Recognising the symptoms of bowel cancer is a critical step in achieving an early diagnosis, which significantly improves the chances of successful treatment. Despite being one of the most common cancers in the United Kingdom, public awareness of its signs and the available screening processes remains insufficient for many individuals.
Breaking the Taboo to Save Lives
Discussing bowel habits is still considered a social taboo by numerous people, yet informing a doctor about any unusual changes is absolutely essential for the early identification of serious conditions. In anticipation of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month this April, we consulted with Mr Jeremy Clark, a consultant general surgeon specialising in colorectal diseases at Nuffield Health in Brighton. He emphasises five crucial warning signs that should never be ignored.
1. Blood Present in the Stool
"Passing blood when you visit the toilet is a concerning feature that you should immediately flag to your GP," states Clark. The surgeon explains that the colour can vary dramatically from bright red to an almost black hue.
"If bleeding originates from the beginning of your colon, it must travel three or four feet before exiting with waste material, causing it to turn very dark black. However, if you're bleeding from something lower down in the bowel, closer to your bottom, it will emerge bright red," he clarifies.
"If you observe blood in the stools, particularly darker-coloured blood or blood that is actually mixed in with the stools, just once and it is significant, that should be reported to your doctor straight away. Do not wait for that to keep on happening."
Persistent bright red blood also warrants medical attention. "If you see a bit of bright red blood on the toilet paper after going to the toilet and you know you have got haemorrhoids then that is not so worrying," says Clark. "However, if it carries on for longer than a week then that should be reported to your doctor if it has never been investigated before."
2. Changes in Bowel Function Patterns
"If your bowels go from working once a day like clockwork, and then suddenly you are going two or three times a day and the bowels are a bit looser, that is something that needs to be looked into," advises Clark.
"Becoming more constipated is not so much of a risk factor, but if it is a sudden change and it does not go back to normal, that needs to be looked at as well. If your bowels play up for just for a day or two and then settle, there should not be anything to worry about. But if you have a persistent change that goes on for a couple of weeks, then that should be reported."
3. Abdominal Pain and Discomfort
"Bowel cancers can cause abdominal pain," highlights Clark. "This tends to be a later feature, but it can occur early on, too." Any persistent or unexplained abdominal discomfort should be discussed with a healthcare professional.
4. Persistent Feelings of Bloatedness
"People often feel quite bloated if there is something wrong going on in the bowel," adds Clark. Unexplained or ongoing bloating that differs from your normal experience is a symptom worth mentioning to your doctor.
5. Unexplained and Unintentional Weight Loss
"Bowel cancers can cause you to lose weight by having an impact on how your digestion is working," notes Clark. Significant weight loss without changes in diet or exercise is a classic red flag for various health issues, including cancer.
Why Are These Symptoms Often Dismissed?
"There is a whole host of symptoms, but the problem is that they all cross over with other less serious problems, such as haemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), so people often ignore or easily dismiss these symptoms," acknowledges Clark.
Reporting any unusual changes or incidents as early as possible is a critical factor in improving treatment outcomes and overall prognosis. "We do not want people to be sitting on symptoms for a couple of months, wondering if something is going to change back to normal, because although bowel cancers usually do progress slowly, occasionally they can be more aggressive," says Clark.
"We like people to report these things early, as we would rather investigate something and figure out that it is nothing rather than be looking at things later on and not being able to do so much."
What Action Should You Take If Concerned?
If you experience any of these symptoms, or if you are worried about any changes that you notice, you must visit your GP without delay.
"GPs will often give patients a FIT kit (Faecal Immunochemical Test), which comes with all the instructions. Basically, an at-home kit to collect a small sample of your faeces that then goes off to the laboratory to be tested," explains Clark.
You will typically receive a letter detailing the results within two weeks of sending your sample, according to the NHS website. People aged between 50 to 74 are also offered FIT kits every two years, regardless of their symptoms, as part of the national bowel cancer screening programme.
"If it comes back as positive, that means there is blood in your stools which needs to be investigated," says Clark. "You will be referred into your local unit to have a conversation with the team about having either a colonoscopy or a CT scan to check and make sure that there is nothing going wrong in your bowel and [there are] no signs of polyps or bowel cancer. By doing that we pick things up much earlier and they become much more treatable and curable."
Early detection through vigilance and prompt medical consultation remains the most powerful tool in the fight against bowel cancer. Do not let embarrassment or fear delay a potentially life-saving conversation with your doctor.
