Only 19 with gastro problems ?

[Sn33kz]

I am only 19 with only one family member having had colon cancer, a distant one. I have not had a normal bowel movement in weeks my symptoms include : Blood in stool
                                                              : Lots  Mucas in stool
                                                              : odd pressure at my tailbone
                                                              : Actual stool itself varies from hard to soft
                                                              : Stool is also narrow
                                                              I cannot stress the mucas and blood enough though. I have no abdominal pain nausea or vomiting. No weight loss or loss of appetite. I went to the ER and they wouldnt admit me becaseu my Hemo levels were still normal. I have no health insurance so I cant even see a GI. What am I suppose to do if this is someting like colon cancer, just sit here and wait until its too late? I am absolutely fed up with the american healthcare system.

[MsSmith976]

When I was your age I was diagnosed with Colitis. I have a VERY STRONG history of colon cancer in my family. (I lost an aunt about a month ago to it.) Anyway, your diet and level of activity will help out a lot. When I started eating better, my symptoms went away. I only eat poultry, seafood and veggies. I don't eat shellfish or scavengers. I avoid fried foods. All things that are hard to do at your age! LOL (Smile please!) Anyway, I wish you the best!  

[Matthew007]

Fiber time.

Yeah once you stop the medication you need to hit water and fiber like a madman..not going overboard on the fiber and starting slow but i'd get some physillium husk/citrucel..metamucel..whatever (not all work...it's trial and error).  Normally when your colon is straining you usually get pains on both sides either near the ribs or hips but yeah.. I have a hunch you just need some fiber and you'll probably feel better.

Glad the meds are working (flagyl is fun huh?)

[Sn33kz]

Update:


Medication has slowed the Blood/Mucus substantially. I now have more common looking stools except the fact that they are much more narrow than usually. I've noticed a slight pain on either side of my stomach. not sharp or serious at the moment, just sort of there. Im getting sort of worried as the usual person would be. I know cancer is still a long shot at my age oof 19 but its still on my mind. I dont know if I should be working or not or be involved in any dort of physical activities. Well thats it for now, any elaboration on what I just said would help, later.

[Matthew007]

yeah usually you need a colonoscopy to diagnose things a little better (they take samples of the inflammed area and see if there's an offender or reason why for the inflammation..if none usually it's either chron's or ulcerative colitis)..also they can look for polyp's and it's one way to get a good diagnosis and not miss a problem.

Nooormally the medicine...it might take a few days if this is a bug, sometimes it takes 3-4 days..but normally when I took it - it was pretty quick and actually gave me IBS-C instead of D.. so i'm guessing you still need that colonoscopy but hopefully your drugs will kill whatever it is giving you problems so i'd stick with the medicine.  Flagyl has a anti-inflammatory property about it anyway so it's best to take all your meds and give it an honest shot (I think your doctor is hoping you have some infection..and hopefully it'll save you from a colonoscopy)

Sometimes they do stool studies to see if they can catch it and *sometimes* it's less expensive than doing a full conoloscopy but since he already noted colitis then it's good to do a colonoscopy to find out what is wrong.  You might be having colitis at the very end and beggining of the tract..or it might be multiple issues or the ulcer..so it's good to view the entire colon intead of guessing on what the sigmoidoscope found.  I think they can do biopsies using a sigmoidoscope but it's for sure easier for them during a colonscopy (and you'll be knocked out too..).  

That *****..hang in there, you'll get answers soon, hopefully the meds work..if not then you should get some answer for sure on the conoloscopy.  You could go to g o o g le and type in emedicine comma colitis and it'll list the general causes of it and such so you can educate yourself while you're sitting around.  Hopefully it's not infammatory bowel disease like chron's or ulcerative colitis..that requires medicine and diet to get that under control..  

[Sn33kz]

My stool is consistently diarrhea consistence now, I still have the mucus and the blood seems to have dissipated a little. I still have a severe cramping pressure when I sit down at the toilet like im about to make a huge bowel movement but dont and only the diarrhea comes out.  Do these meds take a long time to take effect? Or will I only see a true improvement after I get the colonscopy and then follow procedure after I know what is truly wrong? Im not scheduled for one until August 6th. Like they said I def have some colitus going on after he investigated my colon through a sigmoidoscope, but didnt say anything about ulcers or polyps. I guess you would need to go deeper ( colonoscopy ) to know this?

[Matthew007]

yeah flagyl is super nasty to deal with but stick with it because usually that's the drug that will reduce the inflammation/get rid of the colitis (hopefully).  But on flagyl everything tastes super nasty, smells awful and usually you get darker urine (drink lots of water..it dehydrates you)