Lauren Toole first noticed blood after wiping following a trip to the toilet in 2023, but didn’t think too much of it until her symptoms worsened.
After a few months, the 27-year-old noticed the bleeding was more frequent and felt a lump had appeared around her rectum.
She was handed meds to treat ‘health anxiety’ (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
The mum-of-three says she raised the issue with doctors ‘eight times’, who repeatedly gave her prescriptions for haemorrhoids, telling her it was a common problem after having kids.
But Lauren, a children’s mental health support worker, says none of the prescribed creams resolved her symptoms.
Instead, she claims doctors thought she had health anxiety and even gave her antidepressants to help treat it.
It was only when Lauren was rushed to hospital with suspected appendicitis that she was referred for a colonoscopy and told her ‘haemorrhoids’ were in fact polyps – abnormal clumps of cells that form small growths.
The biopsy results found one of the polyps – removed in the colonoscopy – was a rare type of slow-growing cancer, and another was pre-cancerous and is awaiting removal.
Lauren was horrified to realise she may have ended up with two different types of cancer if she’d ignored her symptoms, and may need multiple surgeries in the future to ensure no further spread.
While admitting she did have health anxiety, Lauren now believes it was because ‘deep down she knew there was something wrong’ and is urging others to trust their instincts.
Lauren, from Blackburn, said: “My first symptoms started at least three years ago after my second son.
“At first, I kind of ignored it myself. It began with just a little bit of blood upon wiping.
“I didn’t really think much of it until symptoms started getting worse.
“Doctors told me they rarely come across someone who hasn’t got piles, especially when they have children.
“It wasn’t happening all the time. I wasn’t having any pain; it wasn’t really bothering me at that time.
“After going to the doctors, they did an examination and told me I had piles and prescribed me some more creams and suppositories.
“They told me it was a common problem with mums. At that time I didn’t really suspect anything.
“As the symptoms got worse and the different creams hadn’t improved anything, that’s when my concerns grew.
“It got to the point where I had to push the lump back in myself. There would also be blood clots when I was wiping.
“Every time I went to the toilet, I would have bleeding.
“I’d flip between constipation and loose stools. A doctor noted down that I could have irritable bowel syndrome.
“I was just told I basically had really bad health anxiety and was given antidepressants.
“I’ve known there was something wrong with me for a long time. I’d gone to the doctors for other problems like tiredness, not feeling well, palpitations.
“No one thought the issues were related. It’s easy as a young mum to get dismissed and told you have anxiety.
“Nobody thought to refer me for the piles even though they were symptomatic.”
Lauren first noticed the issue in 2023 (Image: Kennedy News and Media)
In April, Lauren was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis, where she was offered a colonoscopy for ‘peace of mind’, which found that her ‘piles’ were in fact polyps.
It was only after one of the polyps was removed and tested that Lauren was told the growth was a neuroendocrine tumour – a rare type of slow-growing cancer.
And a biopsy of another polyp came back as a tubulovillous adenoma – a precancerous polyp that is your body’s early warning system for colorectal cancer.
Lauren, who is still awaiting further testing, will have to undergo one or more surgeries in the future to ensure all the neuroendocrine tumour has been removed, as well as have the precancerous polyp removed.
Lauren said: “I wasn’t expecting anything like that. To be told that, I was very upset. You start thinking about the worst-case scenario.
“If I’d left both of them, I could’ve potentially ended up with two different types of cancer.
“I’m in the lurch, still not knowing what is happening next.
“I was frustrated not just with the doctors but with myself too – did I say the right things? I wish I’d educated myself more on the other potential things it could’ve been before accepting the answer.
“I just had this intuition that something wasn’t right, which might present as being anxious. I was anxious because I didn’t feel like myself.
“It probably manifested as health anxiety, but deep down I knew there was something wrong.
“I can understand why it came across that I was anxious. Looking back, I am angry.
“Being told I had anxiety, IBS, haemorrhoids – if they’d maybe tied those symptoms together and sent me for a colonoscopy, it would’ve been picked up sooner.
“My advice to others is to always get a second opinion and speak up for yourself.”