{"id":7943,"date":"2019-12-12T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=7943"},"modified":"2022-04-14T10:27:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T15:27:42","slug":"no-good-excuses-to-avoid-colonoscopy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/no-good-excuses-to-avoid-colonoscopy\/","title":{"rendered":"No good excuses to avoid colonoscopy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Are you 50? Learn your screening options.<\/p>\n

Start with a primary care provider<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As she approached her 50th birthday, Linda Connolly heard the lectures and saw the warnings: Get a\u00a0colonoscopy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Linda ignored the commercials, news stories and mailings and blew right past the milestone. She was healthy and active. She didn\u2019t have time to take off a day from work. And what she had heard about the preparation process left a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n

Now?<\/p>\n

\u201cI should have taken a day off from work five years ago, and maybe I wouldn\u2019t be here now,\u201d Linda said.<\/p>\n

At 55 years old, she finally relented and scheduled a colonoscopy. She got the results on February 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Valentine\u2019s Day, I asked my husband what he was doing. He said he had meetings,\u201d Linda said. \u201cI said, \u2018Well, I have cancer. Why don\u2019t you take the day off and talk to me?\u2019 So he did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Colonoscopy helps prevent cancer<\/h2>\n

The good news is that Linda\u2019s cancer was confined to one polyp and was Stage 0-1. The polyp was removed during the colonoscopy, and Linda worked with her OSF HealthCare cancer care team to build an aggressive plan that includes frequent testing to help ensure long-term survival.<\/p>\n

But Linda wonders how things might be different if she had undergone the colonoscopy half a dozen years ago. Could she have avoided her current treatment plan and the emotional concerns that accompany a cancer diagnosis?<\/p>\n

\u201cColon cancers develop as a polyp, and over a decade they mutate and become cancer. So if you find polyps and take them out, you actually prevent colon cancer,\u201d said Asif Quyyum, MD<\/a>, cancer surgeon at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center<\/a> in Peoria, Illinois. \u201cPrevention is key. First prevention, then early detection.<\/p>\n

\u201cLinda got lucky because we found the cancer early on,\u201d Dr. Quyyum continued. \u201cThe vast majority of patients need surgery instead of a colonoscopy to get it out, and a good portion need chemotherapy. You can avoid those things by getting detected early.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowel prep routine improves<\/h2>\n

More than 50,000 Americans each year die from colorectal cancers<\/a>, which rank behind only lung and bronchus among cancer fatalities.<\/p>\n

\"middle-aged<\/p>\n

Moreover, rates of colorectal cancers are rising in people under 50, a fact that is driving the medical community toward recommending screens begin at 45. And because it\u2019s a key risk factor, a history of colorectal cancer in your family should make you get a colonoscopy as young as 40, Dr. Quyyum said.<\/p>\n

You can take preventive measures such as focusing on an active lifestyle and a healthy diet high in fruit and vegetables. Dr. Quyyum said taking 81 mg of aspirin each day also helps decrease the risk of colorectal cancer.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s the colonoscopy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very quick procedure,\u201d Dr. Quyyum said. \u201cYou are sedated. Complications and risks are low. The part people really hate is the day-before bowel prep, but that has improved a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a few years ago, preparation the day and night before the procedure included drinking four liters of a foul-tasting concoction, which prompted frequent bowel movements. While clearing your bowels remains necessary, today\u2019s prescriptions are less voluminous and taste better.<\/p>\n

\u2018Best nap you\u2019ll ever get\u2019<\/h2>\n

Linda\u2019s experience has made her a warrior of sorts on the front lines of screening advocacy. Most recently, she has been lecturing her younger brother, who is 48 and resisting with some of the same excuses Linda once used. \u201cSilly things,\u201d she calls those excuses now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it would be uncomfortable, but it wasn\u2019t,\u201d Linda said. \u201cI tell people it was the best nap you\u2019ll ever get. Take it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake the day. It\u2019s OK. I\u2019m helping my brother realize he has to take that day now. It\u2019s OK to take a day for ourselves. We\u2019re all worth that one day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Men and women as young as 40 can benefit from colonoscopy if they have a family history of colorectal cancers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":8050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,735],"tags":[414,415,756,372],"coauthors":[912],"class_list":["post-7943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-preventive-health","tag-colonoscopy","tag-colorectal-cancer","tag-osf-medical-group","tag-osf-saint-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nNo good excuses to avoid colonoscopy | OSF HealthCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Men and women as young as 40 can benefit from colonoscopy if they have a family history of colorectal cancers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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