Just like with any cancer, early detection might assist enhance your prognosis and therapy outcomes, making signs consciousness key.

Dr Nikita Patel, Associate Medical Director and GP at Vitality, stated: “Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK.

“While many of us shy away from talking about our bowel movements, it’s important to open up the conversation – to look after ourselves and our loved ones.”

In reality, listening to your bowel habits and recognising what’s regular for you may imply the distinction between recognizing any cancerous modifications and letting them slip beneath the radar.

However imprecise or refined, the physician shared the six “common” symptoms of bowel cancer that you need to be careful for.

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According to the knowledgeable, the purple flags can embody: 

• Unexplained change in bowel habits (equivalent to going to open your bowels extra typically or changing into extra constipated)
• Blood in your stool
• Lump in your tummy
• Unexplained lack of urge for food
• Unexplained weight reduction
• Anaemia.

In case you aren’t conscious, anaemia describes a situation by which you lack sufficient wholesome purple blood cells to hold an satisfactory quantity of oxygen to your physique's tissues. 

Leaving you drained and weak, anaemia may be triggered by numerous causes together with deficiencies.

However, bowel cancers can typically bleed into your digestive tract, inflicting blood to crop up in your stool.

Over time, the blood loss can construct up and set off low purple blood cell counts, also referred to as anaemia.

The NHS additionally notes that anaemia brought on by iron deficiency can point out whether or not there's any bleeding out of your bowel that you simply aren’t conscious of, as blood doesn’t all the time present up in your stool.

The physician added that when you've got a number of of those tell-tale indicators, “it’s worth visiting your GP to discuss in more detail”.

While these signs may very well be pointing to bowel cancer, they will additionally sign different circumstances.

Dr Patel added: “Bowel cancer symptoms can sometimes be confused with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) as the symptoms can be quite hard to distinguish. 

“It’s important to keep track of changes in your bowels and consult your GP if you’re worried about anything. 

“Your GP may ask you to keep a diary of your symptoms and request further tests for you before getting to a diagnosis.”