Rectal cancer at 19? Please help.

[james1029]

Hi,

I'm a 19 year old male, and for the past five months I have been experiencing the symptoms listed below. Please read them carefully, as I find that most of the time, the reader simply skims over them and gives me a wrong diagnosis.

REGULAR SYMPTOMS
     -excess mucus before bowel movements, for the whole five months, my first symptom
     -excess gas in the morning that can only be passed after draining mucus, started one month ago

INFREQUENT SYMPTOMS
     -constipation AND flat stools, occur together, only after eating a low fibre meal
     followed by...
     -rectal bleeding AND change in bowel movements, occur together, not severe

All of these symptoms (except for tiny amounts of mucus) stopped by themselves a couple of months ago. They started again after about two weeks of symptom free bowel movements.

Some medical history: My father has had Ulcerative Colitis since he was in his mid-twenties, but is dealing with it well thanks to medication and a good diet. According to him, his initial symptoms included mucus, bleeding, and diarrhea. However, I've ruled out this disease since I haven't had diarrhea for a very long time.

I am very worried because I am in my first year of college, and the prospect of having cancer at my age is scaring me. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for July 11th, which is the earliest date they could give me.

[Dtownstew]

are you still on?

[Dtownstew]

You still here buddy? I'm matt, 20 here and have had some problems with mine as well.
Let me know if you are here now?

[james1029]

I'm still bleeding, but not as much as before. There aren't any drops of blood now, only small streaks. I'm also taking iron supplements to compensate for any blood loss that might have occurred overtime.

[Dtownstew]

Hey, u feeling any better yet?

[ggreg]

I wanted to add that I should have indeed said, "It is rare you can get rectal cancer under the age of 20, with one in one million having it," to be completely straight about it.  Instead, my reply was imperfect, by saying "You do not have rectal cancer," and I'm sorry to anyone who may have been misled about my post.  I appreciate Lynn pointing out the problem with my advice, and in the future I'll try harder to get it exactly right.  My intent was to dispell any wild notion that the original poster had about having cancer, he's only 19, and instead I wanted to steer him to the much more likely cause of his symptoms.  GG  

[ggreg]

Dear Lynn,
At www.cancer.gov, in an article by the National Cancer Institute, under their section on "Unusual Cancers of Childhood," it says:
"Colorectal Cancer
"Cancer of the large bowel is rare in the pediatric age group: one person per one million younger than 20 years in the United States annually."

In addition, nearly every text I have and many organizations online say younger than 40 is quite unusual.  I put 30 because a cousin had it in her late 30s, and the docs said she shouldn't have been there.  I also think it is important not to get it wrong when you're dealing with young people.
GG

Dear James,
Glad eating and drinking correctly helped you out.  Keep it up, takes a little while for hemorrhoids to heal up.  Yes, you could have a fissure, and if the bleeding doesn't stop after a few weeks of good eating and drinking, visit the doc, of course.
GG

[james1029]

i also forgot to mention that these symptoms started five months ago when i strained extremely hard on the toilet. i have strained before, but not this hard. it's possible that this straining might have developed a chronic anal fissure or a massive internal hemmorhoid (or maybe even both).

however, it might also simply be coincidence that my symptoms started after the straining, meaning i might have another more serious disease.

can hemmorhoids or anal fissures last as long as five months?

[james1029]

The first time I went was four months ago when the bleeding first began. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic by the name of Flagyl which I had to take for a week. The second time I went, he did a fecal occult test which came out positive, and then scheduled an appointment for me with a specialist on July 11th.

Meanwhile, I really need to stop the rectal bleeding. Yesterday I made sure that I ate lots of fiber and drunk lots of water, and as a result I had a very easy bowel movement with very little mucus and no gas or blood in the following morning. During the night however, I had another smaller BM that I could "feel" coming down in my rectum as a sort of a hard lump. After passing it, the bleeding started again.

[lynn117]

ggreg is incorrect. there are cases of rectal cancer in younger people. there is no thirty year old rule for any kind of cancer. the chances of you having rectal cancer is very rare since younger people rarely get this cancer. it sounds more like you have irritable bowel syndrome or a gluten allergy. make an appointment and get this checked out.

[ggreg]

On the cancer issue, you do not have rectal cancer, you gotta be at least 30 years old, with folks more commonly getting it at 50 or 60.  This is really true, you can look it up.

On your symptoms, I kind of think what your father had is what you got, even tho it doesn't follow the precise diagnosis, and the colonoscopy will reveal that if you got it.  If you DON'T have it, you can thank your lucky stars.

In general, symptoms like yours indicate constipation and hemorrhoids... the hems will bleed when hard stool from constipation goes by the swollen tissues.  Now, constipation, you can have bouts of it, and in between you'll get diarrhea and mucous and strange sizes and types of stool.  To avoid constipation, the three things you gotta do regularly is:  Exercise, drink plenty of water, and get enough fiber foods, to include whole wheat, oats, salads, vegies, you probably know the drill.