Thank you for sharing.

I'll share a story to help destigmatize. A few months ago I was taken completely out of commission by GI symptoms, just hours and hours of pain and vomiting. It turned out I had an infection, but the infection caused there to be shapes on my intestine that apparently looked vaguely like Crohn's disease on the MRI (or something, I'm not a doctor, my understanding is pretty vague. There were bubbles in my intestine from bacterial respiration).

So I got a colonoscopy. And it turns out I'm fine. Drinking the prep isn't my favorite thing, but it's a task that gets done.

If two gallons of salt water and a trip to the doctor is all that stands between you and seeing your daughter's wedding, make it happen and you have nothing to be embarrassed about. Everybody poops and everybody gets a colonoscopy.

I got hemorrhoids afterwards too. Cutting corn kernels (if you know, you know) out of my diet made them go away. Afterwards I could eat them again. Life is strange.

The prep is even easier these days, my last colonoscopy earlier this year it was a few pills and then just drinking a lot of normal water.

I vividly remember the old "disgusting powder downed with 4-5 litres of water in two hours" followed by thebsame time on the toilette. Nowadys, while still not delicious, the stuff is acceptable taste-wise, takes all of 1 litre of liquid and after three trips to the bathroom you're good.

No idea ehy people are so afraid of that. Ifbyou have nothong, fine. If you do, it migjt very well save your live or very serious surgery down the road. After all, whatever it is, it wont go away just because it remains undiagnosed. After all, a falling tree in the woods without anyone next to it still makes the same noise.

Yeh, the prep is the worst…

Might be the skill of the surgeon who did my three colonoscopies (and the fentanyl sedation) but I didn’t fund the actual procedure too bad

It’s quite interesting seeing you own insides and the colonoscope they used for me had a transmitter the the head so you could see it’s shape as it snaked through the colon

I find the prep really hard to take. It doesn't taste nice, and it involves drinking much more fluid than I'm used to. I had a sigmoidoscopy about 20 years ago; instead of laxatives, they gave me an enema, whose effects I found surprisingly swift and violent. An enema won't work for a colonoscopy, because it only cleans out the sigmoid colon.

The colonoscopy is also extremely unpleasant; not exactly painful, but it made me groan repeatedly. The procedure lasts about an hour. I wasn't allowed sedatives, because I drink a lot; and no gas either, because something something, like I was going home under my own steam.

I've had three colonoscopies in the last five years, two last year (the second was to check up on the sites of the plaque removals from the first. They're threatening to send me for another check in January. I'm not yet sure if I will comply - I'm feeling overtreated.

I was sent for these procedures as a result of the self-administered fecal blood test, that everyone over (I think) 60 gets on the NHS. These were not screening tests.

> Might be the skill of the surgeon

My procedures were performed by a specialist colonoscopist, supported by a roomful of nurses and technicians (about 5 of them, I think). Plaque removal might be termed "surgery", but it's quite a long way from the scalpels-and-forceps type. The machine is very cool, and probably very expensive; in addition to the camera, it carries a wire loop for removing plaques, and another device for tattooing the sites of removed plaques. And they track the location of the tube with a continuous X-ray. But I guess most of the cost is the staff.

I had rectal cancer 18 years ago, and part of my followup was annual colonoscopies for the first decade. So I'm pretty familiar with the procedure, at least how my thoracic surgeon performed them.

Yes, the prep can be unpleasant. I tolerated it because of how close I had come to dying, and really didn't want my ticket punched. But the procedure itself was never unpleasant. When you say you weren't allowed sedatives because "I drink a lot;" were you referring to alcohol? My surgeon typically used propofol to induce twilight sedation. It was the best sleep I've ever had, though I understand that I never lost consciousness. The colonoscopy has NEVER been painful for me.

I would recommend finding a new doctor. Doing a colonoscopy without sedation sounds barbaric.

> were you referring to alcohol?

Yes.

> The colonoscopy has NEVER been painful for me.

You've always been medicated.

> I would recommend finding a new doctor. Doing a colonoscopy without sedation sounds barbaric.

"My doctor" is what I call my GP; he's not involved in this process. I was referred for colonoscopy based on a fecal blood test that was centrally-administered. Several consultants (including the dental consultant that did my root canals) have denied me sedation on those grounds. In general, I'm inclined to agree that anaesthesia and sedation are dangerous for drinkers, and should be avoided if they aren't essential. And they aren't essential for a colonoscopy.

