Can i feel my ascending colon

This is a long, thin, flexible tube attached to a very small camera and light. It's inserted into your rectum and up into your bowel. The camera relays images to a monitor. It's better for your lower bowel to be as empty as possible when sigmoidoscopy is performed. You may be asked to carry out an enema — a simple procedure to flush your bowels — at home beforehand.

A sigmoidoscopy can feel uncomfortable. It only takes a few minutes and most people go home straight after the examination. A colonoscopy is an examination of your entire large bowel using a device called a colonoscope.

This is like a sigmoidoscope but a bit longer. Your bowel needs to be empty when a colonoscopy is performed. The hospital will get you to eat a special diet for a few days beforehand. You'll take a medication laxative to help empty your bowel on the morning of the examination. You'll be given a sedative to help you relax during the test.

The doctor will then insert the colonoscope into your rectum and move it along the length of your large bowel. This isn't usually painful, but can feel uncomfortable. This allows the doctor to check for any abnormal areas within the rectum or bowel that could be the result of cancer. As with a sigmoidoscopy, a biopsy may also be performed during the test. A colonoscopy usually takes about 20 to 40 minutes to complete.

Most people can go home once they've recovered from the effects of the sedative. You will probably feel drowsy for a while after the procedure. You'll need to arrange for someone to go home with. In a small number of people, it may not be possible to pass the colonoscope completely around the bowel.

It is then necessary to have a CT colonography. CT colonography is also known as a "virtual colonoscopy". It involves using a computerised tomography CT scanner to produce 3D images of the large bowel and rectum. During the procedure, gas is used to inflate the bowel using a thin, flexible tube placed in your rectum.

CT scans are then taken from a number of different angles. You may need to have a special diet for a few days and take a laxative before the test. This is to make sure your bowels are empty when it's carried out.

You may also have to take a liquid called Gastrografin before the test. This test can help identify cancerous areas in people who are not suitable for a colonoscopy because of other medical reasons.

A CT colonography is a less invasive test than a colonoscopy. You may still need to have colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy at a later stage. This is so any abnormal areas can be removed or biopsied. If a diagnosis of bowel cancer is confirmed, further testing is usually carried out. This is to check if the cancer has spread from the bowel to other parts of the body. Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

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Written By: Medical Content Team. What are the signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer? Your doctor may also want you to get more tests such as: Colonoscopy : A colonoscopy is a test where a thin tube with a light on the end is put through the anus, into the rectum and colon to look closely at the inside. If any abnormal lump mass or growth polyp is found, a piece of it can be taken a biopsy and checked in the lab for cancer cells.

Biopsy : During a biopsy, the doctor takes out a small piece of tissue where the cancer might be. The tissue is checked for cancer cells.

This is the best way to know if you have cancer. CT scans can also be used to help do a biopsy and can show if the cancer has spread. Ultrasound : For this test, a small wand is moved around on your skin. It gives off sound waves and picks up the echoes as they bounce off tissues. The echoes are made into a picture on a computer screen. I'm not usually a worrier, but this has got me worried. I have lost 2st in 8 months and I'm becoming very thin.

I'm only 33 and have two small children. I can't find anything online that is similar to my mass. Anything that is not sinister seems to be squishy or can be moved or goes after you pass a stool. Can anyone tell me what they felt when they found a mass that lead to colon cancer? I know that having good blood tests and my age that it's unlikely but why can't they pinpoint what is wrong! It's been months of tests and all I get told is that it's IBS.

I'm just fed up now and need to know what is going on with my body. I should start out by saying that we're not doctors and I'm not medically qualified, so take what I say with a pinch of salt if you like. These found nothing 8 months or so ago. I think it would be an unusual cancer that grows from nothing to the size of a sausage in this fairly short timescale.

Your bloods are still clear and your age is also on your side. Quite what this mass is, I can't say. It will need to be investigated, but it may well turn out to be nothing serious.

When it comes to using Google, I think we're all in agreement here that it is usually unwise and often frightening, so I suggest you forget all these ideas you might have picked up about what's sinister and what isn't. Real doctoring has a lot more to it than that. As a lifelong sufferer of IBS I do recognise what you're going through. My IBS took a turn for the worse years back, together with persistent and repeated attacks of diverticulitis, culminating in a referral for a bowel endoscopy, which showed up diverticular disease but was otherwise clear.

For me, these include baked beans and onions, plus a low tolerance to milk, but everybody is different. Identifying and avoiding these trigger foods has significantly reduced my IBS symptoms. I am seeing a nutritionist and we have worked through a lot of different diet plans. I don't currently eat gluten, minimal dairy, no processed foods, anything high in sugar, I keep my carbs low and increased my water intake. I've been eating clean for nearly 3 months.

Lots of nuts, veg, meat, eggs and small amounts of rice. I tried low fodmap for a few weeks but it was very hard to stick too and I didn't see any improvement in my bloating or constipation so I decided to keep on with clean eating rather than avoiding certain foods.

Perhaps I'll look into it again if general surgery don't find any cause for my bloating and constipation. I found it difficult and nearly gave up. Clean eating is great, but unless you systematically exclude and re-introduce each food group you won't really know if it's a trigger. For example, my triggers include mushrooms and beans, which most people would class as clean and healthy. I also found that soy milk is a trigger so I now use almond milk. I'll be honest with you.