 [ Symptoms ] my sister is a 31 year old female she has had very dark stool along with mucus in it for about a year she has abdominal pain and has also been feeling very tired and run down her dr ran a cbc on her and found that she is severely anemic she also did a fecal test and found that there is blood in her stool she never sees bright red blood though it is not visible to the eye just very dark stool they did a small bowel follow through an endoscopy and a colonoscopy and they still have not found anything her dr said it did not show colitis crohns polyps or celiac is disease but she is still feeling very tired constipated is losing weight very anemic has stomach pain mucus and blood in her stool they put her on prenatal vitamins for the anemia they are now going to do a capsule endoscopy to check more of her small intestine if this was cancer would they have found it by now what else can she do to test for cancer blood tests etc what else could it be [ Disease ] gastroesophageal reflux disease gerd can be thought of as chronic symptoms of heartburn the term refers to the frequent backing up reflux of stomach contents food acid andor bile into the esophagus    the tube that connects the throat to the stomach gerd also refers to the array of medical complications some serious that can arise from this reflux though it causes discomfort occasional heartburn is not harmful about 20 of adults in the u s experience gerd symptoms such as heartburn and acid regurgitation at least once a week but if you have heartburn frequently and it is untreated your stomach is acid may inflame the lining of your esophagus or swallowing tube potentially narrowing it stomach acid may also change the cells of the lining of your esophagus this change called barrett is esophagus increases the likelihood of cancer of the esophagus only a small percentage of people with gerd develop barrett is esophagus your stomach is contents can also move into your throat and be drawn past your vocal cords and into your lungs where they can cause damage along with hoarseness a chronic dry cough or asthma anyone can develop gerd at any age you are more likely to develop it as you get older nearly one out of every 10 american adults has heartburn daily pregnant women are especially prone to gerd nearly one out of every four pregnant women has heartburn every day