The early signs of cancer are barely visible and are often concealed, but the digestive system of the body can indicate the changes in health correspondingly. Defecation is one of the essential processes for the body to get rid of waste products and metabolites. Long-term abnormal stool shape, color or changes in defecation habits can mean that digestive tract health has been damaged or even indicate the risk of cancer.
It is true that cancer in the body, feeling when going to the toilet, particularly malignancies like colorectal cancer, and rectal cancer, most times signal by changes in stool at the very early stages. These four discomfort stages occurring during daily defecation that the doctor says must not be ignored and immediate medical help should be sought are:
1. Shaped stools
Usually, the shape of normal stools is cylindrical or strip-shaped, which is smoother. And if there is a tumor in the intestine, it may hinder the normal discharge of feces, thus the stool may become thinner and look pencil-shaped. Such a situation may indicate the intestinal stenosis or compression, especially with long-term thinning and the gradual aggravation of stools, thus we should be very careful to colorectal cancer be possible.
Besides, the stool is also quite a lot of clear or white mucus, or it is jelly-like. This condition may be due to the intestines’ inflammation or tumor secretions’ increase. If it is accompanied by abdominal pain, poor bowel movements and decreased appetite, it is recommended to seek medical screening as soon as possible.
2. Abnormal colouration of stools
Changes in stool color direct display digestive tract’s health, and they should be tawny in normal cases. If the stool is persistent with blood, or if it becomes darker, it may indicate intestinal bleeding or abnormalities in the upper gastrointestinal tract. The blood that is bright red and sticking to the surface of the stool mostly points to hemorrhoids, anal fissures, or rectal polyps, but if the blood is mixed with stool or even dark red, tarry black stools, it can mean that the bleeding is from the digestive tract is deep such as gastric cancer and colon cancer. Particularly, the occurrence of small amounts of blood in the stool intermittently without causing pain, makes it more difficult to notice the problem, thus the colonoscopy should be done as soon as possible for such cases.
3. Sudden change in bowel habits
Everyone’s bowel habits are more or less the same and if long-term constipation, diarrhea, or both suddenly appear, it is a sign that bowel function is abnormal. Mainly, there are no obvious dietary changes, but diarrhea gets frequent and even pus accompanies the diarrhea that may suggest irritation or cancer of the intestinal mucosa. Contrary to this, long-term difficulty in defecation, dry stools, prolonged defecation, and forced defecation may be related to intestinal stenosis or tumor compression. If the change of bowel pattern is not understandable and it has lasted more than two weeks, then intestinal examination should be done.
4. Always feel like it can’t be drained clean
The defecation that is healthy should be a one-time complete cleaning. Still, you may feel the urge to defecate after long-term defecation or always feel that you cannot complete defecation, which may be caused by abnormal intestinal peristalsis, inflammatory stimulation, or tumor compression. Especially if it is frequent tenesmus (that is, poor bowel movements but the urge to defecate), abdominal distension and fullness are aggravated, you need to be wary of intestinal cancer or rectal cancer. When the intestinal lumen is affected by a space-occupying lesion, the stool cannot be drained completely, resulting in a persistent desire to defecate, and it is recommended to combine colonoscopy or imaging to determine the cause.
To put it short, defecation is one of the main signs of the body’s health and the changes in stool morphology, color, and defecation patterns may be a reflection of the intestinal functions going wrong or even cancer. Eating healthy food and keeping the intestines open is a very important step in the prevention of intestinal cancer. You are supposed to eat more foods that are rich in fiber, have good work and rest habits, and also lower the intake of high-fat foods to maintain the health of the intestines on a daily basis.
Disclaimer: The following image/content has been generated by an Artificial Intelligence model and is not a photograph or a traditional human creation.
“Dr. Rana Patir is an eminent Neurosurgeon of India with more than 30 years of experience in the field of advanced neurosurgery. Besides being a teaching faculty at AIIMS and at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and professor of Neurosurgery at Guwahati Assam. He has also been the head of the department of Neurosurgery at Max hospitals, and Sir Ganga Ram hospital New Delhi. He is known as one of the best Neurosurgeons and spinal surgeons in India, having more than 10,000 neurosurgical procedures to his credit. He specializes in Minimal Invasive Brain and Spine Surgery, Skull Base Surgery, Neurovascular Surgery, Extra Cranial-Intracranial Bypass Surgery,”
