Woman with stage 4 bowel cancer shares four little-known symptoms she experienced – Health

A woman has opened up about her stage 4 bowel cancer and the four subtle symptoms she experienced before her diagnosis.

According to Cancer Research UK, one in 20 women and one in 17 men will be diagnosed with bowel cancer in their lifetime, with 54% of bowel cancer diagnoses being preventable.

The type of cancer can be particularly difficult to diagnose because of its symptoms that resemble conditions such as IBS.

For Ellie Wilcock, if she had recognized the symptoms she was experiencing, particularly one of them, she may have been diagnosed sooner.

Pain

Ellie shared her symptoms via a TikTok video.

For her, the pain was something she considered a possible urinary tract infection (UTI) that had spread to her kidneys as the pain enveloped her front and back areas.

She explained: “The first was pain in the left side of my stomach and pelvis.

“But all my infection markers were clear, so I didn’t have an infection in my body, which is why I did additional testing.”

Fatigue

“Number two was fatigue,” Ellie continued. “So normally I’d get up, go to work, come home, then maybe go to the gym, make dinner or see a friend. But basically I’d come home work and I would fall asleep for the rest of the evening.”

The NHS lists fatigue as one of the main symptoms of cancer, as ‘feeling very tired for no reason’ can be a sign that something is wrong with the body.

Changes in toilet habits

For Ellie, she didn’t know what she was looking for, but it was a major sign that pointed to her cancer diagnosis.

She shared: “Number three was one I hadn’t noticed, but one in hindsight I probably had, (it was) a change in my bowel habits and blood in my poop. C So it’s a change to really watch out for.”

As she wishes she had spotted this problem sooner, she urged others not to take blood in their stools lightly.

The NHS states that these are “changes in your stools, such as looser stools, diarrhea or constipation that is not usual for you, the need to have bowel movements more or less often than usual, blood in your stool, which may appear red or black. , bleeding from the buttocks and a frequent feeling of needing to poop, even if you have just gone to the toilet”, which are the symptoms.

“Stomach pain, a lump in the stomach” and “bloating” are also indicators of the disease.

The woman explained that if she had known this was a sign, she could have been diagnosed before stage 4.

She listed the NHS stool signs to look out for, including diarrhoea, constipation, looser stools, blood in the stool and frequent needing to go.

Ellie said: “Check your poop. I’m a big believer in that.”

Weight loss and/or change in your appetite

Ellie went on to explain that her fourth symptom was a “lack of appetite.”

She explained: “According to the official symptoms, it boils down to unexplained weight loss. For me, I wasn’t losing weight because lack of appetite was quite rare. Most of the time my appetite was good.

“But looking back, I remember feeling nauseous and not wanting to eat as much, because my gut was obviously not normal.”

If you have any of the symptoms above or think these symptoms might concern you, talk to your GP.