I want to do my next one awake, but still treated to relax, how terrible was it? I assume the root canal was worse, right??

Root canal was much worse, even with good local anaesthesia. Unmedicated colonoscopy is just very uncomfortable.

> The most unexpected thing is that when I actually wanted one, the process took over two years.

The doctors probably thought it sounded more like hemorrhoids, but weren't going to stop you from getting the colonoscopy. Hopefully they at least did a digital exam and gave you recommendations.

When the symptoms first happen, absolutely go to the doctor. Where it gets tricky is when it's probably nothing, but it might be something, and there's a disagreement on if more tests are worth it.

> worth the small unpleasantness and major logistical annoyance.

I’ve gone through it twice now. Both times, the most annoying part was the 2 or so hours they make you sit there in a hospital gown with no phone or electronics and nothing to do, while you are starving and uncomfortable and waiting to have the procedure.

I don’t know if it’s like that everywhere. But would it really be that bad to let people hang on to their phones? Why make this more difficult than it needs to be?

Give me phone or give me ativan. Either will suffice. Both is even better, but...

I went in, put the hospital robe on, 20 min later I was under anesthesia.

I could keep my phone anytime (why would you not?).

Now, in France you prepare yourself before and that's another horrifying story :)

> But would it really be that bad to let people hang on to their phones?

Yes, it would. The last time I had an EGD (same facilities as colonoscopy), there were 5 small rooms on each side of an aisle for patients. Some of the rooms had TVs turned on, some had patients' family members talking loudly, and of course the nurses were running all over the place, with many talking about what they did over the weekend, etc.

Would it be so bad if people learned how to chill out for 2 hours without constant stimulation?

I can happily chill out without my phone. I think it's something that more people should practice. I don't think that pre-colonoscopy is the time to expect people to go without comforting distractions.

Jesus Christ, next time start with the fact that you’re not one thoracic tumor .

I’m a dude that had GERD but got both ends checked and they found polyps, so I randomly got incredibly lucky.

I was 26, and had less of a fight because of history, but it’s way worth it.

Also, ask about the Miralax option!

Seconding the Miralax option, just be sure to mix it with a flavor of sports drink that you don't plan on enjoying ever again :P

Same situation, but 10 years later for me. I’m now on a 3 year cycle due to the type of polyps.

If it is RED blood, it is a vein that breaks when the your stool passes. Most likely hemorrhoids.

The problem is when you have BLACK blood in the stool. That may be an internal bleeding.

Black stool (melena) indicates an upper GI source: esophagus, stomach, duodenum chiefly.

But _any_ source of colonic bleeding is likely to be red to bright red. The possible pathologies are numerous: hemorrhoidal - as you mention, tumours, inflammatory bowel disease, arteriovenous malformations, diverticular disease, etc.

Red blood consistently still deserves to be checked out.

I had a misdiagnosed anal fissure for a year. Get the ass doctor involved early, my GP was clueless about it and had me trying hemorrhoid/lidocaine creams for a year while in agonizing pain. The first thing the ass doctor asked was; do you know what a fissure is? before the exam even started. I learned to skip past the general doctors to the specialist from this experience. Also, the anus is the fulcrum of your body, treat it well.

> I learned to skip past the general doctors to the specialist from this experience.

What concerns is that where I live, it's my understanding that, with a few exceptions [0], you can't skip a GP and go directly to a specialist. And I'm not convinced that GPs here are any better than in the US or elsewhere. Bonus points for large parts of the country not even having enough GPs for their population.

---

[0] You can go see an eye doctor or a dentist without seeing a GP first.

If you're in the UK (you used "GP", so I'm guessing), then you absolutely can. Just go private. (https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-...).

Don't bother with the NHS, it's a carwreck. See this, for example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67239548

Last month, after years of waiting, I got a letter again delaying my assessment for a growth on my neck, for the foreseeable future. It's a good job that I'd gone private a year ago, as it turned out to be extremely advanced, with neural invasion, requiring two rounds of surgery to be removed.

Nationalised healthcare ought to be means-tested to target help at the people who need it, and not delay others who can afford to pay their way. The population 'pyramid' as it stands can't support the health and social care model we're using, and the lack of market incentives means that we don't train enough medics.

