Can Colon Cancer Increase Amount of Stools?
Regarding colon cancer, we need to be careful with addressing this question, because reputable sites state that the “frequency” of bowel movements may change (including increase per day).
But this article is not about frequency as much as it is about total amount of stools come end of day.
Benign conditions can cause the frequency of bowel movements to increase.
And colon cancer, too, can increase the frequency that one must void.
An example of how colon cancer might lead to this is that the patient normally has one bowel movement every day, then for no known reason (i.e., no change in eating habits), the person is now having three bowel movements a day.
“Colon cancer RARELY increases the amount of stool,” says gastroenterologist Sander R. Binderow, MD, FACS, FASCRS, with Northside Hospital in Georgia.
So don’t become alarmed if lately you’re having more bowel movements than usual BUT the total volume looks to be the same.
Dr. Binderow adds, “A colon cancer mass can cause an obstruction which would decrease stool.”
This article refers to formed stools, not diarrhea.
Dr. Binderow also says, “Rarely a mass blocking the rectum would lead to diarrhea.”
Get familiar with how much stool you normally produce on days that you have bowel movements.
And when you think about it, even from a layperson’s perspective, there’s really no reason why colon cancer would increase the amount of stools.
Stools are not created out of thin air, and are the body’s way of ridding wastes.
There’s a correlation between how much a person eats and total volume of BMs they have every day.
Certainly, a Sumo wrestler is going to be voiding a lot more stools than is a ballerina.
To improve your colon health, add raw chia seeds to your diet. The great thing about chia seeds is that one tablespoon contains four to five grams of fiber, and these tiny seeds can be mixed into so many foods without you even noticing.
Add a tablespoon to your fruit smoothie or protein shake (mix very well), or to rice and salads.
But don’t just rely on what you see and what you eat for colon health. Cologuard uses the latest in DNA technology to identify abnormal cells in your stools.
The Cologuard kit is simple to use and can be done at home. If the cells turn out abnormal, it would be recommended that you undergo a colonoscopy.
Dr. Binderow performs minimally invasive, robotic and laparoscopic surgery for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, colon cancer and other colorectal conditions. Adept at routine procedures, he also sees patients with complex, atypical maladies.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Marta Design
Can PVCs in a Structurally Normal Heart Mean Danger?
Are you experiencing premature ventricular contractions but recently underwent an echocardiogram that yielded normal results?
“When PVCs occur in people with structurally normal hearts, they are usually considered benign,” explains cardiologist Dr. Pam Marcovitz, MD, an internal medicine cardiologist with Frankel Cardiovascular Center in MI.
“However, even in normal hearts, when many PVCs occur in a row (the so-called runs), they may become a ventricular arrhythmia — which can be potentially harmful,” adds Dr. Marcovitz.
From time to time, some people with normal hearts may perceive what seems to be a run of three or four PVCs in a row.
Maybe even five: ba …BOOM, ba …BOOM, ba …BOOM, ba …BOOM, ba …BOOM.
If this is occasional, without other symptoms such as feeling faint or chest pain, and especially if it correlates to acute anxiety, then the patient shouldn’t worry.
If this is frequent, especially with other symptoms, or you’re occasionally getting runs of, say, eight or nine PVCs in a row, see a cardiologist.
“When many, many PVCs occur, up to several thousand in a 24 hour period, the lack of synchronized heartbeat can cause a temporary reduction of the heart’s pumping function.”
This isn’t necessarily a dangerous situation, however, but it also shouldn’t be ignored, either.
This situation can be treated with catheter ablation.
With catheter ablation, a thin, flexible tube is inserted into the heart, and targeted areas of tissue causing irregular electrical signals are destroyed to restore a normal heartbeat.
Dr. Marcovitz has 40+ years of experience in helping people improve their heart health.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/CHAIYARAT
Can PVCs Occur Often Enough to Cause Heart Damage?
“When many, many PVCs occur, up to several thousand in 24 hours, the lack of synchronized heartbeat can cause a temporary reduction in the heart’s pumping function,” explains cardiologist Dr. Pam Marcovitz, MD, an internal medicine cardiologist with Frankel Cardiovascular Center in MI.
“Fortunately, this is almost always reversible with catheter ablation.”
If you suspect that you’re having thousands of PVCs a day, then speak with your cardiologist about being set up with an at-home device called a Holter monitor.
You wear it around your torso and it records your heartbeats, including premature ventricular contractions, for 24 hours. The data will include how many PVCs you had in that period of time.
If you believe that your thousands of PVCs occur only some days out of the week, or even with less frequency, but still within any given month, then you can be set up with an event recorder for 30 days.
That all said, be assured that PVCs will not damage your heart tissue.
If you want to know what will damage your heart, it’s white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats and smoking, not to mention lack of exercise.
