[TheWorriedMan]

Hi there!I'm a 23 year old nervous and cancer-paranoid poster who is looking for some insight. I'm not diagnosed with IBS but I do suspect that I have IBS-D (I'm going to make an doctors appointment as soon as my doctor returns from his vacation) although at the same time I have a great cancer paranoia so of course expect the worst as well. Thanks (?) to this fear of cancer I throughly inspect every stool for blood and I'm constantly checking for various cancer symptoms, which leads into my question:I'm not sure if this is common or not but after having a BM, my stool colors the water at the bottom of the bowl into this golden color (for quick color-reference see this beer picture http://new.private-prague-guide.com/wp-content/pilsner.jpg . Is this something normal or does this indicate that there is blood or something in the stool which "leaks out"?Two more things:1)Do people who suffer from IBS have constant pain? I only feel stomach/bowel pain due to gas or when I feel like BM is "at the door"(for example in the morning when I really need to use the bathroom)2)If anyone would like to take a shot at my possible IBS symptoms I would be really happy

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/index.php?/topic/124177-ibs-or-not/ Jeffrey Roberts has already been kind enough to answer to give his thoughts and that has been really helpful. Take care!Pär

 

[Kathleen M.]

23 year olds virtually never get bowel cancer. If there is bleeding it is almost always something else. (from hemorrhoids to other GI illnesses. Colon cancer is a disease that only really gets going in the over 50 crowd and is only common in the elderly)Even if you come from a family with a polyp disease most of the cancer develops in their 30's and 40's. It takes year to decades for a polyp to become a cancer so you need time to make polyps before you develop tumors and even if you have a polyp disease it takes until your teens and twenties to get enough of them to get the rare one that will "go bad".Stool always in every human eventually dissolves. If you let it sit in the water long enough some of it will color the water, etc. THIS IS NOT BLOOD!Obsessively studying your stool is not good for you. It isn't good for anyone. Just one way your anxiety uses to keep itself going and ramp itself up.Constant pain the never ever lets up and is always the same is NOT a symptom of IBS. Most commonly "pain relieved by a BM or fart" is the pattern so it usually gets bad right before you have to go or fart then calms down for awhile. This pattern is almost exclusive to IBS, but is not seen in every IBSers (maybe about 70% that tend to get pain when the rectum fills up).

 

[TheWorriedMan]

Thank you so much Kathleen for your quick and informative reply. Perhaps now I can calm down until I find my next supposed symptom. Even though I am at a relatively young age I feel like I could be among the 0.00000000001% young adults who actually gets colon cancer due to my horrible eating habits. Hopefully I will stop this horrible obsessive cancer symptom-checking after I get a diagnosis.Also, since I have been lurking here for quite some time now, I would like to thank you for all your terrific posts that you have made on this board. I think I might just have read them all.

Pär

 

[TheWorriedMan]

Thank you so much Kathleen for your quick and informative reply. Perhaps now I can calm down until I find my next supposed symptom. Even though I am at a relatively young age I feel like I could be among the 0.00000000001% young adults who actually gets colon cancer due to my horrible eating habits. Hopefully I will stop this horrible obsessive cancer symptom-checking after I get a diagnosis.Also, since I have been lurking here for quite some time now, I would like to thank you for all your terrific posts that you have made on this board. I think I might just have read them all.

Pär

 

[Kathleen M.]

Even people with horrible eating who eat next to no fruits or vegies and eat nothing but charred meat every day that is never marinated (as that reduces the risk of the meat), and for extra measure cook it over charcoal as often as possible don't get polyps until they are in their 40s and 50s. REALLY!!!And most of them get scurvy or something else that kills them before the colon cancer gets them. We did have a kid at my college get scurvy because if Mom didn't make him eat them he wouldn't have any fruits or veggies of any kind at all. I think they finally convinced him to drink a glass of orange juice with his McDonald's breakfast. He wouldn't even get a burger that had lettuce or tomato on it. Your anxiety will come up with any justification for you to be the one person in all of human history that is hit by a meteorite, while being struck by lightening at the exact moment you see on the TV news you won the lottery. It isn't healthy and you should talk to your doctor about the anxiety. It will kill you a lot sooner than colon cancer because it isn't good for your body to be in a constant state of panic.

 

[TheWorriedMan]

Hahaha that sounds like an interesting person, and perhaps I'm not THAT extreme. I try to vary my food intake at least to some degree and by so doing eat some spinach, veggies, oatmeal and fish etc. But still I do eat somewhat unhealthy and A LOT of candy. Then add a grandmother and uncle with colon cancer at 52(there are more cancer occurrences but not directly colon cancer. Does that effect?).But still, I do like those odds and all of the sudden I have this huge urge to play the lottery.

 

[Kathleen M.]

52 is normal colon cancer. Sugar doesn't seem to be a big problem with colon cancer. The compounds formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures or grilled over charcoal MIGHT (not will in every person) MIGHT play a small role.Most of colon cancer is aging. There are cancers that tend to be more common in the young, but this isn't one of them. Most of the young people cancers are in body part that have a lot of growth, or are effected by high hormone levels. There are a lot of other cancers that are more about things wearing out over time and that leading to problems.

 

[TheWorriedMan]

Thank you for those soothing words. I will bookmark this thread and read it every time I get an anxiety attack.I love you?