I'm in France, I used GP since that's the term that seems to be used in the Anglosphere. It also seems like a reasonable translation of the French term – médecin généraliste.

I'm hearing bad things about UK's NHS, and while I don't have any firsthand experience with it, I do get the feeling that the French system is going down the same path.

It's true that I don't usually think about going the private route. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can probably see a private specialist directly. I also don't know how much it would cost, but probably quite a lot, given the prices in the public hospitals, and I don't think it's covered by the insurance, even though I carry insurance above the standard national scheme.

I was actually in France last year, and arrived having lost (in transit; baggage handlers) some medicine for my son which had been prescribed in the UK by our GP the previous day, as he'd had stomach symptoms.

I contacted the local French doctor, who brought us in that day, gave my son an actual examination (the UK GP didn't do this), asked if I was aware that he had an ear infection (I wasn't, the UK doctor didn't check), and revised the course of treatment which resolved the problem quickly.

I was extremely impressed by the French doctor; he was in a different league to the standard in the UK.

> the lack of market incentives means that we don't train enough medics.

I don't think so; the number of medics we train in the UK is mainly controlled by the medical colleges.

That makes my point doesn't it?

OK, I supose it does, in the sense that market incentives is one way we might get more doctors trained. But on the other hand the market incentives are plainly there; plenty more people want to train as doctors, than there are training places. That is, the market incentives don't seem to be working to increase training places.

ANY blood deserves to be checked out.

Wrong. There is melena, which is a generally unmistakable consistency of black sticky stool (nothing anyone would identify as "blood") that is indicative of upper GI bleeding - not the colon. It doesn't really indicate severity because it may be fast or relatively slow. Both upper and lower GI bleeding can be serious in terms of acuity or seriousness of disease (cancer).

However if the internal bleeding from the upper GI system is brisk/fast enough it will come out bright red. This can happen to people with esophageal varices (sequela of liver disease and cirrhosis) or brisk stomach or duodenal ulcers and the prognosis is usually poor, but very likely they will be getting emergent endoscopies and/or mass transfusion if they make it out of the ED.

You can't tell by color.

> That may be an internal bleeding.

Colonic bleeding is just as internal and will typically be red or maroon.

Just a little aside for those doing a search in the future: many things you consume can also turn poop reddish so be sure to think about what you had for dinner if you've just noticed it. For example; beetroot, red wine, berries, stuff with food colouring etc.

In particular what you ate the past sveral days since it takes time to go through (exactly how long depends on your diet and body, but I think 2-3 days is common and a another couple of days is not uncommon). It takes long enough that it is easy to forget.

It’s also good know that if you’re seeing bright red blood then it’s a higher chance it’s hemorrhoids whereas dark red you definitely should get it checked because it’s coming from inside your colon.

Also there’s supposedly a poop test called fecal occult blood test that has a high rate of detecting colorectal cancer that you do over the course of 3 years. I saw this on nhk Doctor's Insight: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2086035/

Bright red blood can also be a sign of inflammation/bleeding in the low low colon, e.g., proctitis. (Ask me how I know, lol.)

As a rule of thumb, the farther the blood has to travel, the darker it'll be. Blood from high up enough in your GI tract will be a black, tarry substance, NOT red, but it's absolutely blood and you need to get that checked out ASAP.

Advice too simplistic, end of colon can emit blood also and then it’s brighter

“Recurrent bleeding from colon is bad, go see a doctor.” Is a fairly simple rule.

IMHO depends on the amount. If you are severely dehydrated and you notice your stool physically hurt coming out. A small amount of blood might honestly not be unexpected.

Edit: To be clear “severely dehydrated” is kinda an important factor here. Point being that if the cause is obvious I dont see why you’d get a colonoscopy. Please correct me if im wrong instead of just downvoting for anyone who knows more about this thx ^^

It doesn’t matter. Go. See. A. Doctor.

Why is the amount that you care for your own ass so ant-sized?

If you are consistently severely dehydrated that’s also a good reason to see the doctor ;)

But yeah, if it happens once it’s not necessarily a problem. It’s when you keep having bloody stool that it’s a good idea to get checked.

