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Notes on My Colon Cancer

charlieharrington.com

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Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#171

Post by andi999 »

JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #166
cameldrv wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second this. There is evidence that anesthesia causes brain damage. This shows up in the data most for babies and small children, and the elderly, where you can see it on IQ tests and chance of dementia. It's more pronounced with multiple surgeries. It may be that it's damaging everyone's brains, but it's just not as noticeable for adults. One study with twins showed about a 1.5 point IQ loss from a major surgery. Of…

Does this include the anesthesia given to us at the dentist? The one they give you in a shot to numb the tooth. I couldn't live without that.

I think local anesthesia does not lead to these effects (as far as we know), I also would be surprised if it does. One thing I remember when you also use N20 (laughing gas) you should either check or just take vitamin B supplements (it seems to deplete your vitamin B storages)

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#172

Post by therealx »

eecc wrote: post #152
cameldrv wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second this. There is evidence that anesthesia causes brain damage. This shows up in the data most for babies and small children, and the elderly, where you can see it on IQ tests and chance of dementia. It's more pronounced with multiple surgeries. It may be that it's damaging everyone's brains, but it's just not as noticeable for adults. One study with twins showed about a 1.5 point IQ loss from a major surgery. Of…

Oh yes... I remember the aftermath of getting emergency surgery for an appendicectomy: after breezing through a major Calculus exam before that, I struggled for months waiting for the cloud of confusion and forgetfulness to lift. And to this day I’m not sure it ever did

Its such a weird thing. After a while, you begin to wonder if you just learned to work around it. I too bad a similar experience, just s/snowboad/motorcycle/.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#173

Post by jbb67 »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #128
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cannot confirm; my girlfriend had a sigmoidoscopy (similar) and she experienced it as traumatizing and violating. I don't believe she got any anesthetics admitted; pretty sure it's not standard. Please don't romanticize invasive diagnostics. If you want to advocate for the occasional bowel purge or using anesthetics to sleep have at it though. But also, general anesthesia should be avoided as much as possible, it's n…

In the UK it's uncommon to be anaesthetised for for endoscopies or colonoscopy. I've been offered either midazolam or gas & air for colonoscopies and pretty sure my last couple of endoscopies were done without anything. The movicol prep stuff they give you isn't ideal either; you've got to drink a lot of odd tasting fluids that then give you basically explosive diorama which can be awful in itself. It also causes som…

I'm in the UK and I had a good level of sedation for mine. I wasn't even asked, just told that was standard.

I wasn't knocked out but I might as well have been as I didn't feel any pain and kept kind of drifting off half to sleep. It was completely fine and I'd not worry at all about getting it done again.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#174

Post by hef19898 »

mgerb wrote: post #78
icecap12 wrote: post #59

Nice write-up, I'm happy to hear it was only stage 2! Colon cancer runs rampant in my family. My dad was a stage 3 survivor (it's now been 12+ years), however his younger sister (my aunt) just died about 6 weeks ago after an 18 month battle. She was a former nurse, and had basically missed getting one of her regular colonoscopies. At that time, she was supposed to go every 5 years and I think she went 10 - too long f…

27 at the moment and reading this thread has gotten me worried as I have a family history of colon cancer. Both of my parents get checked regularly and have had polyps removed. I wonder if I should just go or if it isn’t realistic to worry about it at my age yet.

I was diagnosed at 28, wihout any colon cancer histry in my family whatsoever. my advice, go get it. Even if it is just for peace of mind.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#175

Post by kvgr »

stevecalifornia wrote: post #5

Fellow readers: Do not be afraid of a colonoscopy. Do not avoid it-- in fact, look forward to it. They are easy and painless. Waking up from the anesthesia I felt more relaxed than I ever have in my life. Also, the prep of clearing your system will reset your digestive system and you'll feel like a new person. I think the prep cleared out whatever it was that was causing us to investigate my digestive system in the f…

I would take 5 colonoscopies instead of gastroscopy any day... It really is not a big deal. I was a quite high but I managed to actually watched the camera feed during procedure. The only problem later on was that I had trouble of putting my clothes on and do anything that needed little effort for at least one hour, because of the wonderful drugs.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#176

Post by 4ggr0 »

eecc wrote: post #152
cameldrv wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second this. There is evidence that anesthesia causes brain damage. This shows up in the data most for babies and small children, and the elderly, where you can see it on IQ tests and chance of dementia. It's more pronounced with multiple surgeries. It may be that it's damaging everyone's brains, but it's just not as noticeable for adults. One study with twins showed about a 1.5 point IQ loss from a major surgery. Of…

Oh yes... I remember the aftermath of getting emergency surgery for an appendicectomy: after breezing through a major Calculus exam before that, I struggled for months waiting for the cloud of confusion and forgetfulness to lift. And to this day I’m not sure it ever did

Sounds like my experience with ADD, haha. But I also had three general anaesthesias in my life, so yeah.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#177

Post by tinco »

JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #164
graeme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommend anyone considering this to ask your doctor about using a sedative instead of general anesthesias. As best I can tell general anesthesia for colonoscopy for low risk appears to be a cultural custom especially prevalent in the northeastern USA. Anesthesia has many more possible side effects than sedatives and ought to be avoided unless needed (this applies to any unneeded treatment). Plus if you’re awake you…

I once had an endoscopy without any sedatives or anesthesia and that really sucked. The doc stuck a large tube down my throat and had me gagging for what felt like an eternity. After the procedure I needed a few minutes to wipe the tears that started forming from my eyes and gain some composure. This was done in Poland. If a colonoscopy is anything like that then not sure I'd want to be doing them regularly.

