A MUM who thought she simply needed to cut her carb intake was shocked to be diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. Nikita Williamson was suffering from bloating and blood in her poo , but initially put her symptoms down to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The 37-year-old reduced the amount of certain foods she was eating, and noticed she also felt better when she consumed fewer carbohydrates like porridge.
But her condition worsened, and she was later diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. Nikita, from Ipswich , said: "I'm still overcoming the hardest obstacle and that is learning who I am now - accepting the new normal. "I will never be the person I was before diagnosis.
" The mum-of-two first noticed unusual bloating and blood in her stool in late 2022. Assuming her symptoms were the result of IBS (a common digestive condition) and piles (lumps inside and around the bottom), she stopped eating certain foods and started taking over-the-counter pain medication. "I cut out things like porridge and tried to cut down on the number of carbs I was eating as this seemed to bloat me the most," she said.
"The doctors never mentioned an intolerance - piles was always their answer, even when I’d tried all the over-the-counter and prescription meds. "My GP still didn’t think it was anything else when I came back with a vitamin D deficiency from my bloods, which is an indicator of bowel cancer." However, when Nikita started to feel unwell at Christmas, her partner Millie persuaded her t.