Just get ur ass checked, end of story. Medical emergency or not. You're paygrade is way to low to make that call (fuguratively speaking)

Unless, of course, you uave both: the office worker hemorrhoids and colon cancer. Ask me how I know that! So no, if ypi start bleeding from your body without having injured yourself, see a doctor and get it checked out.

Wrll, actually, if thebimjury is beyond "a self applied band aid can fix it", see a doctor as well!

Bright red "live" blood can come from any part of the lower intestines. Strong-smelling feces with dark blood are called melena and are associated with bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract, peptic ulcers are a common cause. The reason for the difference is the blood gets digested as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract. It's not a 100% exact science, bleeding in the lower intestines might still spend enough time in the body to be digested and bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract might come out fast enough that it still looks red.

> fecal occult blood test

Often used to screen patients for colonoscopies. Screening is looking for disease in the asymptomatic: "occult" means it's not visible to the naked eye, you're looking for blood even though the patient has not noticed any. The symptomatic don't need screening, they need diagnosis and thus proceed directly to colonoscopy. Or endoscopy if upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding is suspected.

I've had the experience that... I was told when I was separating from the military, at 25b(I don't know why and I didn't ask...), to expect a colonoscopy. It didn't happen. I mentioned it to my GP a couple of years later, he said probably between 30 and 35... Now I'm in my 40s. It's perpetually a couple of years away.

I get the sense from this, and from other anecdotes in life, that preventative maintenance, of all flavors, is something we used to do, for a brief period of time, but that we don't really do anymore.

In the Netherlands they begin with preventive colonoscopies when you turn 55. Then you get one every 5 years.

The newest science says they should even begin at 45.

> The newest science says

I was speaking with my Dr. about these exploratory procedures and asked if early diagnosis extends life. He responded about general recommendations. Every procedure has a risk.

I have no symptoms, so what science studies with control groups show extending life?

Since my mom had colorectal cancer at 45 I was expected to start colonoscopy at 35 and then every 5 yrs

I did the first only so far and no polips.

There's nothing to be scared. It takes less than an hour and is painless. The worst part is the prep you do at home a day before. It's very powerful stuff. You'll be shitting clear water by the time they do the exam.

Lucky you. I am color blind. I cannot see certain hues which in poop is very critical. Although once I did drink prune juice and I freaked the hell out after going to the bathroom (I had forgotten I had taken few cans) The color was so strong. But yeah, I think men in general like to postpone having to bring this to anyones attention and it sucks.

My dad was also colourblind, and it was only when my mum saw the blood in the toilet that he got tested (at 57). Stage 4 metastatic bowel cancer. He got 8 more years of life but I wouldn't say they were all good years. He died nearly 20 years ago now. Mum is still in good health at 81. I'm 53 now and have had 5 yearly colonoscopies since I was 35, I'm not taking any chances. I don't mind the prep, and don't feel a thing or remember anything about the procedures themselves.

There might be "apps" for that although you should heartily review their privacy policy and alway have internet off for it

I've had two colonoscopies done in the last 10 years. The second was possibly unnecessary, but I pushed for it because I just really enjoy propofol. Maybe if more people knew that the sedative drugs used in the procedure are fun, they'd be more inclined to have it done.

I am really curious as to why you enjoy propofol: is this in any way producing euphoria? Normally you should just feel really sedated then pass out, with little difference between this experience and being just tired then asleep. is the large-ish quantity of white fluid getting into you not off-putting?

Nah, it's fine. At colonoscopy doses, if you fight it, you can remain semi-conscious, and the process of coming out from sedation is pretty trippy as bits of your brain that have been muted come back online at different rates. It's unique, it's legal, it won't show up on a drug test, and it's as near to 100% safe as any drug use can be. (You're in a hospital, for crying out loud!)

(Plus I like watching the video feed from the camera. How many other people have seen the inside of their colon, live? It's cool!)

Cartoons are amazing in this context ;)

> I pushed for it because I just really enjoy propofol

After about the 4th? time I had it (I've had 9 cardioversions, along with many types of surgeries), I realized I liked propofol. By the 6th time, it was the highlight of any procedure. I found that the high comes from trying to fight the anesthetic and the amazing quality of sleep you get, plus I will agree the wakeup is tricky. Be careful about what you're really obsessed with, as you'll likely talk about random aspects of your hobby as you come out of the stupor.

