[Cog]

Just recently had mine and wanted to walk you though the process. Many GP's will recommend one at age fifty or fifty-five. Since I don't like needles or going to the doctor in general, I put it off until age sixty. Don't be like me. I will describe the process below. Information removes fear.

Prep day:

The day before your procedure, you will need to cleanse your lower tract, the colon, so the gastro-enterologist can navigate his instrument through the lower colon to look for polyps and cancer. On this day, you drink nothing but clear liquids like broth, tea, or other clear liquids. You will also consume the prep liquid. I used something called Suprep. A very foul tasting liquid diluted with water. You will need to stay close to the bathroom as you will soon be going quite a lot. In my case, two separate doses, separated by 5 hours. This is the worse part of the whole procedure. Have some wet wipes handy as toilet paper tends to irritate your anus after a while.

Day of procedure:

Arrive and fill out the paperwork. You go back to a preparation room and they take some vitals. You get naked and put on a hospital gown. The last thing they do is hook you up to an IV. After some period of time they wheel you into the procedure room. There you will lay on your side. The anesthesiologist will administer the sedative into the IV line. Don't bother to count down from 100. Its literally lights out. One second you are waiting for the happy juice to kick in, the next second(from your perspective) you are in the recovery room.

I encourage you to do this, even for fraidy-cats like me who hate doctors and procedures.

*edit If you have any questions feel free to ask them. The actual procedure lasts about 20-25 minutes in which you are unconscious. I went back for prep at 0730 and was walking out of the facility at 0900. Grilled a steak later in the day and felt fine. No after-effects of the anesthesia.

[KaiserJeep]

I have had two such procedures since turning 50 years of age. The second procedure uncovered a bleeding stomach ulcer near my esophogus which had allowed me to digest a third of my blood supply. I was hospitalized for a week while they treated it.

Lest you forget, they use probes at both ends of the GI tract. the one down your throat requires that you be given a general anesthetic, and it's even more unpleasent than being probed in the lower end. Both procedures should be done at least every 10 years - and on 1 day's notice when you display symptoms of bleeding.

[Cog]

I wanted to add something to this. Its a minor point but might spare you some discomfort. I like eating hot things. Jalapenos, habaneros, scotch bonnets, etc. The day before your prep day don't eat those things. Instead do a bland diet. When you are flushing the previous day's food through your system, you don't want hot items as part of it. Trust me on this.

[jedrider]

Question Kaiser: Did you have any symptoms before the Colonoscopy that would have led you to suspect something was wrong?

I'm a bit skeptical of all this frequent testing. I had mine done once at age 50 and it's over ten years now. But, I have no inclination to get any testing done. So, how did the routine colonoscopy reveal that you had a problem on the other end?

[KaiserJeep]

My first colonoscopy was routine and showed nothing of concern. Seven years later the second test was not routine. My symptom of bleeding was no sense of hunger for three days, while I bled into my stomach and digested the blood, slowly got weaker, and wondered what was happening. Then my solid waste turned absolutely jet black, the first indication that this was not a bug but something serious. I called my GP who told me to get down to his office, then examined me, and then had me admitted to the hospital, and ordered the prep and colonoscopy test. I wish they had started with the mouth and not the colon, as the first part of the test was completely negative. The diagnosis was that the low dosage aspirin I had been taking for a number of years had eroded the stomach lining and caused the bleed. I have avoided aspirin in the years since then.

I believe that the every 10 year suggested colonoscopy interval is because most colon cancers are slow growing, and often start with smaller benign colon polyps that get removed routinely during the test, These polyps are biopsied and if cancerous or pre-cancerous, you can be further tested and treated while your disease is in the early stages. Thus the test both prevents disease and diagnoses cancer before you have noticeable symptoms. Admittedly, the test itself is unpleasent and uncomfortable.

[jedrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', 'T')he diagnosis was that the low dosage aspirin I had been taking for a number of years had eroded the stomach lining and caused the bleed. I have avoided aspirin in the years since then.

[KaiserJeep]

Doctors use the scientific method, they calculate the statistics, they draw valid conclusions from the data they collect. Those who feel their way through life using their emotions and desires are simply self-deluded fools. You can acknowledge their expertise and the body of knowledge they have painfully accumulated from treating millions of people, or you can deny them and their desire to help you heal.

It very definately is your choice to make. In the end it is simply another form of evolution in action.

[SeaGypsy]

I'm vegan, chances of colon cancer about zero.

[Subjectivist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', 'D')octors use the scientific method, they calculate the statistics, they draw valid conclusions from the data they collect.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')'m vegan, chances of colon cancer about zero.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jedrider', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', 'T')he diagnosis was that the low dosage aspirin I had been taking for a number of years had eroded the stomach lining and caused the bleed. I have avoided aspirin in the years since then.

[KaiserJeep]

I am also not a medical professional. However I am a professional with a code of ethics and I do understand the scientific method.

I will say only that while no group of people are all perfect, the medical profession is by a considerable margin the most uniformly professional group I know. I also believe that even more than the patients, the doctors, nurses, and med techs have been victimized by those who sell medical insurance and administer medical claims.

[Cog]

The patient in many cases still determines the outcome. I had a conversation with my doctor about obesity. I asked her why instead of just telling a patient to lose weight to moderate high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes, that the doctors instead prescribed pills for each one of those disorders.

