Symptoms, alarm symptoms and when to contact a doctor
General information about gastrointestinal symptoms. This page does not calculate a result from your answers and does not point to a specific investigation.
This page is general information. You cannot enter your own symptoms and receive an individual assessment or a recommendation for a specific investigation. Which assessment is relevant depends on symptoms, duration, age, family history, previous investigations and the overall clinical picture - and is decided by the doctor during the consultation.
Alarm symptoms - contact a doctor
- Visible blood in the stool, or black, tarry stools.
- Unexplained weight loss.
- Difficulty swallowing or persistent vomiting.
- Anaemia without a known explanation.
- Fever or night-time symptoms that wake you.
- New persistent symptoms after the age of 50.
- A close relative with bowel cancer or inflammatory bowel disease.
For acute or severe symptoms - such as significant bleeding, severe abdominal pain or feeling generally unwell - contact your doctor, an out-of-hours service or emergency services. An alarm symptom does not automatically mean endoscopy; it means a doctor needs to assess the context.
Common symptoms often discussed in the consultation
- Bloating and wind.
- Abdominal pain or discomfort that comes and goes.
- A change in bowel habit - frequency or consistency.
- Symptoms that change after meals.
- Bad breath (halitosis), which most often originates in the mouth.
What you can prepare before a consultation
- How long the symptoms have lasted and how they have developed.
- Whether any alarm symptoms have occurred.
- Previous investigations, diagnoses, operations and current medication.
- Gastrointestinal disease in close relatives.
This content is general information. No individual result is calculated, no diagnosis is made, no individual investigation or treatment recommendation is given, and no data is stored.