The next best thing, I would say is Demoral, which gives me the instant feeling of being peak-drunk without the need for all the troublesome alcohol. Anything acute and severe, that cannot be immediately triaged, can justify getting an injection. This drug is very tightly controlled now.

I do avoid pain killers as a personal policy, to ensure I am aware of what's going on in my body at all time (since it's a delicate thing). That being said, I can understand Michael Jackson's addiction.

This one knows what's up

You avoid pain killers but love Demoral?

I don’t understand.

Sedatives are not mandatory. They take you out for a day and in my personal (informed by direct experience) opinion are not worth it (I would rather have the time to spend doing things I want to rather than have a day of recovery from sedatives).

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...

In 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.

I haven’t had hemorrhoids since I installed a bidet. Just passing on some info from one sensitive butthole to any others out there!

Pretty much the same thing happened to me but the bleeding started in my 40s and I was very embarrassed about it. The bleeding was so bad that I developed anemia and had to be on iron supplements. It would cone and go and eventually my doctors convinced me to see a GI specialist and to get a colonoscopy, but I kept putting it off because of fear - fear of the process and fear of what they might find.

The GI specialist I eventually saw turned out to be one of the best in the country and, based on my symptoms alone (especially the anemia), he was 99% confident it was just hemorrhoids but opted for the colonoscopy anyway. Since I have GERD as well he did an upper endoscopy at the same time while I was under. Turns my colon is completely normal, and I don’t even have any polyps (which my father had several at my age). Don’t need another one for 10 years.

Honestly my biggest fear was going under with propofol. A lot of people I spoke with said it felt great but I didn’t have that experience. I hated the feeling of slipping into unconsciousness in a way that was not similar to other anesthetics I had been under, and I felt like complete garbage the whole rest of the day. Other than that, the prep was perfect fine and I had never taken a more legendary shit in my life.

I’m the only person I know who has a consistently bad time with THC gummies. I wonder if there’s a connection it’s your experience with propofol.

(Yes I vary dosage, mindset, brand, delta 8 vs delta 9, sativa vs indica vs hybrid, empty stomach, full stomach).

When I was 12 or 13 (in the early 1980s), the same thing happened to me. I told my mom, who scheduled an appointment at the doctor. At the appointment the doctor needed to prove around with his finger and said “mom, maybe you should wait outside”. My mom said no, she’d be there with me. I looked at her and said “no, you are going outside”. I was not going to get fingered while my mom watched. She left and the doctor did his job. Turned out to be harmless.

> The most unexpected thing is that when I actually wanted one, the process took over two years. And that was after a year or so of periodically mentioning it to the doctors, who would give me a sheet of numbers to call

What? When my GP decided I was at risk for cancer of the colon I was scheduled for a colonoscopy within a couple of months and I didn't have to call anyone. This was in Norway.

But also, didn't your GP examine you?

I OTOH, took a dump in the woods and noticed the entire top of the pile was fresh blood. Freaked out. Started paying attention and saw some evidence in the toilet a couple times. Called bunch of drs the following monday, setup an apt with digestive dr, took 4 weeks to see him, and another two before the colonoscopy and a bunch of tests. By then, nothing no idea where it came from, no evidence of anything.

"Probably hemorrhoids" and $1200 out of pocket after insurance.

And people wonder why no one goes to the Dr in the USA before they are 1/2 dead.

Agreed.

I only had one sign something was amiss - a small amount of bright red blood in my stools, once. No pain, no discomfort. But it alarmed me enough to schedule a colonoscopy, a procedure I hadn't had before. The doc told me not to worry, as it was probably just a hemorrhoid.

Before the procedure, the doctor was cordial and animated. As I was waking up afterward, his composure was totally changed - a sign something was wrong. He told me he found a mass, and scheduled a CT scan for the next day. That scan showed I had stage IV colon cancer, with metastases in my lymph nodes and liver.

Other than that single blood sign, I had no indicator whatsoever of the dire situation. Thankfully, I was admitted to MD Anderson, where I firmly believe I had the best team possible treating me. I have a good amount of collateral damage as a result of the treatment, but remain cancer free. I am grateful to still be here, as several of my friends with similar diagnoses aren't.

I am definitely pro-colonoscopy. The short-term discomfort of the prep is nothing in comparison with 12 rounds of chemo.