All Checked Up
March 30, 2026
Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK and is the fourth most frequently diagnosed overall, with around 44,100 people receiving a diagnosis each year. Nearly everyone with an early diagnosis of Bowel Cancer will survive, so knowing its symptoms and spotting them early is crucial.
Bowel cancer, often interchangeably called colorectal cancer, is actually cancer that specifically develops in the large bowel. There are two parts to the bowel – small and large. The small bowel is the part which starts at the stomach and ends at the large bowel. It is responsible for absorbing the nutrients from the food we eat. You can also get small bowel cancer, but this is extremely rare. The large bowel includes the colon and the rectum. Bowel cancer usually begins as a non-cancerous growth called a polyp on the lining of the large bowel. Over time, some polyps can develop into cancer.
Symptoms of Bowel Cancer can vary from person to person. Not everyone will get symptoms at first (called asymptomatic) and some people may see gradual changes in symptoms.
Some common symptoms that you should look out for…
Seeing blood in Poo can naturally by worrying and should always be followed up with your Doctor just to make sure everything is okay. Blood in your poo or bleeding from your back passage is a common sign of bowel cancer but can also be due to other common causes from ulcers to haemorrhoids, anal fissure and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
If your poo is black, tarry and foul-smelling, this can indicate bleeding further up in your digestive system such as your stomach, most commonly caused by acute or chronic peptic ulceration. The smell is caused by the blood being digested by intestinal enzymes and bacteria. Blood can also look bright red and can look fresh or relatively new, often referred to as frank bleeding. Blood around the poo can indicate the bleeding is from the sigmoid colon or rectum.
Bleeding can sometimes be difficult to see and may only be detected through stool tests such as our Bowel Cancer Screening test.
In all cases, you should always get this checked up further with your Doctor.
A change in your normal bowel habits can be a sign of bowel cancer as well as other cancers such as Ovarian Cancer in women and pancreatic cancer. This may include:
Change in bowel habits could also be the result of many other causes, such as eating dodgy foods which may cause food poisoning, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. The important thing to note is you have any change in bowel habits particularly if it has been on-going for 3 weeks or more, you should get this checked up with your Doctor.
Persistent abdominal pain or discomfort may include ongoing cramping, aching, bloating, or a feeling of fullness in the tummy that does not go away. The pain may come and go or be constant, and it might become worse after eating or when opening your bowels. In some cases, there may also be a noticeable lump or swelling in the abdomen. While abdominal pain is common and often caused by less serious conditions, pain that is persistent, unexplained, or different from usual should warrant further check up with your Doctor.
Book in to speak with our Clinical Pharmacist
Tiredness is defined as lethargy (having no energy and essentially physical exhaustion) with no desire to sleep. It can often manifest into being unable to or struggling to complete normal daily activities, and lacking motivation or stamina. Unlike normal tiredness, fatigue can feel overwhelming and long-lasting.
Fatigue is not usually because of bowel cancer itself, more from the secondary effect caused by reduced red blood cells, in turn reducing the supply of oxygen to your cells and causing the symptoms of fatigue. This reduction in red blood cells is called anaemia. Anaemia can develop when a bowel tumour causes slow, ongoing blood loss into the bowel, sometimes in such small amounts that it isn’t immediately obvious. Over time, this gradual loss of blood reduces the amount of haemoglobin in the body. Haemoglobin is essential because it carries oxygen around the body to your cells.
This can also lead to other symptoms such a:
Losing weight without trying can be a symptom of bowel cancer and cancer in general. Losing weight while eating normally is called cachexia. It is thought to occur as your body doesn’t absorb all the fats, proteins and carbohydrates required. And it could also mean that more calories are being burnt faster than normal.
If you keep losing weight without changing your diet or exercise routine then you should have this checked up with your Doctor
These symptoms can also be the sign of other conditions, not just Bowel Cancer. Other conditions this could be include:
Our Bowel Cancer Screening test has a high accuracy rate of around 86% in detecting bowel cancer. And with our combined Bowel Cancer Screening and Gut Inflammation test, you can screen for both Bowel Cancer and Inflammation of the Gut with one stool sample.
The only test recommended by NICE for first-line screening for Bowel or Colorectal Cancer
References
Heart disease remains one of the leading causes of illness and death worldwide. While common risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking,
Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK and is the fourth most frequently diagnosed overall, with around 44,100 people receiving
Prostate cancer has now become the most common cancer in England, having seen a 25% rise in the number of cases between 2019 and 2023.
Fast and convenient access to private blood tests provided at our Cheshire or London clinic
Shop our expanding range of certified health and cancer screening tests for self-collection at home.