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Yurii Yarema\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> \nThe story of a Florida nurse\u2019s colon cancer diagnosis went viral earlier this month, after she revealed an unusual symptom linked to her disease: nonstop burping.\n<\/p>\n \nIn an interview with NeedtoKnow<\/em>, Bailey McBreen, now 25, shared that she first noticed the uncommon symptom in 2021. \u201cI would burp five to 10 times a day,\u201d she told the outlet. \u201cThis was not normal for me. I actually rarely ever burped before, and that is why I noticed how weird it was.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nMcBreen said she initially brushed off her symptoms, but starting February 2022, other more worrisome symptoms started popping up, including acid reflux\u2014which was dismissed by doctors as a symptom of anxiety\u2014followed by \u201cexcruciating\u201d pain, loss of appetite, and inability to go to the bathroom.\n<\/p>\n \nAs a nurse, McBreen suspected her symptoms were the result of an intestinal obstruction\u2014and she was right: a CT scan revealed McBreen had a tumor obstructing her large intestine, which was later confirmed to be stage 3 colon cancer.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cExcessive burping isn\u2019t your textbook sign of colon cancer, but my oncologist told me that it was likely the start of my symptoms,\u201d McBreen told the outlet. \u201cGERD was a symptom in my case because my tumor was slowly causing a complete bowel obstruction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAccording to a GoFundMe page created for her, McBreen needed surgery to have the tumor removed along with part of her colon and her appendix. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and is using her experience to urge others to pay attention to their bodies.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnything that is new to you, even if it\u2019s otherwise considered a normal thing, needs to be addressed,\u201d McBreen told the outlet. \u201cI didn\u2019t think anything of my burping, because it was a \u2018normal\u2019 thing. It\u2019s important to listen to your body.\u201d\n<\/p>\n When Does Constipation Become an Emergency?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nAlthough burping can be an indirect symptom of colon cancer, experts stress that it's a rare occurrence.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBurping is a very nonspecific symptom,\u201d Anton Bilchik, MD, PhD, surgical oncologist and division chair of general surgery at Providence Saint John\u2019s Health Center, told Health<\/em>. \u201cMost people diagnosed with colon cancer have few symptoms and burping is not a common symptom of colon cancer.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nIf excessive burping is linked to a colon cancer diagnosis, it\u2019s likely the result of a manifestation of colon cancer, like a blockage of a persons\u2019 bowels.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe can imagine our digestive system as a plumbing system,\u201d Tiago Biachi, MD, PhD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, told Health<\/em>. \u201cIf any blockage, as a bowel obstruction, occurs, food and digestive fluids will build up beyond that point.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nIf the obstruction persists\u2014as it would in the case of a tumor blocking the bowel\u2014it can cause symptoms including nausea, feeling full soon after eating, reflux, and burping, Dr. Biachi said.\n<\/p>\n \nThe location of colon cancer in younger patients\u2014commonly on the left side of the colon\u2014may also make it more likely for a bowel obstruction to occur.<\/span> \u201cGiven that the left side of the colon is narrower compared to the right, it is more common to present with obstructive symptoms,\u201d Dr. Biachi said.\n<\/p>\n \nStill, physicians stress that you\u2019re much more likely to have other, more urgent symptoms if a bowel obstruction is due to colon cancer. \u201cI usually associate nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain more highly with colon cancer,\u201d Ursina Teitelbaum, MD, a medical oncologist at Penn Medicine\u2019s Gastrointestinal Cancer Program, told Health<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n Study Identifies 4 'Red Flag' Symptoms of Colon Cancer in Younger People<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nAlthough burping is not a common sign of colon cancer\u2014and burping alone is unlikely to be linked to a serious diagnosis\u2014any persistent new symptom when paired with other \u201cred flag\u201d colorectal cancer symptoms may be cause for concern, Dr. Biachi said.\n<\/p>\n \nColorectal cancer may not cause symptoms in earlier stages, but if symptoms appear, or if the disease has progressed to later stages, the signs of cancer can include:<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nIn some cases, when symptoms aren\u2019t apparent, the first sign of colorectal cancer may be a blood test showing anemia, or a low red blood cell count, due to loss of blood, even if a person\u2019s stool looks normal.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nBecause colorectal cancer diagnoses are also on the rise in younger populations\u2014diagnoses of advanced-stage colorectal cancer in people under 55 doubled from 11% in 1995 to 20% in 2019\u2014researchers have also identified certain \u201cred flag\u201d symptoms that may be indicative of early-onset colorectal cancer. Those include:\n<\/p>\n \nAlthough many symptoms associated with colorectal cancer are common among other gastrointestinal issues\u2014including hemorrhoids, infections, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), physicians say it\u2019s still necessary to get any worrisome symptoms checked out to determine the cause and get treated as soon as possible\u2014even in younger populations.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe should be alert that even young patients with persistent symptoms might have cancer,\u201d said Dr. Biachi. \u201cNowadays, 15 to 20% of our patients with colorectal cancer are younger than 50.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Florida nurse Bailey McBreen, 25, went viral recently after sharing the story of her cancer diagnosis. McBreen said that nonstop burping was the start of the symptoms that would lead to her stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis. Though uncommon, it's possible that excessive burping could be a symptom of a bowel obstruction, which could be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[941,410],"tags":[942,116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Can Burping Really Be a Sign of Colon Cancer? <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Other Signs and Symptoms of Colon Cancer <\/span> <\/h2>\n
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