Intermittent Diarrhea, Abdominal Pain, Stress, Anxiety. IBS Or Cancer?

Posted on Fri, 25 May 2012

Question: Hello,
I am a 40 year old female with intermittent diarrhea, some abdominal pain, relieved after a bowel movement, no blood or mucus, started about 3 1/2 weeks ago, lots of stress in my life, have anxiety/panic disorder, could this be IBS or colon cancer? Just did a stool sample, negative for parasites, waiting for the WBC test to come back RBC normal.

Answered by Dr. Radhakrishna Patta (22 hours later)

Hello,

Thanks for your query.

A 3 week history of intermeittent colicky abdominal pain with diarrhea without blood and mucus may not be anything very serious.

If there is a doubt of cancer in anyone's mind it is ideal to get a Colonoscopy ( takes about 10 minutes) done which is the most ideal test to rule out or confirm cancer.

Stool WBC's test will not contribute to any diagnosis.

Absence of RBC in the stool and also no XXXXXXX bleeding in the stools, most probably rules out any colon cancer.

Hope I have answered your query.

I will be available for your follow up queries if any.

Wishing you good health.

Regards,

Dr.P.Radhakrishna

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E