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Heres my experience with my very first one: https://www.city-data.com/forum/heal...py-issues.html
Oh and yes, the perforation risk was in my mind daily. I still think about it, but I wouldn’t be improving if I had a perforation especially this far out.
Your experience was on my mind.
Some of the stories here make it like if you get the colonoscopy you will be assured you will not get colon cancer... but that is simply not true. It is only 94% accurate. So you could still get colon cancer after having the all clear. I also feel like we really don't know the long term dangers. There haven't been a lot of studies to determine if it really is safe. But when they did start studying it... they weren't too happy to find a lot of people running to the hospital 1 week after. At the end of my mother's life I felt like 95% of her medical conditions were a direct cause of "tests" (which didn't find the cancer she got anyway). If i got it I feel like I might try it without anesthesia because I feel like the doctors would be more careful knowing you were awake.
It is interesting that people who are doing all they can to avoid colon cancer don't seem to be taking vitamin D.
I too had a friend get colon cancer at 58 and passed within 2 years. So it is a must for me to be screened.
It isn't that I am not going to be screened. I am going to do the fecal DNA test which has a stunning 92% accuracy rate but 86% false positive rate. If that comes back positive then I will have to get a colonoscopy... it also offers the bonus of being done every three years or so (say so because your doctor can order it earlier if you want) and also I have seen that you can get it if you pay for it yourself. My doctor is awesome -- I emailed her last night and she said I could have the test but if it came back positive I would have to quickly have a colonoscopy.
Thanks to the people who piped up that they didn't have one. I am sure there are many more but I know CD is a pro mainstream medicine site.
At the end of my mother's life I felt like 95% of her medical conditions were a direct cause of "tests" (which didn't find the cancer she got anyway). If I got it I feel like I might try it without anesthesia because I feel like the doctors would be more careful knowing you were awake.
I saw that with my Dad, now 89 and in LTC. I don't live in the area but my brother who lives closest was taking him to appointment after appointment, test after test...I learned more about Dad's urinary system than I ever needed to know.
I had two without anaesthesia- no problem at all and pretty interesting. I switched docs after I got an insurance plan with a very high deductible and couldn't get a straight answer about what the hospital he used would charge. New doc REALLY wanted to use anaesthesia. If he'd pulled the "I'm the doctor and you're not" card I would have been turned off but essentially he said that he just felt he could do a better job and that it was safer knowing I wasn't going to flinch at the wrong time. I may go back to the original doc now that I'm on Medicare.
New doc REALLY wanted to use anaesthesia. If he'd pulled the "I'm the doctor and you're not" card I would have been turned off but essentially he said that he just felt he could do a better job and that it was safer knowing I wasn't going to flinch at the wrong time. I may go back to the original doc now that I'm on Medicare.
I bet. It is a lot easier for him to rush on in there and get things done quickly if you aren't awake to challenge him. My doctors place is the opposite. They are encouraging it. The anesthesia actually is responsible for a lot of the adverse events and so I think it makes their numbers look better.
I hear such different information about it but I have also heard sometimes people wake up during anesthesia and can't tell them they can feel everything so seems like something to try.
Having a colonoscopy, IMO is a safe and effective test in order to determine any problems as well as a preventative measure to reduce the chances of cancer by removing polyps along the way if they are encountered.
He anesthesia is very good, it’s almost instantaneous and you wake without any grogginess. On one occasion, I was actually awake during the procedure as I was just given a sedative and although it was uncomfortable, I would rather have been under the normal anesthesia. This happened as a result of the doctor misleading me by telling me that I could select the type of anesthesia on the day of the exam. That day, I asked to be put out and he stated there was no anesthesiologist there that day. Needless to say, I never went back to that unprofessional moron!
I hear such different information about it but I have also heard sometimes people wake up during anesthesia and can't tell them they can feel everything so seems like something to try.