Dr. Marcovitz has 40+ years of experience in helping people improve their heart health.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Andrey_Popov
Can Stress Cause PVCs During Calmer Periods?
Can the stress of your life actually cause spontaneous PVCs during those periods when you’re in a more relaxed mood?
“PVCs may be caused by overall life stress, but are rarely caused by having a ‘bad day.’” says cardiologist Dr. Pam Marcovitz, MD, an internal medicine cardiologist with Frankel Cardiovascular Center in MI.
In other words, your bad hair day probably will not cause a premature ventricular contraction.
So if you occasionally have the so-called “one of those days,” this isn’t sufficient enough to trigger a run of PVCs.
However, if you have “one of those lives,” that is, an existence defined by ongoing stress and anxiety…then yes, this can bring on PVCs in a major way.
PVCs can result from acute anxiety, such as checking your phone for messages and seeing that one of the messages is from your doctor to tell you what your biopsy results are for that strange mole.
Your ponytail not turning out right is nothing compared to this.
Here come the premature ventricular contractions as you call the doctor back.
But where were they the evening prior when you were baking chocolate chip cookies with your young niece?
“PVCs may occur with too much caffeine, energy drinks or some medications that contain stimulants such as albuterol inhalers,” continues Dr. Marcovitz.
“They may also occur with alterations in blood electrolytes or abnormal magnesium levels. They may occur with anemia or sleep apnea.
“While PVCs may occur more frequently with life stress, there is rarely a direct relationship between the number of PVCs and having a bad day.”
Dr. Marcovitz has 40+ years of experience in helping people improve their heart health.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Freepik/stefamerpik
How Can PVCs Cause Chest Pain?
Are you convinced that your premature ventricular contractions are causing you chest pain? You may want to rethink this idea.
“PVCs or premature ventricular contractions are ‘extra’ heartbeats coming from the bottom chambers of the heart,” explains Dr. Pam Marcovitz, MD, an internal medicine cardiologist with Frankel Cardiovascular Center in MI.
“They occur earlier than the normal heartbeat which comes from the top of the heart.
“The extra beat occurs in the pumping chamber and travels up to the top of the heart in backwards fashion from the normal heartbeat.
“Most of the time, PVCs are harmless, especially if they only last a second or two. PVCs are usually not associated with chest pain.”
If you’re feeling chest pain that seems to come right after one of your PVCs, this is most likely from anxiety over the PVCs in the first place.
Experiencing that sudden “ba-BOOM” from your heart may cause you to tense up, triggering an adrenaline surge — and some of that tension could be in your chest muscles.
Relax, premature ventricular contractions are not a harbinger of heart attacks.
Dr. Marcovitz has 40+ years of experience in helping people improve their heart health.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: ©Lorra Garrick
Do PVCs Make Your Heart Skip a Beat or Is It an Illusion?
When you have PVCs, does your heart literally skip a beat, or does it only seem this way?
That “skipped” beat has been known to frighten many people, making them think that a heart attack is imminent or will occur in the near future.
So to find out what’s really going on with premature ventricular contractions, I asked cardiologist Dr. Pam Marcovitz, MD, an internal medicine cardiologist with Frankel Cardiovascular Center in MI. Her explanation applies to both women and men:
“Because the extra heartbeat happens earlier than expected, the heart’s normal beat senses the extra beat and pauses a few milliseconds before delivering its next beat,” explains Dr. Marcovitz.
“This pause is followed by a stronger heartbeat, and may be sensed as a skipped beat, a thump or a pounding sensation in the chest. Your doctor refers to this as a palpitation.”
Even a pause of just a few milliseconds can be perceived by the individual experiencing a premature ventricular contraction.
When you then feel that “thump!” that’s the stronger heartbeat, to compensate for that pause.
Shutterstock/Orawan Pattarawimonchai
So with PVCs, there is no skipped heartbeat, only a very slightly delayed heartbeat. Premature ventricular contractions do not indicate an increased risk of a heart attack.
To lower your risk of heart attack, there are many things you can do, including:
Don’t let sodium (salt) consumption exceed 1,500 mg daily.
Drastically reduce consumption of processed foods.
Eliminate as much as possible processed carbohydrates.
Eat at least 25 g of fiber a day.
Sleep seven to eight hours a day.
Eat red grapes, berries, dates, almonds, walnuts, seeds, wild game and wild caught fish.
If you eat meat, limit it to grass-fed or wild game only.
Take the following supplements: green tea extract, turmeric and garlic.
Do both interval cardio training and strength training.
PVCs or the sensation of a skipped heartbeat are not a risk factor for heart disease.
So instead of stressing about that, pay more attention to how many hours a day that you spend in a chair.
Prolonged sitting is linked to a myriad of health ailments including cardiac related.
