Symptoms of a colorectal disorder

Everyone experiences occasional digestive upsets such as wind or a change in bowel habit. Often, these can be caused by diet, stress and worries, or a change in your normal routine.

If you develop one or more of the following list of symptoms and they are unexpected or persist for more than two weeks, you should seek medical advice:

• abdominal pain.
  
  

• persistent feeling of fullness, bloating or wind.
  
  

• persistent diarrhoea, constipation or any alteration in bowel habit.
  
  

• change in stools (faeces, bowel motions), especially if they become black, dark-red, very pale or contain mucus (slime).
  
  

• unexplained weight loss.
  
  

• feeling tired, lethargic or unwell, at the same time as noticing any of the other abdominal symptoms.
  
  

• constant feeling of wanting to pass faeces.
  
  

• bleeding.
  
  

• loss of appetite.
  
  

• nausea or vomiting.
  
  

• indigestion.
  
  

• pain when you pass faeces.
  
  

• feeling that your bowels are emptying incompletely.

Please note that most people who have these symptoms do not have a serious disorder. Your doctor should be able to reassure you, or will arrange tests to rule out important causes of such symptoms. The early diagnosis of serious conditions such as cancer makes treatment more effective.

Back to top