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Notes on My Colon Cancer

charlieharrington.com

191–200 of 300 posts

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#191
Had one when I was 23.

Cue severe embarrassment when the nurses came around to to my bed to "administer" the colon cleansing procedure , believe nowadays they give you a laxative to drink the night before.

Got a mild sedative and it was not painful at all.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#192
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…

We badly over-use general anesthesia. Next to antibiotics it might be the most over-used thing in medicine. When you scratch the surface of the neuroscience of general anesthesia you will never want to experience it in your life if you can help it. It's effectively a controlled coma, and though we can control it, we don't know the precise mechanism of action. (Like so many things with the central nervous system it wa…

Meanwhile, up here in Norway you have to beg and grovel and almost pretend to have a panic attack in order to get a one-off benzodiazepine-based IV sedative while taking a gastroscope down your throat.

An acquaintance of mine with Down's syndrome, no less, couldn't do a gastroscopy to investigate a quality-of-life issue that was assumed to be benign, due to this. Boggles my mind, honestly.

General anesthesia might be over-used, but some healthcare systems go too far in the other direction too.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#193
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…

We badly over-use general anesthesia. Next to antibiotics it might be the most over-used thing in medicine. When you scratch the surface of the neuroscience of general anesthesia you will never want to experience it in your life if you can help it. It's effectively a controlled coma, and though we can control it, we don't know the precise mechanism of action. (Like so many things with the central nervous system it wa…

Like Propofol ???.

Don't it just turn on the chlorine tap on a neuron to open so that the voltage is now much lower and it will inhibit the signaling ???.

It is the natural mechanism of a neuron so I don't see what side effects there could be - it is like pulling a jumper wire from one pin to another pin on a board to get a voltage right.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#194

I've had the blood bit off and on (mostly off lately, but it happened again recently for a day), but I've always been told by doctors that it's just hemorrhoids, I'm too young to get cancer. Then Chadwick died, and I'm like, man, he got diagnosed with Stage 3 the same age I am now, and I'm in terrible shape compared to him. I'm thinking I should probably get a colonoscopy next summer, after this wave of Covid dies do…

Get. Tested.

I recently lost a close friend to bowel cancer in his 30s. He'd been ignoring blood in his stools, and it was stage 4 before it got picked up.

Don't find excuses to put it off.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#195
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We badly over-use general anesthesia. Next to antibiotics it might be the most over-used thing in medicine. When you scratch the surface of the neuroscience of general anesthesia you will never want to experience it in your life if you can help it. It's effectively a controlled coma, and though we can control it, we don't know the precise mechanism of action. (Like so many things with the central nervous system it wa…

Meanwhile, up here in Norway you have to beg and grovel and almost pretend to have a panic attack in order to get a one-off benzodiazepine-based IV sedative while taking a gastroscope down your throat. An acquaintance of mine with Down's syndrome, no less, couldn't do a gastroscopy to investigate a quality-of-life issue that was assumed to be benign, due to this. Boggles my mind, honestly. General anesthesia might be…

I always had issues with gastroscopy (I guess mostly panic and uncontrollable reflexes), but recently I discovered that there’s an option to do it through nose instead of mouth (of course, with a thinner tube) — highly recommend it for people like me!

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#196
post #116

God damn it! I get upset when reading this article! The doctor mentioned at the beginning of the article is obviously not doing his job! "Don't worry about it?!" "you don't need another physical exam!?" Making assumptions without examination is incredibly unprofessional and carries with it potential critical consequences. If you have an issue and bring it to your doctor and your doctor fails to follow up with an exam…

Yep this is exactly what happened to my dad. He had bloody stools, told no one but his 80-year old doctor who said “relax it’s just hemorrhoids” without verifying his claim. This went on for years until he was diagnosed with Stage IV and died five years later at 51. Just one colonoscopy even a year sooner may have saved his life.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#197

Had one when I was 23. Cue severe embarrassment when the nurses came around to to my bed to "administer" the colon cleansing procedure , believe nowadays they give you a laxative to drink the night before. Got a mild sedative and it was not painful at all.

Had one when I was 24[1]. I got a sedative, but was wakeful enough to watch the procedure on a screen above me. The worst part was when they pump air into your ass to widen the colon, and all you want to do is fart it right out.

[1] - Turned out to be polyps, non-cancerous.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#198
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…

We badly over-use general anesthesia. Next to antibiotics it might be the most over-used thing in medicine. When you scratch the surface of the neuroscience of general anesthesia you will never want to experience it in your life if you can help it. It's effectively a controlled coma, and though we can control it, we don't know the precise mechanism of action. (Like so many things with the central nervous system it wa…

I had shoulder surgery a few years ago, and I had to argue with the doctor to get him to do a nerve block instead of general anesthesia. He never suggested it - I researched the options myself and found that patients who did the nerve block recovered faster and better, and yet right up until I rolled into surgery, the doctor was trying to convince me to do anesthesia. Sadly, I think the reason is that anesthesia makes patients easier to manage during surgery, which makes the doc’s job easier even if it is ultimately worse for the patient.

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#199

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…

In US, if I have no symptoms, can I just get it done as a preventive care? I doubt that wothout a referral. Has anyone done that? I m approaching 40 and wondering

You should be able to.

The other option is stool sample testing for blood.

https://www.amazon.com/Second-Generation-Immunochemical-Colo...

Re: Notes on My Colon Cancer

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We badly over-use general anesthesia. Next to antibiotics it might be the most over-used thing in medicine. When you scratch the surface of the neuroscience of general anesthesia you will never want to experience it in your life if you can help it. It's effectively a controlled coma, and though we can control it, we don't know the precise mechanism of action. (Like so many things with the central nervous system it wa…

Like Propofol ???. Don't it just turn on the chlorine tap on a neuron to open so that the voltage is now much lower and it will inhibit the signaling ???. It is the natural mechanism of a neuron so I don't see what side effects there could be - it is like pulling a jumper wire from one pin to another pin on a board to get a voltage right.

Great point and I see that commenters above are suggesting conscious sedation (benzos) instead of general, which would probably be propofol in this case. Both benzos and propofol act at the same chloride channel...
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