Irritable bowel vs. colon cancer vs. something else

[ladybug888]

I posted on another board about GI problems and my concern with colon cancer.  I fit the symptoms of IBS, but wonder how you can tell the difference between IBS and colon cancer since the symptoms are so similar?   I am a 47 year old female with no significant health problems other than these ongoing GI issues which have been going on for about three months. It seemed to start after a bad stomach bug that I had that never truly went away.    I went to the GI a few months ago and he thought taking probiotics might help, but after six weeks, it has not done much of anything.  He tested me for celiac, which was negative, and I had a colonoscopy and endoscopic exam 18 months prior, though I don't know if those tests should be repeated or if anything serious could have developed since taking those tests.  They did find a small polyp, but nothing else.  I will go back on Friday, after waiting for another six weeks for an appointment.  Things have gotten worse and was hoping to get some feedback here.

Symptoms:  I have had three months of pain in the abdomen in the area across my ribcage, cramps in that same area, loss of appetite, and diarrhea that will last for days, go away, and come back a few weeks later. When it goes away, I have regular bowel movements.  As noted above,  I had a colonoscopy 18 months ago with a small polyp removed, as well an endoscopic examination and test for celiac disease.  Nothing remarkable on any of these tests.

This week,  I went to my family practitioner for something else and they did some basic blood work, which came back showing high EOS of 49 (range is 0-5%) with absolute OS of 8.9 (range is 0.0 - 0.7). Everything else was normal except WBC slightly elevated (18.1). They tested for iron, thyroid, and general CBC.   I plan on taking this to my GI visit on Friday.

My questions:
1.  How can you tell the difference between colon cancer and IBS with symptoms being so similar
2.  Can I eliminate colon cancer as a concern since I had the colonoscopy 18 months ago?
3.  Is it possible that I am dealing with a parasitic infection, which is listed as one of the notes in the lab work?  I never thought of this and wouldn't have until this lab work drawn for something else came back with these results.    

Thanks in advance for any feedback :)

[Dani Gordon, M.D.]

Hi Ladybug,

It sounds like you are doing all the right things at the doctors to make sure they are ruling other things out besides IBS.  This is very important because IBS cannot be diagnosed until celiac and other things have been ruled out.  If you do get a diagnosis of IBS after your follow-up appointments, then there are lots of things you ca do to relieve you symptoms and start feeling better!;)  Because IBS has a huge Mindbody component, tackling it from a foods approach as well as with mindbody treatments like ibs hypnotherapy, yoga, and visualization/meditation are all effective ways for managing symptoms:)  Good luck at the doctors!

[ladybug888]

Hello and thank you for your reply!    So if I had it 18 months ago and it is good for ten years, then any symptoms I am having now are very likely not from colon cancer it sounds like, which was my big fear.    I did have a HIDA scan of the gallbladder, but no ultrasound.     I will ask the doctor about that when I go next week :))

[Caryopteris]

Good thing you had the colonoscopy, since you had a polyp. They will have removed it and told you when you need followup.  Usually the test is good for about 10 years.  It's a great test since it can rid you of early polyps like they did for you.  Your risk from the other rare kinds of colon cancer is low because they are rare.  

It sounds like gallbladder stones or a nonfunctioning GB.  Have you had an ultrasound of your GB?  

What is even more likely is that you are reacting to particular foods.  You might still have a problem with gluten, although probably not full Celiac, since you were negative for that so that's good.  You might be reacting to other foods like coffee, dairy, soy, etc.  Parasites are possible since they are common, but then again nothing showed on colonoscopy.  You can try something like walnut hulls  or artemesia tea, something like that.  

It doesn't sound like cancer to me.