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A woman has bravely opened up about her bowel cancer journey by blogging about her experiences. The woman, known as heyheatherbeth on TikTok, is using her online platform to create video
blogs about her cancer journey. She has been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, and she wants people to know there are common symptoms they should look out for. For her, she said she
experienced two main symptoms before she was told she had the illness. She recently opened up about them in a video, as she wants people to keep an eye on their health. Even though you
should always look out for any changes in bowel habits, she didn't experience this. In fact, she said everything seemed pretty "normal" in this respect. Talking about fatigue,
she explained: "Now this I definitely had. I was absolutely exhausted for about five to six months before I ended up in A&E. "But the next common symptom is unexpected weight
loss, so when you're losing weight but you've perhaps not changed your activity level, or you're not on a particular diet intended to to lose weight. "I had lost about a
stone in weight but, again, this was over a period of about five or six months so it was noticeable, but it wasn't drastic. So, again, I sort of didn't really put the two and two
together and think this might be a symptom of colon cancer." She said another common symptom is bloating, and she did experience this slightly sometimes after meals. But, because this
can happen to anyone, she admitted she didn't really think much of it at the time. When it came to the fatigue, she said she'd also experience a "wave of tiredness" after
eating meals. She also has anaemia , which she thinks contributed to the tiredness and dizziness. The video has been viewed hundreds of times since it was posted, and people are thankful
she shared the advice. There are other signs and symptoms you should be aware of though. SYMPTOMS OF BOWEL CANCER According to the NHS, symptoms of bowel cancer can include: * Changes in
your poo, like having softer poo, diarrhoea or constipation that is unusual for you * Feeling the need to poo more or less often than usual for you * Blood in your poo, which may look red or
black * Bleeding from your bottom * Often feeling like you need to poo, even if you've just been to the toilet * Tummy pain * A lump in your tummy * Bloating * Losing weight without
trying * Feeling very tired for no reason It should be noted that just because you experience any of these symptoms doesn't mean you have bowel cancer. However, if you've noticed
changes in your body that you're becoming concerned about, you should always contact your GP for advice.