The relative risk is weighed in about the 1.25 - 1.5 range. That would tie in with your earlier post. Note that frequency is the issue more than quantity.
Bowel Cancer - Don't sit on your arse!
- Thread starter LateX'Dog
- Start date
The relative risk is weighed in about the 1.25 - 1.5 range. That would tie in with your earlier post. Note that frequency is the issue more than quantity.
Associate
Its a disgrace, in some cases they may have well just killed the person.
Caporegime
Because if they were any good they'd be a specialist in something.
One of the most gormless people I went to school with is now a g.p. The thought of which terrifies me
Soldato
Sorry for your loss. May he rest in peace.
Soldato
What annoys me, as i have seen this with various members of my family is the lack of knowledge or understanding by GP's when it come to diagnosing etc. They just seem to say come back in 2 weeks if not better, more pills etc, come back, more pills.....................Why dont they pass the patient on to a specialist or at least proper testing in hospital as the longer they dither the worse it gets when something serious is waiting down the line!
Soldato
Unfortunately not all GP's are created equal. Last year I was having stomach/bowel problems for months, it reached the point where I was passing blood quite frequently and in a lot of pain The first GP I saw pretty much followed the system you describe above, try this come back in a couple of weeks if no change. This cycle was repeated several times with various medications, antispasmodics, antibiotics, etc. And went on for months. By chance I could not get back in to see him and saw another GP. He had me seeing a consultant within 2 weeks and I had a CT colonoscopy within about 10 days of seeing him. Turns out the second GP I saw has a second speciality and it happened to be stomach/bowel.
Thankfully in my case it was nothing serious and the problems were down to diverticular disease and a combination of a couple of antibiotics in unison cleared it up. The bleeding was exacerbated by me taking Clopidogrel/aspirin for my dodgy ticker.
I'm not knocking GP's at all, I think the vast majority of them do an excellent job considering the pressures they are under from all sides. What I would say is if you think something is not quite right be persistent, you know your body better than they do and don't ignore things. Far better to see your GP and have him say "It's nothing to worry about" than leaving it 6 months and have him say "you should have seen me sooner, I could have done something"
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pretty bloody offensive comment and also totally inaccurate. People choose GP as a specialism in it's own right and it's not simply those who aren't good enough to do a hospital specialism. I had decided to go into primary care before finishing my house jobs many years ago and I definitely didn't fail a hospital career before choosing my career pathway. Given that the workforce is predicted to need 50% of all doctors to be GPs that would suggest 50% of all doctors are useless, which is clearly a ridiculous statement.
It's actually a very difficult specialty to get right and unfortunately there will always be stories of diagnoses being missed. One of the skills is to assess from very early in a condition and consider all options and if necessary arrange investigations for more sinister pathology. There are often quite clear guidelines and if every person was immediately referred to a gastroenterologist or colorectal surgeon at the first episode of diarrhoea, I assure you that many more genuine cancers would have their diagnoses delayed as there is no way the service could run. One of the biggest diagnostic tools for a doctor is time and that can be difficult to convey to someone. Time is actually part of the assessment, as is safety netting to advise someone to return if it's not getting better That doesn't mean it is being ignored, or that the GP has not considered sinister pathology
Caporegime
Be offended all you want. We have a thread full of people here who have had failures by g.p's. We're entitled to our opinions many of which are formed as a result of our experiences.
I've personally known two g.p's go through disciplinary action as a result of their misdiagnosis of my family members. Both were also liars. Both were proven wrong by specialists. One a dermatologist, one specialising in infectious diseases.
Sorry for your loss Latex and after reading few replies on here it makes bowel cancer sound like it always kills and this is why I would like to add to the thread.
Around April 2011 I started to feel under the weather and at some point soon after I starting having bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea for 3-4 days each week. I would start to feel better for a few days and the cycle started again and then came the spasms to my right side of my abdomen and holy s*** did they hurt. Around this time the vomiting changed from just throwing up the contents of my stomach but also the content from my digestive system, so as you can guess it didn't taste or smell nice. This went on for approx 6 weeks with 2 visits to the GP who said I had a virus, so on the third visit I insisted on a private referral.
