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[Guest guest]

Many have written over the years worried about symptoms. Many younger

persons would write confused because the doctors rarely if ever considered

cancer

or perform colonoscopies on 20 30 or 40 year olds. That's changed very little

in 3 years.

All the more reason why PROJECT MARCH is so important.

Narice

From the archives August 2002

Hi,

I'm glad you are seeing a doctor, this is definitely the right thing

to do. If this doctor is a GP, you need to INSIST that he give you a

referral to a GI specialist for a colonoscopy right away!!!

I think the symptoms of CC vary widely depending on the person, the

location of the tumor, etc. " Numbness " would imply some sort of

nerve damage or " pinching " - this COULD be due to tumor infiltrating

nerves but there are other reasons too so don't rush to conclusions!

Narrowed stool and pain MAY be symptoms of CC, but again it is

possible there are other reasons and a doctor will be able to sort

this out.

One common symptom many of us have experienced prior to diagnosis is

FATIGUE - tiredness, run down feeling. This comes from ANEMIA -

blood loss from tumor. Some MAY notice " blood in stools " , but you

can be anemic without " obvious " bloody stools too. There is actually

a home test for this where you drop a treated cloth in the toilet and

it turns a certain color if there is blood in your stool, but I would

save the money, don't buy it since the doctor will be doing this test

anyway.

Are there others in your family with either colon or breast cancer?

If you DO have cancer at age 26 it COULD be a " hereditary " cancer

such as HNPCC - Heriditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer.

The most important thing you can do is to FOLLOW THROUGH with the

doctor until the cause of your symptoms is discovered, regardless of

what it may be! Sometimes doctors " give up " looking in a young

patient (the " oh you're too young to have cancer " syndrome) which can

be a major mistake if the patient does in fact have cancer - in fact

a fatal mistake. MAKE THEM FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT IS WRONG!!!!

Hope this helps!

Best Wishes,

> Hi, for the past year (ok maybe longer than that) I've been

> producing narrow stools. At first I was worried, but as time

passed

> I put it out of my mind as I'm only 26 and I never had other

> symptons.

> Now, for the last few months, my colon has been completed

> congestioned. In the last week, I've been feeling this numbing

> unlocalized pain in my lower colon. And just recently, I realized

> that my ability to control my rectum's muscles has diminished.

It's

> as if they're numb.

> This last one has got me scared. I will be seeing a doctor by the

> end of the week. But I am worried.

> I've tried to find some guidance on the net, but the colon cancer

> symptons listed on most sites, seemed too broad for me to make a

> comparison.

> So I came here. What advice can you give me? If you have had

colon

> cancer, what symptoms did you have when you discovered this?

> I just don't know what to think anymore...

> Thank you,

> V