Deborah James discusses 'scary' bowel cancer symptoms
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Bowel cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer to be diagnosed in the UK – and also the second most deadly. It can be extremely difficult to spot the early symptoms of bowel cancer, however, which is regular screening is so important.
More than 40,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK.
It’s sometimes known as colorectal cancer, and is caused by a cancer in the large bowel.
Most of these cancers grow from polyps – non-cancerous growths that develop over time.
These polyps can cause tiny amounts of blood to appear in your stools, which might otherwise go unnoticed.
One of the best ways to check for blood in your stools is to take a bowel cancer test.
The NHS offers bowel cancer screening checks to everyone over 60 years old, which means it’s completely free.
Anybody aged between 60 and 75 will automatically be sent a bowel cancer test in the post every two years.
If you’re 75 years old or over, you’ll need to phone your GP and ask to continue receiving the screening kits.
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“NHS bowel cancer screening checks if you could have bowel cancer,” it said the NHS. “It’s available to everyone aged 60 or over. The programme is expanding to include 56 year olds in 2021.
“You use a home test kit, called a faecal immunochemical test [FIT], to collect a small sample of poo and send it to a lab. This is checked for tiny amounts of blood.
“Regular NHS bowel cancer screening reduces the risk of dying from bowel cancer.
“Bowel cancer is the 4th most common type of cancer. Screening can help find it at an early stage, when it’s easier to treat.”
The test itself involves collecting a small amount of poo from your toilet.
You’ll receive a container in the post which you can pop into your toilet bowl.
The kit will also include a scrape stick, which you can use to collect a stool sample.
Pop the stick into the bottle provided, and then you can post it off to the lab for analysis.
You can still get tested for bowel cancer, even if you don’t match the NHS criteria, however.
Some pharmacies or highstreet retailers provide private screening test kits which work in the same way.
LloydsPharmacy and Superdrug kits cost £14.99, and there are plenty of different types of kit available online.
But you should speak to a doctor for advice on the very best bowel cancer screening tests before choosing which one to go for.
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