I had my first visit to the consultant who was completely different to my GP, he took his time talking to me about all the symptoms and gave me my first ever 'Finger Blast' to check the lower passage (Guys this really isn't as bad as people think and it didn't turn me gay like most men think).
Next he booked me straight in for an endoscopy and colonoscopy which I had a few days later and was then told to come back for the results the following week.
My meeting was on the following Tuesday but on the Friday (15th July 2011) before I had to go back for a check up with the nurse for general heart checks etc. and she let slip that it looks like cancer. Bang went my world in an instant and thought at that point my life is over at 35.
After a horrible weekend and my wife being rushed into hospital on the Monday for her gallbladder pains, I went for my consultation with my parents for support.
I was then told yes I do have Stage 3 Bowel Cancer and it is classed as the curable type, which was a slight relief. From here I was offered the standard route (Surgery then 12 bouts of Chemo) or I could opt into a trial program where half go the traditional route and half have 3 bouts of Chemo then a small break, operate and a final 9 bouts of Chemo after the recovery from surgery.
I decided to go for the trial because if anything I can do changes the results for future patients, then it must be a good thing. I was then refereed to the Royal Marsden at Sutton which is fantastic and scheduled my Chemo plan. Between this and my first Chemo I felt really ill and went to my specialist at Marsden to be checked, next thing I was in an ambulance and rushed to my local NHS hospital for a stent to be fitted in my bowel as I was then fully obstructed. After a nearly a week, I went home and waited for the dreaded Chemo date to come.
I did my three Chemo sessions, waited about 8 weeks (I think) and then had major surgery to remove a third of my bowel, this took about 2 hours longer than anticipated which made the wife and kids panic. Surgery was on the Friday night and I went back home on the Tuesday after some Physio and after they made sure I had my first crap with my new shorter bowel.
This was in November some point and in the January I carried on with my final nine Chemo sessions. The Chemo consisted of me going to hospital every two weeks for a whole day having my Chemo diet and then I was sent home with another pack of chemo and a small motorised unit that pumped it into me for the next 48hrs till a nurse came and removed it at my house.
I meant to say, back in the early part I had a Portacath fitted on the left side of my chest, I chose to have this because it is a port that goes under the skin and leaves a small bump but then all qualified doctors and nurses can connect directly and almost pain free to give med's, Chemo or take blood which saved me having a cannula every two weeks.
Since this has gone on, I have had many many consultations, ' Finger Blasts', colonoscopy's and full abdomen scans and now I am 3 ½ years clear. After five years I am classed as in remission but will continue having checks every year for the rest of my life.
From all of this I found that Chemo isn't nice at all but also I didn't find it to be as bad as they portray it in the movies. I had private and NHS treatment through this and I found both do make mistakes but also both were mostly fantastic with my care.
The statistics are scary for cancer but also the new techniques they are coming out with all the time gives me great hope for the future for myself, my family and the rest of you.
Anyone else that finds blood in the toilet (Forgot to mention that I did have dark blood showing which I now know indicates a problem higher up) must gets checked out.
Men really do need to get over the ego thing about getting checked out. Not one of the checks hurt me, yes uncomfortable but not painful and this includes having a stent inserted through my arse into my upper bowel while fully awake. At 35 I got some ribbing from mates about the check-ups but they also understood the seriousness and to be honest I didn't want people tip toeing around me, I still wanted a laugh.
Around April 2011 I started to feel under the weather and at some point soon after I starting having bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea for 3-4 days each week. I would start to feel better for a few days and the cycle started again and then came the spasms to my right side of my abdomen and holy s*** did they hurt. Around this time the vomiting changed from just throwing up the contents of my stomach but also the content from my digestive system, so as you can guess it didn't taste or smell nice. This went on for approx 6 weeks with 2 visits to the GP who said I had a virus, so on the third visit I insisted on a private referral.