My first one was without anaesthesia and he had to cut out the adenoma. I really did feel nothing. I just looked him up and he's still in practice- will definitely be calling him when I'm due for another next year.
I bet. It is a lot easier for him to rush on in there and get things done quickly if you aren't awake to challenge him. My doctors place is the opposite. They are encouraging it. The anesthesia actually is responsible for a lot of the adverse events and so I think it makes their numbers look better.
I hear such different information about it but I have also heard sometimes people wake up during anesthesia and can't tell them they can feel everything so seems like something to try.
I'm 56 and have not and shall not ever have one.
That said. My 3rd kid was diagnosed with Crohn's at age 10 (is now 22) and has had probably...10? 12? scopes both upper and lower (endoscopy and colonoscopy, always both at one go), and when I still was managing her case (from ages 10-18) I insisted on one certain anesthesiologist only. He used a twilight sleep. No intubation needed. Light sedation.
Her second set of scopes a different fella came in and explained his intent to intubate and use heavy sedation. I rescheduled the procedure, for when the other guy was available and did so thereafter. Her pedi GI (who was an actual saint) agreed light sedation was better. You always want the least sedation possible.
She never recalled anything about the procedure; it was a blank.
I've had light sedation for terminations; I recall the procedures in small bits, like a dream.
This kid often had scopes with active disease meaning her gut was in terrible shape, ulcerated and friable and never a perforation; all is down to the skill of the doc of course. I recall her first scope, she was at death's door. The saintlike pedi GI actually said "perforation is always a risk but I haven't had one yet", that was in 2008 and he'd been practicing since 1978 so if you do go ahead get a very experienced GI.
Last edited by VexedAndSolitary; 07-06-2020 at 07:10 AM..
Well mom was over 65 when she started having issues. But prior to that she had internal bleeding that imho was probably caused by the colonoscopy and the doctors came up with lame excuses. A lot of the data looking into safety of colonoscopys has come back a lot worse than one might think. When my mom had her issues there were no numbers so we assumed we were alone.
Was it the stool DNA test or just the regular one that looks for blood?
What do you mean you flunked it? Did it detect blood?
I am at low risk.
Actually the Cologuard ( the stool test that looks for cancer-based DNA) also tests for the presence of human hemoglobin in the sample. So a positive Cologuard test may mean you are bleeding somewhere in your GI tract OR you may have cancer.
It may well be that you're a good candidate ( if you're at low risk for colon cancer) to use the Cologuard card as a screening test, though if it's positive you'd need a colonoscopy to see what's happening. It'd be well worth your while, IMO, to discuss this, as well as your concerns about colonoscopies, with your doctor.
I had a positive occult blood screening test and anemia two years ago, I was referred for a colonoscopy, which was negative. I underwent an upper GI to find the source of bleeding, and several gastric bleeding ulcers were found. No cancer, thank G-d, but those ulcers could have been catastrophic had they not been found and treated when they were. And I had had no clue beforehand that they were there.
I’m 75 and have had 2 colonoscopies. The prep was a nuisance but afterwards each time was very difficult. Severe pain for several days that eventually went away. Interestingly, during both procedures (different doctors and settings) though I had the mild anesthesia, I was awake.
The saintlike pedi GI actually said "perforation is always a risk but I haven't had one yet", that was in 2008 and he'd been practicing since 1978 so if you do go ahead get a very experienced GI.
All my mother's issues they docs did their best to lie about and suggest was some natural issue in no way connected the the colonoscopy. But both times it was the surgeon tasked with cleaning up the mess that narced on them. I bet the doctors that caused issues with my mom are still living in their blissful ignorance. Both issues slowly got to their critical point so it is likely there was no connection via records.
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That day, I asked to be put out and he stated there was no anesthesiologist there that day. Needless to say, I never went back to that unprofessional moron!
another story of an unprofessional moron doing a colonoscopy ... good to know. My experience with GI doctors have all been super bad. Another reason I am hesitant.
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