Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
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April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, a fantastic annual opportunity to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
Symptoms of bowel cancer can include:
- Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
- A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit
- Unexplained weight loss
- Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
- A pain or lump in your tummy
It’s important to know that most people with these symptoms don’t have bowel cancer. Other health problems can cause similar symptoms. But if you have any of these, or if things just don’t feel right, go to see your GP.
You may need to visit your doctor more than once if your symptoms don’t get better.
Knowing the symptoms and acting on them as quickly as possible could mean that if you do have bowel cancer, it may be diagnosed earlier when it’s much easier to treat. People whose cancer is diagnosed at an early stage have a much higher chance of successful treatment than those whose cancer has become more widespread.
Don’t be embarrassed and don’t ignore any symptoms. Doctors are used to seeing lots of people with bowel problems.