Colon cancer or bowel cancer: Know the early symptoms for timely intervention

A completely emptied bowel is considered to be a healthy bowel. With keeping waste out of the body the bowel serves a major role in the smooth functioning of an individual and as is inevitable an unhealthy bowel movement can lead to several complications. What is noteworthy is that the bowel movement of a human body is quite sensitive to the type of food that one consumes, the type of environment in which one lives and the intake of water. So very often, we tend to disturb the bowel movement and learn to live with it.

Cancer in bowel or the colorectal portion of the body which comprises the colon or the rectum is one of the common cancers in human beings. In this case there is abnormal growth of cells or polyps in the colon area.

It is often confused with hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoids and colon cancer are the two most commonly occuring complications which are directly associated with bowel movement. Occurence of these complications affect the bowel movement and overall health of the bowel to a large extent.

It is very crucial to understand the symptoms associated with both these complications.

Hemorrhoids are swollen and enlarged veins in the lower part of rectum and anus. There are three types of hemorrhoids: internal, external and thrombosed.

Worldwide colon cancer is the third most common cancer among men and second most common cancer in women and in India it is among the top 5 commonly occurring cancers.

Any disturbance in the normal functioning of the body disturbs the bowel movement. While there are many other medical conditions that would give you the feeling of not having emptied the bowel properly, this is also a major indication of the presence of hemorrhoids or the development of colon cancer.

In both hemorrhoids and colon cancer there is rectal bleeding, blood in the stool and the feeling of not having emptied the bowel.

Though unfortunately cancer is detectable only after certain progression in the disease, there are certain symptoms which are very specific to colon cancer. These symptoms are: change in the frequency of bowel movement, pain due to bowel obstruction, sudden nausea, sudden vomiting, drop in weight, narrow or ribbon like stool, pain in the rectum area.

Rectal bleeding can be compared to differentiate colon cancer from hemorrhoids. If the blood is red it is most likely that it is hemorrhoid; dark blood is an indication that the bleeding is from within the body.

Abdominal pain is a major symptom of colon cancer. Hemorrhoids do not cause pain in the abdomen.

Fatigue is also a common sign of cancer. Bleeding in the intestinal tract will cause loss of blood and anemia which will subsequently lead to weakness.

Though many researchers say that hemorrhoids do not lead to cancer, many other research studies have linked hemorrhoids with colon cancer. People with hemorrhoids should undergo a colonoscopy regularly for early detection of the cancer.