BY DR ROGER DOWN, MBBS, FRCS, FRACS, MD (LOND)
Much embarrassment and social prejudices surround ‘number 2s’. There is no need for this; besides, we all do them, even the PM. As a result, most people never look in the loo afterwards!
Let’s be grown-ups. It is essential that every one of us looks at the stools we have just passed. Why? It may save your life. Bowel cancer is currently the number one killer cancer, but it needn’t be. If we would only look and see: is there any blood in the stool or discolouring of the water?
Please, never use ‘blue tablets or agents’ that create a pleasant smell or colour in the toilet pan water. It disguises – and makes it very unlikely, for you to see any blood, unless it is profuse. Blood in or around the stool can be a sign of bowel cancer. You MUST be referred to a specialist colorectal surgeon for investigation and treatment.
The cause may be only a benign fissure or piles, both of which can be easily treated there and then by the colorectal surgeon in the consultation room. Gastroenterologists do not treat these very common conditions. They must be treated and cured to prevent further bleeding.
People must never be left bleeding from the bowel, even if a colonoscopy shows no cancer or polyps. It may develop later.
However, the presence of blood, particularly dark blood mixed with or around the stool, is an indicator of a potentially serious pathology higher up in the rectum or colon. The darker it is, the higher up the lesion is.
A colonoscopy is essential to determine the presence or absence of cancer in the large bowel. Small bowel cancer, which is very rare, does not result in visible blood.
See you next month, and God bless.
