I will be 33 years old this may. My family background is cancer, cancer, pancreas,liver, colon,brain,ovarian you name it, I could probably say yes to it! About 5 years ago, I went through a period of about 2 years of gallbladder attacks. They ran every kind of big test they knew to here. Finally, with an ultrasound they found a gallstone and my gallbladder was swelling so they took it out. After 2 years of extreme pain and diarreah almost constant. They could come up with nothing else and named it irritable bowel syndrome. I went along with it, and as they would say emotional stress would trigger and keep the symptoms going. So I carried my third and last child (3 c-sections total) with a very hard pregnancy and in bed for 6 months because I just continued to dehydrate so very easily. For another year and a half or so of these symptoms that would come and go and growing worse in pain and extremity. I even had kidney stones, probably due to dehydration!Dehydration,little to no nutrition, pain, abdominal swelling, and sometimes rectal bleeding,[not bad though], hot/cold bouts while on the pot to have diarreah, shakiness [probably from not eating right] and now vomitting as well, and periods of weakness getting worse that I could barely rise from the bed afterwards. I went back this time to another doctor whom decided to again prediagnose me with ibs and tried putting me on elavil which I had again explained to them that I had harsh reactions to this medicine. Fits,meanness the whole nine yards. And with 3 very young kids, it is just not right to feel like you are going to fall every step you take while you are trying to carry one of them on your hip some of the time. They recently ran a catscan, which the Dr. Said he knew would come up normal. The results showed my colon was swelling or something. They really didn't go into detail. And they are going to run a blood test and colonscope and upper gi on april fool's day. And they seem so uninterested that I am in harsh pain everyday, vomitting daily, and having diarreah everytime I eat or drink!That big bubble feeling you talk of is like a ballon of air being forced yet not popping under water. At least that is what I am experiencing,only not just on the left side below the ribcage but also extends to the right side. And these attacks with the bowel movements you talk of I have sat and bit my 6 year old's barbie doll legs to nothing because of the extreme pains. They come and go and are worsening. And everytime they hit I become fatally limp and weak for at least of couple of days in bed! And I have nothing but diarreah as you have described, the only thing I have not noticed was blood in the stool itself. I have tried high fiber diets, recording the things I eat, eating small portions at meals and nothing has worked! They have treate dme for acid reflux, constipation and diarreah [ibs] and I will feel fine for maybe 2 days and one or all of the symptoms take place just like a cycle{at first like a monthly cycle} slightly changing to the worse! And I lay and cry. And I refuse to take too much pain meds until they diagnose what is really wrong with me! Not that they are eager to give me a whole lot anyway! It has forced me to come off of work and I am now beginning to have pain and numbness in my feet and fingers and hands. And I hate surprises and I do not want to be brushed off again and ignored. I am so afraid I will not make it through motherhood if they do not find what is wrong and help me at least cope with what is going on! And I wish they would quit saying they need to elevate my pain level where I can withstand more pain! What has happened to doctors listening and trusting what the patient is saying they are experiencing and taking it seriously? Does any of this sound familiar? I will indeed pray for you. I do believe god can heal us and hold us until he is ready. But if you don't feel any better just remember, you have encouraged me to keep going and believing that they have to find before it gets uncontrllable! God bless you!

Thank you for your courageous story...I have a lot of admiration for you and people like you who try to help others with their experiences.

I have also read your story with great interest, for since 6 weeks I have very weird bowel problems myself. My doctor thinks it is a minor problem and he has done several other tests before (finally) referring me to a gi for a colonoscopy. I must say I am not really looking forward to this...I am terribly worried, contrary to my gp.

What struck me in your account was your mention of a cancerous smell of the stools...Could you try and describe it for me? I have experienced a different smell when going to the toilet for some time now (beside many, many other things) and I was wondering...

Well, all the very best to you, thanks again and I will think of you.

