Is it IBS or bowel cancer? Could could be a fear, could be in your mind. And if it's not, you're like what do we do? Right, so the drama with it is. Welcome to Beyond Bathroom Blues Podcast, helping men understand irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, reducing symptoms, and take back control of their health and their life. Each episode focuses on clarity, not quick fixes. So you can stop guessing, make sense of what's actually going on in your gut and your mind, and move forward with confidence. I'm your host, Glencoe Quinchurch. Let's get into today's episode. But Nigel, is it IBS or bowel cancer? It's a question that men ask all the time. Whether it's on Reddit, in in feeds, I'm on there listening to people chatting on YouTube. And if you're not asking it, if men aren't asking it out loud, it's a fear. It's an internal fear. And if it's not a fear and you're not bothered, which some men won't be bothered, then it's either one of two reasons. You don't know, or you don't care because maybe you haven't got any kids, wife, life. I don't I don't know, but there's there's reasons that not to care, isn't there? Is what I'm trying to say. But if you do care, which if you're watching this, you obviously do because you're investing your time in watching this video, then is it IBS or bowel cancer? Could could be a fear, could be in your mind. And if it's not, you're like, you know, what do we do? Right. So the drama with it is, the drama with it is, a lot of the symptoms for IBS are very similar to symptoms for other stuff. Now it might not be cancer, it might be, and again, this is why you've got the you go get the diagnosis, and we'll come on to misdiagnosis in a minute, very quickly. But you've had the diagnosis, if you haven't, it could be celiac disease, you might have inflammatory bowel disease, there's a number of other stuff. Bowel cancer, we've mentioned there's colon cancer that give you symptoms, so that a lot of the symptoms overlap. Now, what I want to rule out here for you now, if you're watching this, this is gonna be a game changer, what I'm gonna say next. Because I am uh absolutely sick to death, and I'm you know being totally transparent with you, I'm sick to death of seeing people, so-called health professionals as well, influencers on TikTok and all over the internet, saying that IBS is a diagnosis of elimination, a process of elimination, and not a diagnosis in of itself. Now, I'm telling you now, from my experience, from having a diagnosis and going to the military doctors and going through the whole process twice and speaking to CJ before I did this video and speaking to health professionals recently, that that is a myth. It's out-of-date old rubbish BS. IBS is absolutely 100% a diagnosis that's done properly using, I think it's room four or five criteria. In the UK, and there'll be there's there's there's criteria that they use in the United States and Canada. It is a diagnosis of itself, not oh, we'll rule this out, rule this out, oh we think it's IBS. Now, plain devil's advocate, is there going to be doctors that do say or think it's IBS, just do this? Of course there is. Of course there is. No matter what profession men and women are in, whether it's the army, doctors, surgeons, plumbing, electricians, builders, entrepreneurs, they are there is some amazing, phenomenal men and women doing those jobs, correct? But guess what? At the other end of the spectrum, there is some that are completely dog shit. Even if they've got a PhD, it comes uh 10 PhDs. Do you know what I mean? There is, because that's human nature. There is some really, really rubbish people out there that are crap in any job, and it's crazy. In the army, I've seen people that are like high-ranking officers, and you think, how the hell did you get to colonel? You've got no common sense, and you're as mad as a box of frogs, and you're stupid. How have you got there? But it baffles the brain, doesn't it? So there is doctors, there's doctors that make mistakes through being overworked, stressed, tired, loads of stuff going on at home themselves, maybe. Maybe they're just slack. There's all these dramas, isn't there? People. It's just people. Now, where does that leave you as a guy trying to get to the bottom of everything? Go get a second opinion. If you don't trust your doctor, you think he or she is mad, go and get a second opinion, is my advice, or a third opinion. Pay for an opinion. So you're again investing in yourself. Now, circling it back to knowing if it's uh the big C, then there is some red flags that you can identify with that. Now, a lot of guys, and again, this will, you know, this is something you probably don't do, and it's a game changer, and you should be doing it as a man, you should be doing this in the toilet when you lock the door and there's nobody else in there. There might be somebody else in there with you. Maybe you share the toilet, I don't know. But if you're on your own, lock the door, when you've had a number two and you've wiped, or before you've wiped, before you put the tissue in the toilet and it covers it, have a look down. It takes two seconds, doesn't it? It takes three seconds max of your