Jun
MY fiance has had bowel problems for approx 2 years. He has diarrhea and somewhat solid bowel movements from a day to day basis, and 2 out of ten times there’s blood in the stool- sometimes a tiny and sometimes a lot. He has had a colonoscopy, the physicians have stated he has IBS, and occasional hemherhoids. Recently on a show I watched they stated that colonoscopys can infact miss colon cancer, and there not always 1000 percent accurate… Is this true? It really got us curios about the situation. Its hard to categorize IBS from Colon Cancer… One main question is - Do you have blood in the stool from just IBS alone?? And How much blood can hemmerhoids actually produce? A lot of questions and the physicians dont seem to be helping most times.
Answer:
He took the first step in having a colonoscopy so that’s great! There is always that chance that colonoscopies do not catch everything. There could be very small benign or non cancerous polyps that have been missed, due to stool left over in the colon or the normal colon mucous. Colonoscopies are not perfect, but they do pick up the larger polyps or ulcerations that could be infact cancerous or cancerous down the line. For the most part the surgeons that I work with say that it can take up to 10 years sometimes to have a polyp in your colon turn into a cancer. That is not to say, that not having colonoscopies are important though. That is why usually unless you have a polyp on your first colonoscopy, or a family history of colon cancer, the recomended follow up is a colonoscopy every 10 years. Bowel problems can occur at any age, and for tons of factors, people are very quick to say that someone has IBS when they dont know what else to diagnose them with and they have irratic bowels like this. First of all every one is born with hemmorhoids. People freak out when they hear that but its true. Everyone is born with them, its weather or not they become irritated. They become irritated through several reasons. Constipation, diarrhea, stress, pressure. Usually people with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome ) dont notice to much blood. People can also be diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease, which is different this can include Crohns disease and Ulcerative Colitis. These two mentioned diseases are more bothersome and at times takes medications, and some times even surgery to help patients symptoms. IBS usually is active when people are under certain stressors, eating certain foods or drinking certain beverages. Colon Cancer occurs from a polyp or ulceration containing cancerous cells that spread in the colon. It sounds like your fiance is bleeding primarily from his hemorrhoids. He needs to be sure to be drinking 8-10 8 oz glasses of water a day at least, excersize, and high fiber foods such as whole grain breads and fresh fruits and veggies. There are also fiber suppliments that he can take in pill and powder forms as well. Some times the blood seems like a lot. In reality its a TSP. or two, it looks like a lot more in the toilet bowel. He really needs to just focus on trying to increase his fiber, try not straining to move his bowels either and plenty of water.
Hope that helped alittle