Kindly,
sasha (amsterdam)

Do not be scared, I have to have one every 2 yrs, yes the prep for it is not comfortable, so move a tv in the wc but you would be fine,

good luck

As for the odor, I cannot describe it accept to say as a nurse I learned the odor, and it is awful and very distinct, and very different.
If you feel you are being bounced around , and are worried a state university hosp is great to go to. I am fortunate to have went to ohio stste univ hosp, arthur james cancer hosp.
They will not turn you down due to financial situation or no insurance. They are great there. U do not have to already have a cancer diagnosis to go to them. Symptoms such as mentioned above are a good reason to go to a specialist. I would never tell a poster, that it sounds like you are ok, because my original post says it all, if you have any of the symptoms, go to get checked.
I do want to say though, that cat scans and ultra sounds I had did not show the tumor, it was found only through colonoscopy

Hi bluejeanangel. I am just wondering if you went for the chemotherapy ? I heard that chemotherapy for colon cancer patient is the mildest of all, therefore the side-effect wont be that bad. My mom has undergone the operation to remove the tumour. However, now, me and my family is in the midst of deciding to let her go ahead with chemotherapy or otherwise because from what we learned, chemotherapy will make the person weak and easily proned to diseases.

Please advise.

Thanks.

I am so sorry for have been gone for so long, so much has been happening.
You cannot gage whether your mom should have chemo from anyone elses experience. Therefore I will not comment regarding chemo, except to say, I believe it should be left up to the individual to decide, and all should be supportive of what they decide.
I had a checkup in oct, cancer free at that time, due for another checkup soon. Praying all goes well. But only god knows.
Jeannie

:?: i've had stomach spasms ever since my daughter got pregnant with my grandaughter 3 years ago. I've not seen a doc for this. My stomach jumps around like i'm being kicked or something. It's really strange! The past 6 months my lower back has been hurting so bad that I can hardly move sometimes, barely get up out of bed and when I cough, sneeze, my back kills me. I've had extreme pain that i've been trying to ignore, but has been worse these days. I've also had diarehea mostly everyday and I am nauseuos alot. This has disrupted my daily living extremely, but I haven't made a doc's appointment yet. Could just be due to stress, I don't know. Sometimes my stool has alot of mucous, sounds gross I know but it's true. I get heartburn alot, which lately, the past few weeks has been overwelming and I get no relief from zantac like I used to. If you have any thought of what is going on with me, feel free to say cause at this point i'm just so tired of feeling this way. I've also gained 60 lbs., which half of it i've gained in the last 5 months. Maybe it's because of my diet and I also drank alot, but i've stopped, not because I want to, but because everytime I would, I would throw up and be sick to my stomach with acid and diarehea for 2 days. But even when I don't drink, which I don't anymore, I feel these things. About 3 years ago, my doctor told me I had a "fat ball" on my right side lower back. She just looked at me there and told me that was what it was. She scheduled me for some kind of x-ray but I never went because then I was working all the time. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

I have no clue what is going on in your body, but it does seem as time goes by, you are having more and more symptoms, maybe its nothing, maybe its something. Go to your Dr., write doen the list so you dont forget to tell him/her something.. Let your Dr. Know you are uncomfortable woth what he/she tells you, if you are not satisfied. If you feel you cant trust the dr you are seeiing, then find 1 that you do.
Good luck

Thankyou for replying to my reply! Hey why aren't my smiley's workin? Anyways, I know that I need to have this checked out in more depth and I have been putting it off for a long time thinking that maybe it's not that serious, but yes as time has gone by, it's getting worse. I just don't trust any doctors at all cause from my experience they only play the "guessing game." I just don't know, this is so weird to be havin all this going on with my "bootie"...........Lol!

:lol:
this is june 2005, in may, had colonoscopy, all is still clear!!!
Jeannie

I've heard nurses talk about a cancer odor. I was wondering what this smelled like. My son and I can smell an odor on certain people that others don't seem to notice. Many of those people have turned out to have cancer.

To us, this odor smells like an old musty, moldy, smell. It's sometimes very strong and almost burns your nose. Most people think i'm nuts when I talk about that though.

I'm not a nurse btw nor is my son. What do you make of this?

i found this post after a google search. For a long time, I have thought that I had an ability to tell when a person has cancer from a peculiar body odor. I had many relatives who had cancer and after a while I started to put two and two together. I have often predicted that a person would be diagnosed with cancer. I never heard of other people having this, and was wondering if I was nuts. I smell this odor right now on my mil and was telling my husband about it, and thought to see if there were any other cases of this.