I had my first visit to the consultant who was completely different to my GP, he took his time talking to me about all the symptoms and gave me my first ever 'Finger Blast' to check the lower passage (Guys this really isn't as bad as people think and it didn't turn me gay like most men think).
Next he booked me straight in for an endoscopy and colonoscopy which I had a few days later and was then told to come back for the results the following week.
My meeting was on the following Tuesday but on the Friday (15th July 2011) before I had to go back for a check up with the nurse for general heart checks etc. and she let slip that it looks like cancer. Bang went my world in an instant and thought at that point my life is over at 35.
After a horrible weekend and my wife being rushed into hospital on the Monday for her gallbladder pains, I went for my consultation with my parents for support.
I was then told yes I do have Stage 3 Bowel Cancer and it is classed as the curable type, which was a slight relief. From here I was offered the standard route (Surgery then 12 bouts of Chemo) or I could opt into a trial program where half go the traditional route and half have 3 bouts of Chemo then a small break, operate and a final 9 bouts of Chemo after the recovery from surgery.
I decided to go for the trial because if anything I can do changes the results for future patients, then it must be a good thing. I was then refereed to the Royal Marsden at Sutton which is fantastic and scheduled my Chemo plan. Between this and my first Chemo I felt really ill and went to my specialist at Marsden to be checked, next thing I was in an ambulance and rushed to my local NHS hospital for a stent to be fitted in my bowel as I was then fully obstructed. After a nearly a week, I went home and waited for the dreaded Chemo date to come.
I did my three Chemo sessions, waited about 8 weeks (I think) and then had major surgery to remove a third of my bowel, this took about 2 hours longer than anticipated which made the wife and kids panic. Surgery was on the Friday night and I went back home on the Tuesday after some Physio and after they made sure I had my first crap with my new shorter bowel.
This was in November some point and in the January I carried on with my final nine Chemo sessions. The Chemo consisted of me going to hospital every two weeks for a whole day having my Chemo diet and then I was sent home with another pack of chemo and a small motorised unit that pumped it into me for the next 48hrs till a nurse came and removed it at my house.
I meant to say, back in the early part I had a Portacath fitted on the left side of my chest, I chose to have this because it is a port that goes under the skin and leaves a small bump but then all qualified doctors and nurses can connect directly and almost pain free to give med's, Chemo or take blood which saved me having a cannula every two weeks.
Since this has gone on, I have had many many consultations, ' Finger Blasts', colonoscopy's and full abdomen scans and now I am 3 ½ years clear. After five years I am classed as in remission but will continue having checks every year for the rest of my life.
From all of this I found that Chemo isn't nice at all but also I didn't find it to be as bad as they portray it in the movies. I had private and NHS treatment through this and I found both do make mistakes but also both were mostly fantastic with my care.
The statistics are scary for cancer but also the new techniques they are coming out with all the time gives me great hope for the future for myself, my family and the rest of you.
Anyone else that finds blood in the toilet (Forgot to mention that I did have dark blood showing which I now know indicates a problem higher up) must gets checked out.
Men really do need to get over the ego thing about getting checked out. Not one of the checks hurt me, yes uncomfortable but not painful and this includes having a stent inserted through my arse into my upper bowel while fully awake. At 35 I got some ribbing from mates about the check-ups but they also understood the seriousness and to be honest I didn't want people tip toeing around me, I still wanted a laugh.
Soldato
Thanks for sharing your experiences on what must have been a very difficult time for you and your family, 35 is an age when these things are yet to cross most people minds. Good to here that this was some 3.5 years ago and things are touchwood going well thus far. I hope they continue to do so for many years to come. Likewise my condolences to Latex, but also thanks for shining a light on something that we are all a little coy in talking about.
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Associate
sorry for your loss dude 
...it makes us all think about our close ones
...it makes us all think about our close ones