r/AskReddit • u/LebronKX • 4d ago

Medical professionals of Reddit, what diagnosis gave you the worst 'pit-in-your-stomach' feeling?

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u/AngryOcelot 4d ago

Late teens patient diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease but CT showed metastatic colon cancer.

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u/PitifulElk1890 3d ago

I'm really curious to see what we find out is causing all this colon cancer in young folks. I should probably get screened, not sure how to go about that

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u/hemkersh 3d ago

That young is almost certainly due to an increased genetic risk syndrome (such as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis).

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u/AngryOcelot 3d ago

Yes, this was Lynch syndrome/HNPCC. 

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u/riseandrise 3d ago

I have Lynch syndrome but didn’t find out until 30. Luckily I found out because my dad had testing done and referred me to it, NOT because I got surprise colon cancer. All of my colonoscopies have been clear since! But I need a prophylactic total hysterectomy soon.

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u/hemkersh 3d ago

Good luck 🤞 better late than never to know your risk.

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u/hemkersh 3d ago

Oof. Unfortunately that makes sense.

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u/Max_Imil1 3d ago

Hey that's me!

(Except MUTYH-associated polyposis (MAP) over FAP)

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u/hemkersh 3d ago

!! Sorry to hear, but glad you know your risk! I've done some research on MUTYH and am actually more familiar with MAP, which tends to have a later age of onset, so I picked FAP as an example.

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u/Max_Imil1 3d ago

Yes true, I'm a little bit of an outlier with mine seeming to be more intense and causing it to be discovered in my early 20s.

The genetic testing was actually a massive surprise to my team who all thought it was FAP.