Please read the entire news report, it is yet another example of ignorance and arrogance from doctors, she is a woman so she isn’t taken seriously as usual. This poor young lady has been put through an unnecessary ordeal adding more suffering to her misery. We see this arrogance so many times and women are up poop creek in the end because of this attitude with delayed medical treatment. Just because the doctor has never seen a case of bowel cancer in a young person doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Bowel cancer strikes at any age and to anyone and that is a fact.
She has a right to call Ryan’s rule (or whatever state/territory you live in calls their version) on this when she is unable to access proper care in the hospital given this is a life threatening condition, (passing copious amounts of blood). All doctors know about Ryan’s rule and it will make them think twice before dismissing a patient presenting with such symptoms. Be assertive if you know something is not right with your body, your life depends on it, be assertive but not rude. Just politely state that you would like a second opinion from someone else and preferably ask for a specialist in the area of health that your symptoms are aligned with, in her case a gastroenterologist. Given that she is constantly passing blood which is not normal, it should be setting off alarm bells with doctors immediately that alongside anaemia and her other symptoms.
Even ulcerative colitis happens in young people and it has similar symptoms. My husband was 21 when he had it and he was one of the worst cases, his body would not respond to any treatment resulting in the removal of a large amount of intestines. Life after surgery has many complications too, it is not a walk in the park lifestyle I can assure you. Surgery to remove an ileostomy never lasts long either, within five years many people end up back with the ileostomy as was the case with my husband.Then the risk of a hernia in the years to come. Depending on the individual surgery may not be an option to repair a hernia, again as is the case with my husband he has three inoperable hernias.
Chron’s disease or the worst one Chron’s-Colotis is also a disease that happens to young people Chrons-Colitis can happen in any part of the digestive tract from the top to bottom. You don’t have to be in your 30’s to get this either there are much younger people who have this condition.
Passing blood is not normal especially if it is on going, dark coloured blood is old blood that has been in the body a while, fresh blood is bright red. Don’t under state your symptoms when seeing a doctor or they will not take you seriously, give them plenty information to help them reach a correct diagnosis.
Underplaying symptoms does not give the doctor enough information. Lay out your symptoms and how long they have been happening even the symptoms that you are not sure are related because they may well be very relevant. Your life may well be on the line. Stage three cancer is very serious, stage four is fatal.
Bowel cancer is slow growing so you may be unaware of it until you start seeing signs, if it’s caught early enough the chances of survival are high. If the cancer is progressing and passes through the walls of the organ then that’s extremely serious.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/crohns-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353304
The symptoms for females is slightly different to males, you can google the symptoms and find other information that is not covered by this link.
https://www.bowelcanceraustralia.org/women
This is Bowel Cancer Australia in women link, it mentions a 24 year old woman, like I said at the top about being young and female, the doctor didn’t know it happened in younger women. What sort of doctor doesn’t know this, not a very good one obviously. Assumption is the mother of all screw ups. Never assume anything, find facts and get results. This poor woman had all the damn symptoms when she presented to A and E each time and no doubt saw a different doctor each time she presented. I sure hope that she stays in remission and is able to enjoy the rest of her life with the family that she dreams to have.
One final thought is; patients are a vital source of knowledge to assist doctors in the course of their careers. They meet a diverse range of people to garner information from, to assist them in recognising illnesses in patients they meet so everything is helpful one way or another.
UPDATE: Teenager with bowel cancer, it doesn’t get rougher than that 😭 she is lucky it was picked up in time. Let’s hope she stays in remission and can lead a full and happy life. Alcohol definitely plays a large part in bowel cancer, excessive drinking makes you a high candidate for bowel cancer.
