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colon cancer or ibs ?

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May 6th, 2008
Hey there,
i had a baby last May (csection) and it went well..

this past january i started having left side pain....it would come and go and feel kinda like gases...

now for the last month ish, i've had bubbly/gasy/VERY crampy stomach and i'm having frequent BM's.

There is NO blood in stool, but i'm constantly having cramps and sharp shooting paints through my belly and pain under my left rib cage area....
i'm so worried it's colon cancer..

i saw my dr today and he's sending me for a barium enema....my hospital is backed up so it's not until May 29. I feel like i'm living on egg shells not knowing....i'm 30 years old...no family history of anything....

is IBS the same symptoms as colon cancer?? i'm making myself sick with worry... Sad

can someone talk to me?? please... Sad Question

Rachelle-ontario canada
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MandMs
replied May 9th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
Hi and welcome to ehealthforum!
Do you find ups and downs of pain relating to your menstrual cycle?
Is the abdominal pain more severe at night?
Do you feel like you still need to have a bowel movement after you've already had one?
Do you usually have diarrhea after eating or first thing in the morning?
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RachelleCanada
replied May 9th, 2008
Re: Hi and welcome to ehealthforum!
MandMs wrote:
Do you find find ups and downs of pain relating to your menstrual cycle?
Is the abdominal pain more severe at night?
Do you feel like you still need to have a bowel movement after you've already had one?
Do you usually have diarrhea after eating or first thing in the morning?


the thing is it's not always diarrhea....the bm's are soft ones but not always liquidy.....and yea i do go in the morning....and i find my stomach pains are through out the day....sometimes at night it gets worse but its usually at any given time.....
and i'm sooo irregular with my menstrual cycle....its been about 35 ish days since my last one so i can't really say if it is....i DO have more BM's during my period....but i'm making myself sick reading about all this online...my husband swears its gotta be IBS and not colon cancer (i'm 30) but i always read into the worse....i think i have health anxiety but i told him that i don't fake this stomach pains i'm getting...their there and i have bm's so often....
thank you for getting back to me...i check everyday to see if people have advice and your the first one who has responded...
thank you
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MandMs
replied May 14th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
You are welcome!

With IBS, your faeces may vary in consistency from hard and pellet-like to loose and watery.

Do you find relief of your abdominal pain after having a bowel movement?
Have you noticed some mucous in your stool?
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RachelleCanada
replied May 14th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
You are welcome!

With IBS, your faeces may vary in consistency from hard and pellet-like to loose and watery.

Do you find relief of your abdominal pain after having a bowel movement?
Have you noticed some mucous in your stool?


i've never noticed mucus....well actually maybe ONCE....i think i recall it....only once tho.....

sometimes i get a relief in my abdomen after a BM but not every time....

can ibs cause shooting pains in stomach too???

O ya yesterday i had a BM and i had a PRICKLY/SHOOTING PAIN going up my spine when the BM came out (TMI sorry)....i freaked out and called husband and he said that he's had that before too...that its some nerve thing that sometimes happens....

god i think i have health anxiety
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MandMs
replied May 15th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
Have you been straining to pass the stool, when you felt the pain?
Did you get the pain after you have finished the bowel movement?
Was this a severe, episodic, deep rooted pain, something like the pain from muscle cramps in legs?
Does the bloating usually subside overnight and return the following day?
Were your symptoms preceded with some major, stressful event back in January?
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RachelleCanada
replied May 15th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
Have you been straining to pass the stool, when you felt the pain?
Did you get the pain after you have finished the bowel movement?
Was this a severe, episodic, deep rooted pain, something like the pain from muscle cramps in legs?
Does the bloating usually subside overnight and return the following day?
Were your symptoms preceded with some major, stressful event back in January?


ooo so many questions lol scared

I don't strain to pass stool....barely ever...just odd time...but not often

i sometimes get pain after i'm done passing a BM

the pain was like a sharp prickly pain...i guess it's hard to describe...

i don't find myself too bloated....i get stomach cramps that come and go....sometimes their there a LOT and i sometimes get relief with passing stool....sometimes i don't...

i think way back in january my baby girl (she just turned one on may 3) started a serious of sicknesses....

1. flu
2. gastro
3. ear infection
4. roseola
5. thrush
6. flu again
7. and now bit of a cold from teething..

so i read so much into everything that i got stressed out from jan-may (right now) and i can't seem to stop stressing about stuff...
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MandMs
replied May 16th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
IBS is not caused by stress, but can be triggered and exacerbated by stress.
About half of people with IBS date the start of their symptoms to some stressful period.
Severe, short stabbing pains in the rectum, called proctalgia fugax, is a additional symptom of IBS in one third of IBS sufferers.

Well wishes for your daughter and all of your family!
Marija
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RachelleCanada
replied May 16th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
IBS is not caused by stress, but can be triggered and exacerbated by stress.
About half of people with IBS date the start of their symptoms to some stressful period.
Severe, short stabbing pains in the rectum, called proctalgia fugax, is a additional symptom of IBS in one third of IBS sufferers.

Well wishes for your daughter and all of your family!
Marija


thank you for your help...your a very kind woman....
thanks again....

Smile

it's hard to find genuin people on the internet these days!
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MandMs
replied May 19th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
You are welcome anytime and thank you for writing to me!