She replied that she did indeed recommend weight loss but the patients seemed never to get to that point to do so. So what are doctors left with? To prescribe pills that moderate all of the things that arise from simply being overweight. Losing weight is difficult while taking a pill is not. If you choose to live in a unhealthy way its not like a doctor can force you to do otherwise. I fully realize that for some, they have to take meds for those conditions described above, but for a lot of people its their lifestyle that dictates it.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', 'I') am also not a medical professional. However I am a professional with a code of ethics and I do understand the scientific method.

I will say only that while no group of people are all perfect, the medical profession is by a considerable margin the most uniformly professional group I know. I also believe that even more than the patients, the doctors, nurses, and med techs have been victimized by those who sell medical insurance and administer medical claims.

[KaiserJeep]

Tanada, the medical profession keeps careful records and statistics and uses the double-blind test method. Aspirin for example is one of the most studied drugs on the planet. I was prescribed aspirin following a stroke and I have long had my blood pressure and cholesterol under control using Plavix, Lipitor, Atenolol, and Atorvastatin, and in the past couple of years my GP has added three different drugs to reduce insulin resistence. I also have a daily prescription strength NSAID for musculoskeletal pain. When that does not cut it, my GP trusts me with an opioid painkiller, and I have managed to keep my consumption of these potent pain killers to less than 50 tablets per year for several years.

I monitor blood pressure and glucose daily and my doctor monitors A1C and cholesterol monthly, and does a quarterly liver panel to check for side effects of these potent medications. After a number of years my cholesterol figures are one fifth of what they were unmedicated. The blood pressure is in the lower 20th percentile for my age group, and these changes came about because of the drugs.

I could take about six fewer drugs if I could increase my activity and lose weight by eating less. But I struggle with that, every damned packaged food has sugar in it, and I'm hooked on it. When I increase my treadmill time my joints scream and my painkiller consumption increases. I will eventually have to consume opioids daily but I have been postponing this step for years.

Now understand this. EVERYBODY would like to think that they can use lifestyle changes to improve their health. It would be so convenient, and it would save money and minimize medication side effects. But it is harder to do and less effective than taking pills.

Not to mention, that there is a major market in the First World for what I call "heal yourself" books, most of which involve diet, specific forms of exercise, and even Eastern philosophies. These books are completely unregulated, there are no organized studies of lifestyle changes, and everything you think you know about such things is anecdotal evidence. That is not the same as saying that lifestyle changes do not work, because obviously they do work. However, it is difficult to keep detailed records of calories, types of food, and types and amounts of physical activity. But the doctors are trying and there is a new generation of implantable devices and activity monitors that can be networked and monitored by your physician, so these things may change.

Meanwhile, the AMA and the other medical professional societies are studying and publishing, and even if parts of these studies are paid for by Big Pharma, that does not invalidate these carefully made and carefully published studies. My participation in this thread has caused the embedded Forum advertizing to temporarily switch to medicinal products, because every thing that we do or say or debate is being monitored by the digital version of Big Brother. The words that we are using in this thread will cause feedbacks that will alter the ads and the e-mails we get and morph the content of every search engine inquiry. Your opinions on these matters were once entirely yours, but today your thoughts are effectively being managed and modified by this digital ocean that we choose to immerse ourselves in. You really have little idea how pervasive and effective this is. We are not actually holding a dialog, there are in fact dozens of bots targeting and indirectly influencing our thoughts. Your knowledge of the world should from this day forward include an ever-increasing knowledge of how the personalized-for-you net is effectively influencing what you think.

[jedrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '
')Meanwhile, the AMA and the other medical professional societies are studying and publishing, and even if parts of these studies are paid for by Big Pharma, that does not invalidate these carefully made and carefully published studies. My participation in this thread has caused the embedded Forum advertizing to temporarily switch to medicinal products, because every thing that we do or say or debate is being monitored by the digital version of Big Brother. The words that we are using in this thread will cause feedbacks that will alter the ads and the e-mails we get and morph the content of every search engine inquiry. Your opinions on these matters were once entirely yours, but today your thoughts are effectively being managed and modified by this digital ocean that we choose to immerse ourselves in. You really have little idea how pervasive and effective this is. We are not actually holding a dialog, there are in fact dozens of bots targeting and indirectly influencing our thoughts. Your knowledge of the world should from this day forward include an ever-increasing knowledge of how the personalized-for-you net is effectively influencing what you think.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')he patient in many cases still determines the outcome. I had a conversation with my doctor about obesity. I asked her why instead of just telling a patient to lose weight to moderate high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and Type 2 diabetes, that the doctors instead prescribed pills for each one of those disorders.

She replied that she did indeed recommend weight loss but the patients seemed never to get to that point to do so. So what are doctors left with? To prescribe pills that moderate all of the things that arise from simply being overweight. Losing weight is difficult while taking a pill is not. If you choose to live in a unhealthy way its not like a doctor can force you to do otherwise. I fully realize that for some, they have to take meds for those conditions described above, but for a lot of people its their lifestyle that dictates it.

[KaiserJeep]

IMHO the medical practioners define professional. The other profession that impresses me is airliner pilots. A few years back an acquaintance was on an Alaskan Airlines MD-83 airliner that plunged into the sea offshore from California. The black box audio tapes were made public. Essentially the pilots lost control of the jet's vertical attitude because of a stripped thread on the rod that positioned the tail planes. As the plane descended from a high altitude they methodically tried everything they knew, then tried experimenting with power settings and even inverted the entire plane, all in an attempt to position the plane in a survivable attitude for a water landing. They failed, but never paniced.

That is what "professional" means. Do your job all the way down until the aircraft impacts the water.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')'m vegan, chances of colon cancer about zero.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')Vegans don't eat any animal products. A lot of vegetarians eat a lot of dairy. The study isn't relevant.