Your post has confirmed my belief that there is a certain smell--because the odor you describe is *exactly* the one that I smell. When you smell someone with that odor, what do you do? Do you tell them if they currently don't think they have cancer?

--jodi

This is a delima I have had as well. I really don't know what to do when I smell that. I've thought about telling these people but they really wouldn't believe you I don't think. What do you do? Have you told your mil? Maybe you could print out this page and show her that others have also picked up on this.

For a little over 2 weeks, I had diarrea with passage of blood and mucus, along with abdomial cramps. On top of that, I was experiencing hip pain that I thought was unrelated. I have a history of colon cancer in my family so, of course, am very parinoid. I went to my family doctor - he put me on 2 antibiotics and scheduled a lower gi. The lower ge came back negative. So I was thinking that I was good - maybe just an infection that the antibiotics took care of. A week and a half after the lower gi, I had more blood in my stool and still had side pain. Meanwhile, the physical therapist I was seeing for my hip pain decided that it was internal problems causing my pain, not joints or legiments.
I called my doctor again, this time he schedule fecal testing. I was tested for bacteria, blood in stool, parasites and white blood cells. They all came back negative. Now I am scheduled for a colonoscopy.
I still have pain in my abdomen, I still have odd bowel movements (loose, small, not consistent). I am crazy? I am starting to feel like I am making something out of nothing. I know I will find out soon (colonoscopy is on 2/28) but I am just looking for some support or confirmation that I am not being a drama queen about this. Thanks.....

I have been having bright red blood when having a bowel movement. I have been going through so many other tests for other things right now, this just adds to the list of medical problems. I am overwhelmed and very very scared I may have rectal cancer. Does anyone know the treatment of rectal cancer? I have hpv which caused cervical cancer so I am at a higher risk for rectal cancer. Scared to death right now

I thought that they were training dogs to smell cancer. Is this in use yet?

Hi eveyone

i have read from many books that antioxidant - vit a,c,e,selenium, lipoic acid helps in preventing and treating cancer. I have friends who survived breast cancer buy taking lots of supplement. I hope this will help.

Btw may I know what is the early symptoms of colon cancer? I believe the smell will comes later. Is the blood within the stool or it's a fresh blood like menses blood? There are occassion I bleed but it's a fresh blood.

God bless
thanks

I came to this board by searching "cancer smells" and this is very interesting. ( I have developed a unique stool odor)
i had a colonoscopy and a endoscopy in may of 2005 as a follow up to other gastro problems and as a age-determined precaution. The diagnosis was that I have a hiadle hernia and barrets esophagus (sp?) but no lower gastro/colon problems. I had a follow-up endoscopy a fewweeks ago --- no change in the barret's esophagus.

However, for the last 4 - 5 months I have noticed a peculiar odor in my stool and now it seems I can detect it at other times on my breath. I've tried to "put a name on it" and the closest I can come is --- it smells similar to saurerkraut.
Other changes i've noticed are irregular bowel movements (i was historically very predictable in that sense) and a uneasy feeling in my stomach that is just short of nausea but is still very uncomfortable, almost like i'm "going to have" nausea. And, I have absolutely no energy most of the time.
I am male but my mother and all 4 of her sisters died of cancer, as did my paternal grandmother, and my sister also had cancer.
My medical care is through the va and that is quite cumberson with long waiting periods for appointments. I don't have a family doctor.
Adding to that, I live in a remote mountain area, about 50 miles from the nearest clinic.
It would be pretty odd to call the va and say -- my poop smells funny.
I have no close friends or family that I can discuss this with but just by typing this out makes it more evident to me that I must do something.
I'm wondering if anyone here has had similar symptoms --- lacking the severe pain and blood that blueangel had.
I also wonder if it could be an odor from medication. I take a nexium-clone that I started about three months before noticing the odor, and also a statin for high cholesterol.

I think all of us over 50, or over 40 i'm told if it's in your family, should screen for colon cancer. I started a little before my 50th birthday and I was clean, but the next time they found something that could have become cancer and removed it. Iwas pretty happy. You know sometimes I mentioned my favorite health info portal Healthsiteguide.Com. Now i'll really mention it, because I saw they other day they have a whole feature on colon cancer screening with direct linnks to info, even videos and animation. Good health is a gift...If you have it, try to protect it. Get screen, and good luck to us all.