I was offered anesthesia for the endoscopy as well and I was glad I refused. The whole thing was over in 10 minutes, the actual endoscopy was about 2 minutes of serious discomfort. I gagged a couple time, the rest of the time I held steady, but the nurses also complimented me for powering through so I don't think it's expected to be easy. It was a weird and humbling experience.

If you feel like you're relaxed enough to be calm when someone does something to you that your body will tell you is going to kill you, then it's not so bad. They sedate your throat to kill the gag reflex, but it doesn't work 100%.

The upside for me was that it was over so quickly, and I could go on with my day, was allowed to drive, etc.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#178

Post by Starwatcher2001 »

graeme wrote: post #31
stevecalifornia wrote: post #5

Fellow readers: Do not be afraid of a colonoscopy. Do not avoid it-- in fact, look forward to it. They are easy and painless. Waking up from the anesthesia I felt more relaxed than I ever have in my life. Also, the prep of clearing your system will reset your digestive system and you'll feel like a new person. I think the prep cleared out whatever it was that was causing us to investigate my digestive system in the f…

Recommend anyone considering this to ask your doctor about using a sedative instead of general anesthesias. As best I can tell general anesthesia for colonoscopy for low risk appears to be a cultural custom especially prevalent in the northeastern USA. Anesthesia has many more possible side effects than sedatives and ought to be avoided unless needed (this applies to any unneeded treatment). Plus if you’re awake you…

I had a colonoscopy five years ago here in the UK without any anesthesia and it was perfectly fine. Walked into the theatre wearing a gown and a pair of shorts with a flap at the back, and hopped up onto the bed. Somewhat embarrassing with a half dozen nurses standing around various bits of kit and more monitors than NASA.

They asked me if I wanted to watch, then angled one of the monitors so I could see what they were doing. Laid on side, knees up and relax. Blimely is my bum really that hairy? Don't normally get to see if from that angle.

It feels weird and a little uncomfortable at times, but certainly not painful - even when they found a polyp and removed it with a remote lasso tool of some kind. This later turned out to be harmless.

As is normal for Brits, there was a lot of humour, with the women discussing the latest TV soap opera whilest doing their thing with the "dynorod" tool. As they pump in a gas of some kind to keep the bowl inflated while they work, they tell me it's okay to fart whenever I need. Boy, I think I've got a bad job sometimes. Whatever the nurse with the pointy end gets paid - it's not enough.

It's not exactly pleasant, but necessary and quite interesting to watch inside your own body (not as interesting as watching surgeons put stents into my heart, but that's another story).

Totally agree with Graeme, nothing to fear and massive win if they find things before it's too late. Don't hesitate!

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#179

Post by vmception »

nerdbaggy wrote: post #2

I feel you on this. I found out I had kidney cancer after my appendix decided it was time to go. I only had 3% of my left kidney removed and that is it. No chemo or anything just sore for a few weeks. And man do I have guilt and felt like a fake cancer survivor. My experience was so minimal compared to a lot of people. But I realized I am a cancer survivor because of all the mental anguish cancer puts on me. It’s not…

> Is my cough metastasized cancer? Probably not but my mind sure loves to think so.

The same when an immediate family member has gone through or died of it.

Instead of being a survivor it’s more like a countdown due to the similar hereditary and environmental factors. Doctors will say “no, don’t worry about that”, the same people could be writing an entry in a scientific journal after your case finally appears.

“Hereditary and Environmental links in X cancer”

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#180

Post by circlefavshape »

JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #164
graeme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommend anyone considering this to ask your doctor about using a sedative instead of general anesthesias. As best I can tell general anesthesia for colonoscopy for low risk appears to be a cultural custom especially prevalent in the northeastern USA. Anesthesia has many more possible side effects than sedatives and ought to be avoided unless needed (this applies to any unneeded treatment). Plus if you’re awake you…

I once had an endoscopy without any sedatives or anesthesia and that really sucked. The doc stuck a large tube down my throat and had me gagging for what felt like an eternity. After the procedure I needed a few minutes to wipe the tears that started forming from my eyes and gain some composure. This was done in Poland. If a colonoscopy is anything like that then not sure I'd want to be doing them regularly.

My wife took no sedation when she had one, so I was shamed into doing the same when I had one a couple of years later. It was unpleasant, but not actually painful, and over quite quickly. Would opt for no sedation if I had to get it again

I went for no sedation during a colonoscopy too, but after a while it got too painful and I asked for some

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