Dr. Marcovitz has 40+ years of experience in helping people improve their heart health.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Y Photo Studio
Pencil Stools Return to Normal: Can Still Be Colon Cancer?
If colon cancer is causing your stools to be pencil thin, this doesn’t mean that the stools cannot return to normal.
So if you’ve been noticing pencil thin stools and fearing colon cancer, do NOT feel reassured if this appearance at some point returns to what is normal for your bowel movements.
This returning back to normal does not rule out cancer of the colon.
The return back to normal-appearing bowel movements would simply be due to the tumor shifting position.
“Narrow stools can result from a very low rectal cancer or an anal cancer that is partially blocking the exit of bowel movement,” says gastroenterologist Sander R. Binderow, MD, FACS, FASCRS, with Atlanta Colon & Rectal Surgery.
He continues, “Stool size, however, is a very non-specific finding and does NOT confirm or refute the presence of a colon cancer.
“Most stool size and consistency is due to the environment (diet, amount of liquids, stress, etc.) and not due to colon disease.”
This is why narrow, pencil thin stools have numerous causes other than colon cancer.
Dr. Binderow explains, “Patients with diarrhea disorders, such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, tend to have a thinner, looser stool.
“The inflamed colon cannot absorb water as well, nor gently distend to store stool. It comes out quicker and with less form.”
So what should you do if your BMs have become as narrow as a pencil?
There is a home screening test that you can take for colon cancer.
It does not diagnose this disease, but it uses the latest in DNA technology to detect cells that are abnormal.
The test is called Cologuard.
If the sample that you take from home is determined to contain abnormal cells, then a colonoscopy would be recommended.
Signs of Colon Cancer to Be on the Lookout For
Of course, you know that colon cancer can cause long, pencil-like bowel movements.
Or, with this disease, a bowel movement can come out resembling ribbons.
What would really increase the suspicion for colon cancer are additional signs such as blood in your stools, abdominal pain unrelated to BMs, and unexplained fatigue and weight loss.
Colorectal cancer can also cause a sensation that you still have BMs that need to come out, even though you just had a bowel movement.
Sometimes this is normal, and very soon after, you have another movement, and all is fine.
But colon cancer may create this sensation because the tumor itself is positioned in a way that makes a person feel as though they did not fully evacuate — even though they actually did.
- Blood in the stools — could be red, reddish brown or even black with a tarry look
- Pencil-thin or ribbon stools
- Feeling of incomplete voiding after a bowel movement
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Alternating constipation with diarrhea
- Odd change in bowel habits
- Abdominal pain or cramps, gas
- Feeling of bloating or fullness
- Unexplained weight loss or fatigue
- Back pain
Dr. Binderow performs minimally invasive, robotic and laparoscopic surgery for Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, colon cancer and other colorectal conditions. Adept at routine procedures, Dr. Binderow also sees patients with complex, atypical maladies.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She is also a former ACE certified personal trainer.
Top image: Shutterstock/dizain
Image Lets You Change Femur Length to See How It Affects Squat
For critics who think long femurs don’t matter in the back squat, play around with this virtual squat application and find out the truth!
Whether you want to believe it or not, femur length relative to torso length is a major determinant in a person’s ability to efficiently perform a back squat.
It’s puzzling that many muscle builders dismiss the long femurs excuse as poppycock, when the physics of this are actually quite easy to conceptualize.
I found an incredible site that has an interactive squat application, where you can alter the body’s femur length while maintaining the length of all the other body parts and overall height.
Before you visit the site (hyperlink coming), don’t blow it off as just an illustration and not the real thing.
It’s a very accurate depiction of what happens during the back squat relative to the athlete’s femur length as it relates to torso length and body height.
Believe me, as a personal trainer, I have poured over this fascinating phenomenon and size up the anthropometrics of all of my clients.
This interactive squat will be great for people who find it difficult to visualize the effect of varying femur lengths on a person’s squat. Conceptualizing this comes extremely easy to some people, but tricky to others.
Athletes who can draw the human body should find it a breeze to conceptualize the effect of lever lengths on the squat exercise.
I myself have been illustrating the human figure since early childhood as a hobby, so it’s very easy for me to “draw” out all the possibilities and animate them in my mind.
But you need not be an artist to understand “levers” and how they apply to movement…
Here is the link to the virtual squat. Have fun playing around with this; it is SO cool!
Just move the little button left or right to alter femur length, then drag on the man’s hip to make him squat! Drag slowly or else he’ll pop back up to standing.
The interactive tool will not allow you to get him into an unnatural squat position, such as ridiculously forward knees to compensate for the long femurs (try doing that and watch what happens!).
The interactive squat allows you to create crazy long femurs as well as crazy short thighs. This virtual tool will put to rest any of the rants by the critics.
