“Bowel habits?”
I read that a symptom of bowel cancer can be "a change in bowel habits" which seems kinda vague to me. Cause I see things about people being constipated or not being able to poop for weeks, but they don't have bowel cancer. So what would the indicator be that this change in bowel habits is concerning? Is it when you try to fix it for weeks and nothing works? If you've been constipated, and eating some more fibre makes you poop, does that mean the problem was low fiber?
Female | 23 years old
2 Answers
You are right that "change in bowel habits" is quite vague and not specific at all for colon cancer. Suspicion for colon cancer is raised when someone has weight loss, anemia, blood in the stool. Colon cancer is very rare in people under 40-50 years old. Treat constipation as you are doing with more fiber or use over-the-counter laxatives if you need them.
As bad as it may sound, read the back of an aspirin bottle and he would probably never taken aspirin again. So that symptoms so vague it could be anything from dehydration, nerves, all the way up to the worst he described. And everything in between. I will discuss this with my primary care physician. And then go to a gastroenterologist for the referral as indicated. Thank you thank you
Be well
Brent Reinheimer, MD
Be well
Brent Reinheimer, MD
