In other words, the crap into a jar test kit.
I have lost family friends to colonoscopies that have injured and killed them.
I did my own math from the limited data, and concluded that if there is no family history of colon cancer, the risk of a complication (such as puncture) from a colonoscopy roughly equals the likelihood that something serious will be found (at best).
So no thanks, at least for me. Others can do their own calculations.
Not the greatest study. It includes in the Colonoscopy leg ALL those who said they would have colonoscopies whether they had them or not. And there were a large number of “yes” responders who decided to NOT get one. Plus the study has many years left to follow up on.
My son was diagnosed with cancerous polyps in 2019 at the age of 49. His surgeon told him the polyps were so big, that he wished he had come to see him 10 years earlier, but they don’t usually screen people for colon cancer at the age of 39. Had he been screened all those years earlier, he may never have gotten cancer.
What I’ve observed is that even those who are at high risk, who know they are at high risk, who do colonoscopies earlier and more regularly than others, once it is detected they still die. Tony Snow. Katie Couric’s first husband. Early detection doesn’t really help...it still gets you.
There is a chiropractor out in California, John Bergman, who cited a study that said the odds of having a serious complication from a colonoscopy is about 1 in 1000. And that was about the same odds of being helped by the colonoscopy.
He suggested getting the fecal test and only if you got a positive then get the colonoscopy.
Don’t know whether his stats are true or if the advice is good.
I opted for the Cologuard test. It’s supposed to be better than the simple blood in feces test. The cells from precancerous lesions tend to slough off and Cologuard checks for that.
Of course a colonoscopy doesn’t prevent colon cancer. However, it can help detect it by finding the polyps which may be cancerous a lot earlier than waiting until severe symptoms arise. Most people are not going to immediately go to the doctor when they suspect a problem. They will assume the problem will resolve itself. Who really wants to discuss their bowel issues with anyone, even their doctor. That leads to a late diagnosis which results treatment in being undertaken too late to get rid of the cancer cells before they spread. Get your regular colonoscopy done as recommended by your treating physician, especially if you are feeling discomfort and having problems with your daily “constitutional” or seeing bloody dark spots in your stool.
All I know about it is that when I had colorectal cancer in 1996, the poop test did not detect it. By the time I gave up and went to a doctor, the tumor was so large that they could not get any kind of scope past my rectum. I got to do a barium enema, and the radiologists opinion was that I just did not do a good job cleaning out. Even a biopsy was inconclusive.
Fortunetlay, the surgeon was certain there was a tumor in there. When he cut me open he found the largest tumor he had ever seen, and cancer cells were present in 3 of the 7 lymph nodes he removed.
So, surgery, radiation, drugs and prayer cured me of cancer.
Is the medical community making big money off of it? Then nothing will change.
I think we have discovered what “the old wazzoo” is.
Translation: Insurance companies don’t want to pay for colonoscopies.
Or Deep State could be trying to gaslight people into settling for cheaper screenings.
Trust but verify.