First timer for colonoscopy

Hi John, I can understand your concern but my advice is don't "WHAT IF" It too much, it will consume you. I had my colonoscopy done 2 months ago because I had been losing weight, I had black tar with fresh blood in my stool for months, pains. They found a large palup and a large mass. They took a biopsy of both and removed the palup. You don't feel anything during the procedure. I've been waiting for the test results. I see my doctor every 2 weeks due to the fact that I've had multiple strokes, complex partial seizure disorders, white matter disease as well as additional physical disabilities. I've gone through so much in the last 3 years that I've come to the place in my life that I take each day as it comes. I have a choice, I can either allow my current disabilities rob me from the time that God gives me each day or sit and worry about it because it won't change anything. Have I given thought about my test results, yes I have, and it's like anything else, my wife and I will deal with it when we receive all the information. If the results come back negative, great, if they come back positive, great, we will research, get all the information from our doctors and specialists and at that time me and my wife TOGETHER we make the decision that's best for us. Anything else before that is futile and wasted time.

sometimes in uk the criteria for a fast track scope as I got told by my gp is blood.  Same as a breast lump you are fast tracked.  This must cause you worry so are you eating as normal and if eating less it’s causing your symptoms or maybe IBS D.  It’s just when we worry some of eat less.  In the end I paid to see the colon lady at the Spire and she fast tracked me but it was still five weeks.  Biopsies in uk took five for me for the colon.  Biopsies I had done in ahammm female parts took three months that was very stressful and I even had to chase them every day.  

Hi John.

Waiting should not affect the outcome of certain conditions, polyps will always be there, as will signs of diverticulitis and colitis, although biopsies will need to be taken and examined for microscopic colitis. As for the colonoscopy the worst part is the bowel prep. I've had 2 colonoscopies in recent years, the first bowel prep was fine, but the latest which was only a few weeks ago started off ok, but had a bad reaction 9 hours into it, and had to call an ambulance out as I felt terrible. It ended up being a combination of not eating for 12 hours, not being able to take my regular meds at the times I usually take them, and just being totally drained from the whole bowel prep. The colonoscopy itself is fine, quite a bit of discomfort when they start blowing up the colon, but as long as you pass wind this makes it much more bearable. I watched the whole procedure on the screen, it was quite interesting really.

As you are having to wait 2 months, it might be worth asking your doctor if he can do a couple of tests on your stools. I would be inclined to ask for a stool test for blood, and one for faecal calprotectin. The test for blood is an obvious one but can reveal red flag conditions, but the calprotectin one is looking for inflammatory markers, common with IBD conditions. The results of these tests are usually available within a week of handing them in, and can give you an insight into if there is anything going on inside of you. The calprotectin test can give false positive results, but to make it as accurate as possible avoid NSAIDs and Ibuprofen, and make sure you don't have a stomach bug, food poisoning, flu, stuff like that. My last colonoscopy was a result of very high calprotectin levels in my stools, biopsies were taken during my colonoscopy to look for signs of microscopic colitis, as there were no visible signs of inflammation. In fact the doctor performing the colonoscopy said my colon, terminal ileum and rectum looked very healthy, only thing to note were hemorrhoids which were almost positively the cause of passing red blood now and again.

I was told by my doctor after chasing up biopsy results, that results for biopsies taken can take weeks to come through, I'm hoping I should get some results through very soon now.

Do you experience any other symptoms? Only ask as like you I lost a lot of weight at the beginning of my problems, I weighed 89kgs before my issues and went down to just over 60kgs in a relatively short space of time. I'm now at 70kgs which is good, but have lost 3.5kgs in the last 3 weeks as my symptoms seem to have got worse and I've adjusted my diet to help my symptoms, foods seem to play a major role in how my health status is.

If you are UK based and there were any concerns, you would have been put on the 2 week fast track.  I was suspected of bowel cancer and was seen within 2 weeks.  So if you've not been put on fast track it would seem your doctor did not suspect cancer.  But you can always phone up and ask why the long wait.  My diagnosis was not cancer, but Diverticular Disease.

Are you eating normally and losing weight or are you off your food and eating less? David.