Bowel cancer symptoms explained by Doctor Richard Roope
Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers to be diagnosed in the UK. You should consider speaking to a doctor if you find that you’re experiencing any of these two warning signs in your tummy, it’s been revealed.
Everyone has a certain amount of gas in their gut and is most often completely normal.
The gas can be painful, there may be excessive burping or passing large amounts of wind as the gas passes through the gut.
Occasionally, greater than normal amounts of gas are produced which may be because of dietary factors such as eating too quickly or eating the wrong kinds of food for your digestion system.
If, however, you are experiencing trapped wind or have a persistent feeling of fullness in your tummy, it could be the early stage of bowel cancer.
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Trapped wind, a condition whereby gas is trapped in the stomach and intestines.
The condition, which causes painful stomach cramps and bloating, is usually attributed to eating gassy culprits, such as high fibre foods.
The symptom is usually a result of bowel obstruction, a complication whereby bowel cancer stops digestive waste passing through the bowel, according to Cancer Research UK.
Bowel obstruction, which happens when the cancer presses on the bowel, is much more common in people with advanced cancer, explains the charity.
A discomfort after eating a meal or feeling a permanent sensation of fullness in the tummy may be also be early symptoms of the disease.
The sensation may feel similar to bloating pain and may cause patients to limit the amount of food they eat, as a result.
This could subsequently lead to weight loss, which is also a common sign of bowel cancer.
You should speak to a doctor if your stomach pain won’t go away, especially after eating.
Gas can also be produced due to germs and bacteria acting on partially digested food in the gut.
This is more likely to happen with some foods than others such as broccoli, baked beans and Brussels sprouts which are well-known culprits.
The number of germs in the bowel also has an effect on the volume of gas produced.
The gas that is made is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.
It may contain traces of a chemical called sulphur and this is responsible for the unpleasant smell experienced when you pass wind through the back passage.
The exact cause of bowel cancer is unknown. However, research has shown several factors may make you more likely to develop it.
The risks fall into two categories: those you cannot change, such as age and genetics, and those tied to poor lifestyle decisions.
As Cancer Research UK explains, the cancer is more common in older people.
More than 40 out of 100 bowel cancer cases in the UK each year are diagnosed in people aged 75 or over.
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