Why should we check our stool? Signs helpful in colon cancer diagnosis

 Cancer of large intestine in medical terms is called Colon Cancer, which has been declared as the second biggest cancer after breast cancer in the world that every year millions of people die due to this disease. Colon cancer is estimated to affect one in twenty people.

Check your stool

BBC presenter Deborah James stressed upon her message in her colon cancer consciousness campaign. She suffered from colon cancer and died at the age of 40.

But what is this cancer, also known as bowel or colon cancer, and how can it be detected early?

Here we present you a practical guide.

How can you detect colon cancer?

Symptoms include bloody discharge, discolored stools, abdominal pain, constipation, sudden weight loss for no apparent reason, and anemia.

There are three main symptoms that should be taken seriously:

There can be blood inside the stool for no apparent cause, it can be light red or dark red.

A change in the way you have bowel movements, such as going to the bathroom more often or having hard or heavy stools.

Pain or swelling in the lower abdomen when the stomach feels full and bloated.

There can also be some other signs such as:

Weight loss.

You feel like you haven't emptied your bowels properly after having a bowel movement.

You feel greater tired or dizzy than ordinary routine.

Having these symptoms doesn't mean it's bowel cancer, but the advice is to see your doctor if you have these symptoms for three weeks or more and if you don't feel well or well. If so, contact your doctor.

Because the earlier cancer is detected, the easier it is to control and treat.

Sometimes colon (colorectal) cancer can prevent waste from passing through the intestines and cause a blockage, which can cause severe abdominal pain, constipation, and sickness.

In these situations you will need to see or contact your doctor immediately.

How do I check my stool?

When you go to the toilet, take a good look at what comes out of your colon and don't be embarrassed to talk about it.

You should also watch for blood in the stool as well as bleeding from the anus.

Fresh red blood can be caused by swollen blood vessels in the anus (hemorrhoids), but it can also be caused by colorectal cancer.

Dark red or black blood in the stool can come from the intestines or stomach and can be worrisome.

You may also notice a change in bowel habits, such as less solid stools or passing stools more frequently than usual.

Bowel cancer can start in the colon (large intestine) or rectum (back passage) and is also called colorectal cancer.

The UK Department of Health recommends keeping a symptom diary before visiting a bowel cancer doctor so you don't forget anything at your appointment.

Doctors are used to seeing many people with various bowel problems, so tell them about any changes or bleeding so they can find out what's causing it.

What causes colon cancer?

Colon cancer has many causes. For example, obesity, poultry foods, smoking, not exercising, having this disease in one of the parents or siblings, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, etc. 

No one is sure what causes it, but there are some things that make it more likely to happen:

The older you are, the more likely you are to develop cancer, and bowel cancer is no different, with most cases occurring in adults over the age of 50.

Eating foods made with red meat and processed meat, such as pork.

Smoking cigarettes can increase the risk of many types of cancer.

Drinking too much alcohol.

Being overweight or obese.

Colon polyps are worms or nodules that can turn into tumors.

Is it passed from parents to children?

In most cases, colorectal cancer is not hereditary, but you should tell your doctor if any of your close relatives were diagnosed before age 50.

Some genetic conditions, such as Lynch syndrome, put people at a higher risk of developing colon cancer, but can be prevented if doctors are aware of the condition.

How to reduce the risk?

Scientists say that more than half of bowel cancer can be prevented if people adopt a healthy lifestyle.

That means getting more exercise, eating more fiber and less fat, and drinking six to eight glasses of water a day.

But it also means contacting a doctor if any worrisome symptoms appear and getting screened for cancer right away as soon as recommended.

How is colon cancer diagnosed?

It can be diagnosed with a 'colonoscopy' (colonoscopy), a procedure with a camera inside a long tube to look inside the whole bowel, or a flexible sigmoidoscopy, which looks at part of the bowel.

More than 90 percent of people diagnosed with early-stage colorectal cancer will survive five years or longer, compared to 44 percent of those diagnosed at its latest stage.

Survival rates have more than doubled in the past 40 years: more than half of patients now survive 10 years or more after diagnosis, compared with one in five in the 1970s, according to UK figures. Long live.

But the problem is that by the time these symptoms appear, the cancer has spread to 25% of the body and at this stage treatment is not possible. This means that diagnosis before symptoms appear is absolutely necessary for treatment.

 Now the question arises that when symptoms appear late, then how is timely diagnosis possible? So it is 100% possible. It is such that if every person has a colonoscopy at the age of 50 years, colon cancer can be diagnosed before it occurs. This is because colon cancer starts with the formation of small lumps in the intestines, which are called polyps in medical terms.

Colon polyps start to develop in most people after the age of 50 and these polyps are not cancerous in themselves, but can turn into cancer within five to ten years.

What are the different stages of cancer?

Stage 1 cancer: It is small, but has not spread.

Stage 2 cancer: It has grown, but has not yet spread.

Stage 3 cancer: It has spread to nearby tissues, such as lymph nodes.

Stage 4 cancer: It has spread to another organ in the body, forming a secondary tumor.

What treatments are available?

Colorectal cancer is treatable, especially if it is diagnosed early.

Treatments are becoming more personalized, and advances in genetic testing mean that care can be tailored to each individual's circumstances and background.

This approach still needs to be fine-tuned, but the chances of longer and longer lives for people with cancer are increasing.