Now, before you insist that the low and high end of the tool’s adjustment for femur length shows unrealistic proportions, keep in mind that even if that button goes just a LITTLE bit towards the long femur end (or short end), this makes a notable difference in squat mechanics.
Plus, there actually are people who have thighs so long (or so short), that this is a noticeable feature of their physique. Some people are self-conscious of their “long-ass femurs” or “stubby thighs.”
Though the guy with the short legs (including very short femurs to tibia ratio) and super long torso may be envied for his potential squatting ability, it’s important to know that no one body type can excel in all physical feats.
You’ll be quite hard-pressed to find any short legged, long-torso athletes in the Olympic sprint lineups.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Source: athleticdesign.se/athletics/squat_article_1_english_page2.html#application1
Long Femurs vs. Short Shins when Trouble Squatting
Maybe it’s not your long femurs, but your short shins that make squatting troublesome.
There’s a lot of stuff out there about femur to torso ratio when discussing the back squat.
The “bad levers” of femurs longer than the torso for squatting (including for Olympic style lifting) get a lot of attention in training forums, but something gets very much overlooked: femur to shin ratio.
As a former certified personal trainer, I’m always looking for this trait in people, but it’s quite uncommon.
See the diagram below. Though crude, it clearly shows the disadvantage of having a short shin to longer femur ratio.
What happens when they parallel squat?
The figure with the short shin can’t get his feet under his hip bones. There just isn’t enough shin length to act as a “pedestal” for his squatting body.
Because his shins are so short, his feet are displaced far forward of his hips, requiring him to have an excessive forward lean — even though his femurs may be the same length as his torso or even shorter.
The second figure has no problem sitting down into a squat while his back stays closer to upright than folded over.
Because there is more length in his shins, his feet are more under his hips.
This means he doesn’t have to lean that far forward to get his shoulders over his feet. Think of his super long shins as supportive pedestals to just sit on.
The long femur in relation to short shin is a proportion that is not determined by overall body height.
Thus, a very short person can have femurs several inches longer than their tibias, and a very tall individual can have shins four inches longer than their femurs.
Conversely, a 5’4” athlete can also have short stubby femurs, such that most of the leg is tibia, and a 6’7” athlete can be mostly femur.
- Overall body height is not a factor in the femur-to-shin ratio.
- Torso length will vary and is not related to femur-to-shin ratio.
So if your femurs aren’t longer than your torso yet you fall backwards as your squat nears parallel, it could be due to not having long enough “pedestals” to support your body.
Short shins prevent the feet from getting far enough under the hips — the feet are displaced too far forward. So to get the shoulders over the feet, you may need to practically fold in half.
So how does someone with these levers do a back squat without folding in half?
Widen the stance (this will take getting used to and increasing the hip flexibility) until you no longer must double over.
Shutterstock/HD92
The knees must track over the feet when squatting with a wide stance.
Pointing the feet outward to 20-30 degrees will make the squat even more doable for someone whose shins are disproportionately short for the rest of their body.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Freepik
High Intensity Interval Training for Overweight People
There is no medical reason why an overweight person cannot or should not do high intensity interval training (HIIT).
However, the modality of the exercise would certainly come into play for an extra heavy body.
- High intensity interval training doesn’t have to be speedy or fast in order to be effective.
- The ability to run is not required.
Many people associate high intensity interval training with sprinting and jumping.
Though fitter, swifter people who want to do HIIT will be drawn to sprinting and jumping as the modes, this does not mean that slow movement can’t be effective for a HIIT workout.
Effort Is the Key
High intensity interval training is about effort, not speed.
An effective HIIT session for a very overweight man or woman could be their fastest walk — absolute fastest — up a slight hill in a road.
After about 30 seconds, they can then walk slowly and comfortably in the opposite direction back to where they began, catching their breath all the way.
After a minute or two, they can then power walk — truly as quickly as possible — once again down the road.
Though this isn’t a speedy workout, it’ll be quite effective for a very heavy person whose body is only used to slow movement.
At an all-out effort of charging up that slight hill, this will be enough to really exhaust the overweight body, even though running or high speeds are not involved.
Staircase charging is another option. For a plus size individual, briskly marching up steps can be grueling — and very effective at burning fat.
Other than Walking
Walking as fast as possible is but one of many modes for HIIT.
Other options for an obese man or woman include quickly stepping up and down the first stair of a staircase, and cardio equipment such as an elliptical machine and stationary bike.
This means pedaling for about half a minute at your maximal speed, relative to the pedal resistance.
Following that would be an easy pedal for one or two minutes.
Then after your recovery interval, you repeat the sprint pedaling.
The bottom line is that the settings for that 30 second segment are such that 30 seconds leave you nearly breathless.
You can also try HIIT using varied work intervals if they work better for you, such as 15 or 20 seconds for the exertional phase, or a little longer than 30 seconds for the hard effort.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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