There are signs that can be life-threatening if ignored.
When discomfort occurs in the “most intimate area,” most people do not rush to the proctologist out of embarrassment or fear. Someone hopes that everything will pass by itself, and in fairness they are usually right, others try to cope with folk ways. However, there are signs that are life-threatening to ignore. Noticing them, you need to make an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible. Daniil Markaryan, Head of the Department of Abdominal Oncology and Coloproctology at the University Clinic of Moscow State University, Candidate of Medical Sciences, oncologist, coloproctologist, tells more about what you need to pay attention to.
To begin with, self-medication is often useless, it can also do harm. The patient, who tries to solve the problem without consulting a doctor, often loses time and the disease progresses in the meantime.
It is also important to remember that the symptoms of benign and rather serious proctological problems can be similar. In the overwhelming majority of cases, only a specialist after the examination can understand what the patient is facing – with a minor temporary violation or a life-threatening illness.
Any discomfort in the anus, anus, rectum should cause alarm and become a reason for an appointment with a specialist. However, special attention should be paid to the following symptoms.
Daniel Markarian
Blood
Most proctological diseases are associated with the appearance of blood during defecation. And this is where the most important nuance lies: blood not only indicates non-life-threatening conditions, such as hemorrhoids (which fortunately occurs most often) or anal fissure, but can also be the first sign of neoplastic diseases. bowel
If you see blood on the toilet paper or in your stool, don’t try to gauge whether it’s too much or too little to gauge the severity of the problem. Remember that normally there should be no blood, so hurry to the doctor to understand what its appearance is connected with.
You should not panic in advance and make a fatal diagnosis yourself in advance: the problem can be quite innocent, and it will be possible to deal with it quite quickly. Even in cases where the cause of the appearance of blood is an oncological disease, contacting a specialist as soon as possible is the key to the best prognosis.
slime
Another very specific symptom that is dangerous to ignore is the appearance of mucus during bowel movements. Normally, it may occasionally occur in response to a sharp violation of eating habits, but if nothing changes in your diet and mucus appears repeatedly, urgently contact a proctologist.
Excessive mucus secretion – It can be one of the first signs of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. Ignoring this symptom delays the diagnostic process, sharply increases the risks of chronic diseases and the likelihood of malignant degeneration of normal mucosal cells.
Pain
Proctological diseases are not always accompanied by pain, but it is dangerous to ignore the regular appearance of discomfort. Particular attention should be paid to pain, the appearance of which cannot explain injury or eating spicy food.
If you did not notice the area of the anal canal before and now you constantly “remember” it, if you feel discomfort and seek remedies that can relieve pain, do not expect a point of no return. It’s time to talk to an expert.
A problem that causes severe pain may be innocent enough, but in some cases will require serious treatment.
unintentional weight loss
If you notice that all your clothes have turned out great even though you are not on a diet and do not like intense workouts, and the scale shows a few kilograms less than you used to, this is not a reason. love it.
Unreasonable weight loss in a short time can be a symptom of various diseases, including cancer. Among the specialists worth visiting should be a coloproctologist. The alertness of any specialist to cancer in case of complaints of weight loss will allow to prescribe the most appropriate instrumental and laboratory tests to exclude a dangerous diagnosis.
The appearance of painful “bumps”
Detection of protrusions is most often characteristic of hemorrhoids, and this does not pose a threat to life, although it reduces the quality of life. But the situation is much more serious when the appearance of “cones” is associated not with hemorrhoids, but with paraproctitis.
About 10% of the appearance of swelling in the perianal region is precisely associated with acute purulent paraproctitis. With this disease, the gland of the anal canal becomes inflamed, an acute abscess develops and directly threatens life. It is difficult to distinguish paraproctitis from completely harmless hemorrhoids on your own, and one mistake can cost a lot.
Source: Radio KP