Have you noticed that after consuming certain foods or after you've eaten a big meal, your symptoms are getting worse?
Do you get headaches and low back or groin pain along with the other abdominal symptoms?
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RachelleCanada
replied May 20th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
You are welcome anytime and thank you for writing to me!

Have you noticed that after consuming certain foods or after you've eaten a big meal, your symptoms are getting worse?
Do you get headaches and low back or groin pain along with the other abdominal symptoms?


i don't get headaches or groin pain no.....
u know when my pain is sooooooooooooooooooo bad.....and this used to never EVER happen......when i eat popcorn...NO clue why...the other night i was a friends and they made popcorn (homemade) it was soooo good and i ate sooooooo much of it....a few hours later i had like an "attack" of pain on my left side...it was sooo painful....
seems that popcorn doesn't help
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MandMs
replied May 26th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
No particular foods cause everyone with IBS to have symptoms.
Through trial and error, many people find that they feel better when they stop eating certain foods. These foods may cause the intestines to contract, which can aggravate IBS in people who have diarrhea as their main symptom.
Popcorn is known as food rich in fiber.
Although, food rich in fiber is recommended in people with IBS, for some people who have IBS, eating more fiber may actually make some symptoms worse.

Eating smaller meals more often, or eating smaller portions, and drinking six to eight glasses of plain water a day, may help your "suspected IBS" symptoms.


Have a good, healthy day!
Marija
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RachelleCanada
replied May 27th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
No particular foods cause everyone with IBS to have symptoms.
Through trial and error, many people find that they feel better when they stop eating certain foods. These foods may cause the intestines to contract, which can aggravate IBS in people who have diarrhea as their main symptom.
Popcorn is known as food rich in fiber.
Although, food rich in fiber is recommended in people with IBS, for some people who have IBS, eating more fiber may actually make some symptoms worse.

Eating smaller meals more often, or eating smaller portions, and drinking six to eight glasses of plain water a day, may help your "suspected IBS" symptoms.




Have a good, healthy day!
Marija



thank you...
i actually have my barium enema on thursday may 29th @ 8am....so i'm NOT too anxious for that...i've had one before like 10 years ago (i'm 30 years old right now) when i was 20 ish....it was not pleasent....i've been feeling not too bad for about a week now and today my diareah started back again...and then to top it off i have to drink that gross stuff that will make me have BM's allllll day...ugh....

i'm anxious to get this test over with....but nervous too...
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MandMs
replied May 28th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
Why you were examined with barium enema 10 years ago?
I understand you anxiousness about getting some answers from this examination.
I'll be thinking of you today and tomorrow!
Waiting for the new informations!
Marija!
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RachelleCanada
replied May 28th, 2008
MandMs wrote:
Why you were examined with barium enema 10 years ago?
I understand you anxiousness about getting some answers from this examination.
I'll be thinking of you today and tomorrow!
Waiting for the new informations!
Marija!



it had been 4 years that i was bleeding in my "bum" when i would have a bm. It ended up that i had a chronic fisher...and had to have surgery....surgery for that was the best thing i ever did...i would bleed so bad that there was a lot of blood loss during a BM...

in about 2 hours i have to drink that yucki stuff...i'm SO not anxious Sad Sad
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RachelleCanada
replied June 3rd, 2008
MandMs wrote:
Why you were examined with barium enema 10 years ago?
I understand you anxiousness about getting some answers from this examination.
I'll be thinking of you today and tomorrow!
Waiting for the new informations!
Marija!


well i had my barium enema and i got the results!
he said it was "negative" but that it showed Diverticula...
but that it's pretty much harmless??
i need to do some reading about this more...
have you ever heard of this?
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MandMs
replied June 4th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
Hi!
Diverticulum is a small pouch that protrudes from (sticks out from) the wall of the gut.
They are very common and are related to not eating enough food rich in fiber.
Diverticula can be asymptomatic or can cause symptoms which are very similar to those of IBS (crampy abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, mucus in stool, bloating, passing blood with stool).
In small percent of people, diverticulum can get inflamed and infected that sometimes gets worse and causes complications.

Where are exactly diverticula located?
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RachelleCanada
replied June 6th, 2008
Re: Hi!
MandMs wrote:
Diverticulum is a small pouch that protrudes from (sticks out from) the wall of the gut.
They are very common and are related to not eating enough food rich in fiber.
Diverticula can be asymptomatic or can cause symptoms which are very similar to those of IBS (campy abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, mucus in stool, bloating, passing blood with stool).
In small percent of people, diverticulum can get inflamed and infected that sometimes gets worse and causes complications.

Where are exactly diverticula located?


hey there...
thank you for the info..
i have NO idea where it's located...
would my dr know that???

i have another question...if it says to eat more fiber, then i will go to the bathroom MORE often then i already do which is OFTEN...
so do i still eat more fiber anyways??
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MandMs
replied June 9th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
You are welcome!
Fiber is used to treat both constipation and diarrhea and helps maintain healthy bacteria levels in the gut.
Insoluble fiber, promotes regularity and helps prevent constipation.
Soluble fiber dissolves in water and may bulk up and soften stool to help with diarrhea and promote normal bowel movements.
High-fiber diets may cause gas and bloating, so, it's important to increase its intake gradually (by 2 to 3 grams per day).
Drinking six to eight glasses of plain water a day is important, especially when you have diarrhea.
Large meals can cause cramping and diarrhea, so eating smaller meals more often, or eating smaller portions, may help.

Have a good, healthy day!
Marija
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