Symptoms of bowel cancer
There are mainly three symptoms of bowel cancer, they include:
- Persistent blood in your stool: if you notice blood in your pool and you are clueless what the cause might be, it is important that you have it checked, it could also be associated with a change in your bowel movement.
- A persistent change in your bowel movement: you realize that you constantly feel the need to poo and you poo also becomes runny. It is a symptom of bowel cancer among many other possibilities
- Persistent lower abdominal (stomach) pain, bloating or discomfort: if you notice that you feel abdominal pain usually after eating you should visit your doctor. It may also be associated with loss of appetite or significant unintentional weight loss.
Other symptoms include; anal or rectal pain, unexplained fatigue, pale complexion, weakness, breathlessness, and blood in the urine.
However, these symptoms do not necessarily mean that you have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms. For example:
- A change in bowel movement may not be anything serious, it could simply be as a result of something you might have eaten. Same goes for abdominal pain.
- Blood in your stool when associated with pain or soreness is often caused by pile also known as hemorrhoids [1].
- A change in your bowel habit to going less often, with harder poo, is not usually caused by any serious condition. You may simply need to see a pharmacist before visiting your doctor.
Even though these symptoms hardly signify bowel cancer, they should be taken more seriously as you get older, also when the persist and OTC drugs are not working.