life to look inside that toilet and view it. I'm led to believe I don't know if it's true, but in Europe, in Germany, the toilets have a little ledge on them, and your poo falls on the ledge, and that's for viewing. I don't know if that's true. That's what I was told, but there is a ledge, it makes sense, doesn't it? Uh, because they they eat a lot of processed meats, I've heard, and I don't know. So have a look at a look at it and see what's going on. Because here's the thing: when you look at it, you might see blood. You your poo might look dark, like this coloured black, really dark, tar-ish, like a tar. You know, you get tar on the road, they might really smell like really bad, bad mucus in there and blood and all this stuff. Get to the doctor's ASAP and get it checked. Now, if there is, and you are seeing stuff when you look, I didn't, I've never looked before. And then you go to the toilet next and you have a look, and you're like, ah, don't say don't get scared or don't let it overwhelm me because it did with me. I had blood and bleeding, dark tarry stools and dark blood in mine a few couple a couple of years ago. I've said it, and I absolutely, no pun intended, shit myself. Because I've got a little girl, I've got family, I've got life, got all these goals. I thought, no way, here I am, blooming IBS man, trying to help people with this, that, and the other performance. Well, I've got a lead from the front, I can't not go to the doctors. I went straight away, and it ended up being without going into the weeds of everything. I had a colonoscopy, I had an endoscopy, uh, H. pylori, whatever she put me on, some crazy tablets. I got a stool sample, blood test, no messing around. 24 hours later, doctors phoning me in the cinema. I had to run out of the cinema. I was watching Mission Impossible at the time. I ran out of the cinema, IMAX. Yep, yep, yep. It's not cancer. Phew. So it ended up being um an upper stomach infection that had caused that. Crazy. I was like, thankfully it's not that. And she said, no worries at all. You take these antibiotics, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you two lots of antibiotics. In about four to five weeks' time, you'll be good to go again. It'll clear you up. Phew. And I did, gone. So have a look in the toilet, check what's going on. If you see anything unusual, changing bowel habits, all the rest of it, even if you've had an IBS diagnosis before, get to doctors and get it checked again and just tell them, sit down with them and say, look, I've looked in the toilet, there's bleeding, there's it stinks, it's dark, it's tired. I'm scared it might be this cancer. Can you can you test me, please? Flipping one this sorting out. Yep, let's get it done. Happy that. Um, so hopefully that'll help you out. Make sure you check it and then get your blood counts done, your stool samples and everything from the doctor. Cool. That's it. Now, the again, I'm not going to go into too much detail with there with it, but the bottom line with it all, Nigel, that asked that question. Is it IBS or bowel cancer? The direct answer to that is I don't know. Nobody on here does. The only person that can tell you that is who? Your doctor. Not some flipping naturopathic doctor or some holistic practitioner, a general practitioner in the UK, a medical doctor in the US or Canada, a proper, qualified, registered doctor. Or get there and get it done properly. That's the only person and that once they get the results back and say, now, can they misdiagnose? Yes. There's been people I know and I've spoken to on the phone, seen in chats on YouTube, men with IBS that have been misdiagnosed. It's crazy, sad. They've been told, as in, they've been told they've got IBS and it's it's not IBS, it's cancer. And then by the time they find out it is, it's stage four, or worse, and they a lot of them are not here anymore. So where do you stand with that? Because it's the thing is when you go for testing for IBS, IBD, all the other stuff in the UK, it's the least invasive. So it's and they're not doing this. Is the doctors that do the job properly? They'll sit you down and say, right, have you got a family history? Is your dad, your great, your granddad, your great granddad, are they any of them had bowel cancer that you're aware of or cancer? Yes, no, yes. You're gonna get you tested, but no. So you gotta tell them all this stuff, go in, write things down, maybe so you don't forget what symptoms you've been having, what have you been experiencing, what has your bowel habits been like? This is why it's important to look down a toilet. It's been, I don't know, this the colour, the shape, the size, this, that. On Monday it was this, on Tuesday it was that, and Friday it was freaking bleeding. Telling them all this stuff. Do you get any stomach pains? Where in your stomach is it hurting? Write it down in a freaking journal of diary, and then go in with it. Happy that done. Thanks for spending your time with me today. Don't take that lightly and how precious time it is. If you found this helpful, follow the podcast so you don't miss future episodes. Until next time, take care, be blessed by the best, and keep moving forward.