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Comment by greesil | Hacker News Reader

It still seems pretty rare, even if it's more common. I have had some similar symptoms, and similar interactions with doctors in the past. No, I don't think I have cancer. But, what I want to know is what is the probability of having this condition given the symptoms. In other words, use Bayes' rule. Most doctors seem incapable of thinking this way! If it's a 1% chance that I have a life-threatening condition because there's blood in my stool, then it makes sense to get diagnostic that would test for that. I know these datasets exist, but why can't my doctor make use of this, or me for that matter?

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Rare doesn't really help when there are almost 8B people on the planet.

I was 41 when I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I had blood in my stool and my GP misdiagnosed me due to my age. If I hadn't pushed the issue, I wouldn't be here now.

If you ever have blood in your stool, get an exam. Preferably by a gastroenterologist.

I had a friend who died of colon cancer in his late teens. We weren't super close so I don't know the details like what variety it was.

Hi,

mind sharing how the blood in your stool looked like? What was the color etc? Was it there always? Was it occassionally? Was it ON the stool or mixed through it?

And when you finally got diagnosed. What stage were you in? Are you healed now?

And how long did you put it off?

Sry for asking so much.

I noticed bright red blood on my toilet paper periodically. I would ignore it a bit, then worry more when it re-occurred. After a month or so, I went to see my GP (I was 40 at the time). He thought it was just hemorrhoids. A year later my wife convinced me to go back and see what was up. I was referred a week later to my gastroenterologist who diagnosed me with a 5cm tumor. The path report showed that it was T2N0M0.

I'm fully healed now, though I have a permanent colostomy.

ah congratulations. glad to hear this.

few more follow ups if you dont mind :-) so there was no blood in or on the stool itself? and what was the quanitity on the toilet paper? just a small stripe or a lot? and how frequent was it throughout the year? monthly,weekly,daily?

thanks :-)

I didn't look at my stool. There was a decent stripe on the toilet paper. I was in denial so I didn't measure it. ;)

It was infrequent. My doctor speculated that if I had a firm stool, that would cause the tumor to bleed.

You seem worried with your multiple posts. You really should ask a doctor.

Note there can also be blood that is not visible in your stool - (occult blood is the term). It's recommended to check for that on a regular basis and it's fairly easy to confirm their presence.

Fairly easy to spot not-visible blood? How?

iFOB test

For my experience, noticed rich red blood at first collected in the bowl of the toilet, then started noticing streaks of blood on the stool, consistently there every time. I did put it of for 3 months, and I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, that had spread from my colon to the liver through my lymph nodes.

What I'm trying to say is that it's rare in the general population. Maybe it's common enough in the population of people that have certain symptoms, like blood in stool, that it really does deserve a strong response and not to be ignored by a doctor.

The lifetime risk of getting colon cancer is 4% for men. It's the third leading cause of cancer deaths.

What about under age 40? Or 45? Or 50?

In the next 15 years, more than one in 10 colon cancers and nearly one quarter of rectal cancers will be diagnosed in patients ages 20-34, according to the study. It also found that, in this age group, colon and rectal cancers are expected to increase by 90% and 124.2%, respectively, by 2030. For those ages 35-49, the predicted increase will be 27.7% for colon cancer and 46% for rectal cancer. Routine screening currently is not recommended for those under 50.

https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/conquest/colorectal-...

Also, if you have a family history of colorectal cancer, you should definitely get examined earlier.

Do we know the cause of this? More consumption of red meats?

I've seen a study that points in that direction, but I don't think that's conclusive.

> The lifetime risk of getting colon cancer is 4% for men. It's the third leading cause of cancer deaths.

The most important part of your sentence is "lifetime". Prostate is 11%, but most people don't get prostate cancer in their 30s.

The important part of this entire thread is that if you have symptoms, don't let the bell curve affect whether you seek treatment/exams from medical professionals. Colorectal cancer is no longer a rare thing in people under 50, and many practitioners operate under the naive idea that it doesn't occur in younger people.

I’ve had tests done where false negatives ran 20+% this is well known. I had every single symptom of the condition. Test came back negative. Doctor declared no issue, no reason to continue care.

A better doctor confirmed the diagnosis with additional tests. Growing belief that a false negative may mean a worse variation of the disease. Episode cost me an added year of organ damage.

Blood may not be present in sufficient quantity to be detected visually or not at all so keep looking out for other irregularities (being I'll is irregular). Examples: strange badly smelling diarrhoea (not one you might have after a having eaten something that was a little off) or burning sensation (which might get dismissed as a diverticulitis).

A few years ago there was a somehow public trend saying there was an epidemic of over diagnosis. People would have more medical exams like colonoscopy and would get treatment over the simplest signs and the effects were not good.

I don't know how true it is, but it may explain why docs in general refuse to go too early on exams.

I've heard of this issue with mammograms, but not with colorectal cancer. Complications from a colonoscopy are very rare, and removing polyps before they become malignant is a pretty safe choice as well.

Maybe I was wrong but it was clearly related to the lower torso.. maybe prostate cancer overdiagnosis ?..

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