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There are different reasons why your doctor may suggest a colonoscopy. You may have abdominal pain or intestinal issues such as chronic diarrhea or constipation. Patients aged fifty or older are recommended to have colonoscopies performed to test for colon cancer.This type of cancer is much more successfully treated if found early, and often exhibits no symptoms until it is at an advanced stage.
What is a colonoscopy?
A colonoscopy involves a long tube being inserted into your colon through your rectum. A video camera travels the length of your colon through this tube, looking for polyps, which are abnormal growths that may be benign, or may be the early stages of colon cancer. If polyps are found, they can be destroyed and a biopsy may be performed to test for the presence of colon cancer. If no polyps are found, and the patient has no other ailments or risk factors, the patient will not need another colonoscopy for ten years.
What is the procedure for getting a colonoscopy?
If you are scheduled to have a routine age-recommended colonoscopy, you will be asked a series of questions concerning your present health, any past health issues, and any allergies you may have to medications or anesthesia. You will need to produce a contact number for whoever intends to drive you home from the facility where the screening will take place, and they will be contacted to ensure that you don't intend to drive home after anesthesia.
After setting an appointment for the procedure, you will receive a packet of instructions that detail preparations that you must perform before the colonoscopy. You will need to buy stool softener tablets and a two week supply of powdered laxative, along with sixty four ounces of sports drink for re-hydration.
The afternoon of the day before your procedure, you must stop eating. You will take stool softener tablets as directed in the instructions, Fours hours later, you will begin to take the powdered laxative, mixed with the sports drink. You must drink eight ounces of the mixture each half hour until all of the laxative is taken.
As you might expect, this will cause extreme, possibly uncontrollable, diarrhea, so you will need to stay near a toilet, possibly until late that night. This is necessary to clean the colon sufficiently for the colonoscopy to be performed. On the morning of the colonoscopy, you must refrain from eating or drinking.
When you arrive at the facility (one like Northwest Gastroenterology Associates), you will be prepared for the procedure and meet the doctor who will perform, who will answer any questions. You will then be taken to the room where the procedure will be performed, speak with the anesthesiologist, and be sedated.
When you awaken, the doctor will speak to you about the results, and you will be able to go home shortly thereafter. As in many things, the anticipation of the event, and the preparation, is much worse than the event itself.
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