!) and at 8.20pm the whole lot came up again!!! I was soaked .... I was supposed to have then got up a 6am to repeat the process - no way Jose!

So, it is now next Thursday and am having a different prep - something like 10 senna tablets and 1 glassful of something similar, Wednesday pm and the same Thursday am, which will be much easier to tolerate!

So a heads up if you don't think that you can tolerate that amount of fluid in one hit, maybe ask for the alternative? Either way it it isn't going to be pleasant. I DO recommend though that you take the sedation which does help you to forget the experience!

On a positive note, bowel cancer if caught early is one of the most treatable cancers. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Well done ! Such a relief. I had piles too, and two small polyps removed. I didn’t have the sedation and was surprisingly fine.

What lovely news and although you are still in shock probably the relief when it sinks in will be so good.
My S’s friend went through similar two weeks ago and I don’t think she really believes yet that she doesn’t have something sinister.
Get help from your GP for the anxiety.

So pleased it went well Sillyoldbird. As MissA has said you've been very brave and just for getting through the procedure, but for sharing your experience here too .

I bet you've never been so pleased to have piles!

So glad it went ok.

You were very brave!

Well, I have piles.

But thank you, thank you, thank you for the support which was just incredible. It sounds a bit of a cliche, but I genuinely am so grateful to every one of you.

To summarise events since yesterday, the preparation was easy (apart from the devil’s brew 🤢) with no major toilet explosions.

The procedure itself was a breeze, sure I could have done it without the sedative. But most of all, the hospital staff, without exception, were fantastic.

The only downside was that I got biscuits and I really needed the toast

Now to do something about the life-long anxiety problem.

Here’s a massive, virtual, sloppy kiss and a hug for each and every single one of you. 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

Soon be over!
Thinking of you.

Good luck for today. Hope your prep has done its stuff and you’re feeling good. At least it won’t be long now. The waiting is the worst.

Wishing you well sillyoldbird. Soon be over.

Sillyoldbird my husband says give it time, and don't move 😂😳😂