How often are colonoscopies recommended?

CAMary · Post by **CAMary** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:24 pm

I just saw my surgeon today for my annual visit (he did my breast surgery, but is also board-certified for colo-rectal)...he was happy to see I got my colonoscopy done in the fall and says I should really have one every 5 years

i wasn't too happy to hear that! He says because of a breast cancer/colon cancer link that should be the schedule. He says 10 years is a bit too long as it only catches about 75% of cancers.

Is anyone else on a 5 year plan? This has me *seriously* bummed - I told him the prep was brutal - he said phospho soda *should* still be available and feels the FDA recall wasn't warranted - and told me some easier preps to request for next time - if my GI won't do it, he said he'd give me a scrip

If I live to 75 that means 6 more scopes! GRRR...

Mary

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:37 pm

I thought it was every ten years unless there is reason to believe the patient is at risk. Then it's five years. I think Polly has one every five years because there is a history of colon cancer in her family.

Gloria

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:54 pm

Hi CAMary and Gloria,

Yep, I am on the 5 year schedule. I had a polyp the first and second time, which is another reason for more frequent colonoscopies. Luckily, the 3rd time I did not have a polyp - maybe because I have been taking vitamin D supplementation.

Mary, what prep did you have?

Hugs,

Polly

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:57 pm

I'm on a five-year schedule, too, because of a polyp. The prep didn't bother me, waking up two or three times that I remember did.

CAMary · Post by **CAMary** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:17 pm

Polly-

I did Go-lytely and the sheer volume was just ROUGH! I was puking it up at the end and couldn't finish. He told me there's something called "half-lytely" or another one that are smaller quantities...he said the pill prep requires swallowing about 40 pills but all of these options sound better than the go-lytely! Maybe in 5 years they'll have something even better....a gal can hope!

Mary

ant · Post by **ant** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:27 am

Who came up with this "Go-lytely" brand name????

Its "go-extremely-uncontrollably-baboon-buttly-frequently". We should haul them up before the Adverting Standards Authority.

Best ant

Post by **tex** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:18 am

Yes, but no one would buy it if it were named accurately. LOL.

Tex

Jan · Post by **Jan** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:13 pm

Mary,

I just had mine last week. The prep they had me use was Ducolax, magnesium citrate and Miralax. I was told that because they found plopys the first time I will be on the 5 year plan the rest of my life (yuck). Also, I have a maternal Aunt that had colon cancer.

As much as I didn't like the prep (who does) it didn't affect me as much as the GoLitely. My husband gets really nauseated on it also and is schedule for his scope in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how he does. I will say I didn't get the raw backside as before. My only complaint is that here I am 6 days post scope and my bowels are now reacting as before. I didn't use the Immodium but was sure tempted.

Jan

Post by **tex** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:30 pm

Jan,

Are you aware that some/most/(maybe all) prep solutions can inflame the intestines enough to trigger an MC flare?

Tex

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:08 pm

Which is the most gentle and better for us to use?

TIA

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:08 pm

CAMary,

I found on 2 previous occasions that drinking about 1/2 of the Go-lytely prep was sufficient to clean me out. I am 5'5" and 118 lbs. - if you figure that prep must be enough to clean out a 300 lb. man, then you know it's overkill for us. Also, most of us aren't really suffering from constipation - quite the opposite, so we clean out easier. I've often said it would be much easier just to eat the foods we are sensitive to instead of the using the prep. The D would be the same, but it would be a lot more enjoyable bringing it on. LOL!

This 3rd time I was given Miralax and Dulcolax pills (never took the pills.....figured it was overkill again). Miralax was rough - you take a 2 week dose in a few hours.

When my doc gave me the photos from the colonoscopy, the gut looked majorly inflamed - angry red. Then, within days of this experience I had a major flare - the only significant one in 10 years of remission. I am convinced that it was precipitated by that corrosive Miralax.

Joan,

Re your question about the gentlest/safest prep, unless something better comes along, the next time I will just fast. Two to three days of taking in only fluids should do the trick for almost anyone.

Ant,

Wonderful name for the Go-lytely! HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Love,

Polly

Post by **tex** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:25 pm

Polly wrote:Re your question about the gentlest/safest prep, unless something better comes along, the next time I will just fast. Two to three days of taking in only fluids should do the trick for almost anyone.

I tried that, between tests, before my colonoscopy, because it seemed so logical, since I was already clean, because of the prep from the previous test. Not just for a few days, but for 2 full weeks, all I ate was clear jello, 7-up, Sprite, and water. The hiccups almost drove me mad, and I lost a heck of a lot of weight, (I went from slightly thin, to hide and bones, in 2 weeks), but the GI doc's "sergeant-at-arms", Nurse "Drink This Go-lytely or Else", absolutely insisted that I had to drink it anyway. It made me sick as a dog, of course, and to top it off, the GI doc didn't even have sense enough to take any biopsies, (and back then, I didn't know any better, either).

Of course, you probably have a lot more pull, than I have, because you have credentials that count, in a hospital.

Love,
Tex

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:09 pm

Wow, this sounds like another one of those cases where they assume patients just won't comply. So, better to put you on statin drugs with potentially serious consequences *for the rest of your life* - and up the dose if they don't work - and eventually crack your chest open and reconfig the coronary arterial wiring, rather than suggest you might want to experiment with diet and exercise.

I would totally spend 3 little days on clear fluids to avoid a flare - I would do it annually just for practice! It seems crazy not to offer people an informed choice between drinking Drano and suffering a few days putting anything they like in their mouths.

I wonder whether those colonic irrigation treatments so beloved of some health pursuers, and loathed by MDs, would be of any use, and might be less savage (I think they use only water, or maybe saline). I suppose it would fail to clean (at least) the small intestine.

Sara

TooManyHats · Post by **TooManyHats** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:34 pm

This is the one I was on:

http://www.drugs.com/newdrugs/fda-appro ... -2254.html

I didn't drink all of it as I could already see it was clear. Besides, I just couldn't put anymore of that stuff in my mouth knowing I wouldn't be able to make it stop.