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People really shouldn't get tested unless they meet several criteria. Obviously any bleeding from your rectum should get checked out, and if hemorrhoids are rul
by greedo 3y ago
People really shouldn't get tested unless they meet several criteria. Obviously any bleeding from your rectum should get checked out, and if hemorrhoids are rules out, a colonoscopy is probably the next course of action. And around 45, you should have one since that's the most likely age for colo/rectal cancer occurring.
Family history can also affect this timeline. My kids are now stuck having colonoscopies five years earlier than the normal recommendation since I had rectal cancer at 40.
And while I've found colonoscopies to be uneventful, they can have side effects. A perforated colon can happen in the worst case, or bleeding and infection. These are considered rare though and colonoscopies are considered pretty safe overall. But this doesn't mean you should get one just because you like getting high...
- theodric 3y agoIn the end, hehe, it was a medical doctor who greenlit the procedure. Patients don't get to decide their own treatment trajectory, but they can certainly respond enthusiastically when the Certified Medical Doctor suggests it as a possible route. And yes, I was bleeding heavily out my ass and had recurrent stomach and intestinal pain for months that went away and then came back the next year. Not as if I went in for a cut finger and demanded an anal probe for it. Turns out I'm sporadically - not consistently - lactose intolerant. Russian Roulette. Makes me shit acid that tears up all my soft tissue causing bleeding and eventually clotting. FODMAP, or just lots of oatmeal until it clears up, is the way out again. The lactose sugar-based colon purge laxatives they give you to prep for the procedure work REALLY well on me.