Key colon cancer symptoms by woman with Stage 4 diagnosis dismissed by doctor

She was told it was nothing to worry about and that she was ‘overreacting’ before discovering she had Stage 4 cancer.

A young woman who has stage four bowel cancer has revealed the symptoms to look out for after a doctor dismissed her symptoms as piles.

She was told it was nothing to worry about and that she was ‘overreacting’ before discovering she had Stage 4 cancer.

Approximately 44,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK.

Bowel cancer, also known as colon cancer, is the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in the UK behind lung cancer.

According to Cancer Research UK last year, the UK experienced the fourth-fastest rise in early onset bowel cancer (3.6 per cent) from 2017, with statistics showing that one in every 20 bowel cancer cases happened to a person under the age of 50.

One woman from Australia , who’s symptoms were initially dismissed by a doctor before receiving her stage 4 diagnosis, has raised the important reminder of ‘early detection’.

What is colon cancer?

Colon cancer is cancer that’s found anywhere in the large bowel, including the colon and rectum.

“How serious bowel cancer is depends on how big the cancer is, if the cancer has spread, and your general health.” the NHS states.

According to Bowel Cancer UK, roughly 44,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year in the UK, and notably, the number of cases are increasing amongst adults between 20 and 50-years-old.

Tess’ diagnosis

Tess, a content creator from Australia, started to notice warning signs 10 months before she was diagnosed when she experienced ‘extreme stomach cramping’.

According to the mum-of-two, it was ‘mild’ at the start before leaving her ‘to the point where she would be on the floor in the fetal position’ due to the pain.

Although her blood test didn’t reveal any cancer, other symptoms were noted, such as:

Low iron

Anaemic

Blood in her stool

‘Thin’ and ‘small’ stool

Tess posted to her TikTok @thegreenthumbmum followers in a video: “A lot of these symptoms got put down to postpartum. I was 18 months postpartum when I started to go to the doctor about these symptoms.

“So that’s why a lot of it was kind of washed under the bridge.”

In her comments, she further explained that because she’d had haemorrhoids, her doctor didn’t perform a colonoscopy as it was ‘assumed it was due to those’:

“It ended up being both. My gastro told me I was ‘overreacting’ when I said I thought it might be cancer and that I was probably just constipated.” Tess said. “He then did the colonoscopy and was pretty embarrassed. Keep seeing doctors until someone listens.”

Her advice for anyone experiencing concerning symptoms is to urge your GP for a colonoscopy, as they can directly visualise and remove potentially cancerous polyps, as well as a blood test.

Other symptoms of colon cancer

The mum explained that ‘there are other symptoms as well’, adding that it ‘might present in each person differently’.