Colonoscopy Time?

Introduction to Colonoscopy 0:00

Hi, everybody. We're back. Today we are talking about colonoscopies. I know. It's everyone's favorite topic. Let me tell you something. Better to talk about it now before you have to. Or if you are in the place where it's something that you HAVE to start talking about, then hopefully this will help you prepare a little bit better for the situation. So, I know for me, my mother had colon and rectal cancer, so I had to, well I didn't have to but they recommended that I start very early as soon as possible because of the family history getting colonoscopies.

So this was before I did what I do now. And at the time I was very grateful for the information that it provided because they did find tumors all throughout my colon. It was a situation that especially given watching my mom and her experience that was scary for me.

Risks, Prep, and Gut Health Basics 1:12

So it's a serious topic and it is something that I hope everyone else takes seriously. We're going to talk a little bit more about it today. When you get a colonoscopy done, usually, at least for all of mine, I was put to sleep. I think that varies on your doctor. Um, always put this sleep for All of Mine. So there's, you know, there is risk involved there. Every time that you're put asleep, There's obviously a risk. Involved. Uh, then there was a, a. Risk with the possible puncture of your colon.

Well, it's something that we want to take seriously. It's also not something. That we. Want to overdo or do if it. Is unnecessary. Right. So there's lots of warning signs ahead of time that you can do to be more proactive with your gut health, making sure that your having regular bowel movements, preferably more than once a day, but at a bare minimum every day. And you wanna make sure your good health is nice and strong, things like that. So we do offer stool testing and that can be very helpful.

It can enlightening to shed some light on the health of that area for you. if you're in more of the preventative state, but there's also some alternatives to colonoscopies. Now, nothing replaces going in there and actually being able to see, right, like you do with a colonoscope. However, you may want to talk to your doctor if your in the pre-stages of that, or maybe as some screenings in between colonoscopies, depending on how often your doctors recommends that you them. There are some other options to kind of get a feel for, okay, is a colonoscopy necessary?

Stool Tests and Alternatives to Colonoscopy 2:50

Do we have to go to that extreme at this time? So I would ask you to talk to your doctor about some of these other screenings because you might find them helpful. Leslie, I'm so bad with the colonoscopy. I haven't done mine at 51. Well, maybe because it's intimidating, right? It's not a fun experience. The prep is just shy of evil. I've had so many of them done because of that history with my mom and then because what they found, I was having to do them every six months for quite a while. So until I got my health into a place where it was no longer a concern.

So I'm going to give you some links and you might find some of these resources helpful. Again, talk to your doctor about them and see what they think. So the first one, this is a company called Everlywell. This isn't the stool test that we do, but this a different version. The stool tests is little bit more comprehensive and I can share the link to that too, if somebody's interested. It gives a lot more information. This particular one that I'm going to share, the linked to now, this is just going detect blood.

So sometimes you can't, well, lots of times you, can see if there's actually blood in your stool and how this can be helpful is that it will help to detect that even if you can't see it if it's not something that you Can see. Okay, so it screens for the the presence of blood in your stool just to help detect some early signs and you're eligible for this if You are 45 years or older. So Les you could do this. This is helpful because if you do have colorectal polyps, which could be precancerous, then what's going to happen is they can leak blood as you're passing your stool.

Blood in your soul can be a sign of having that concern. So this is something that might help you to determine if, do I need a colonoscopy? Do I not need to colonoscopy? Am I there yet? That kind of thing. So I'm going to put the link here.

Personal Experience and Early Screening 5:09

Last time I did it, it was at 25. I got some, they gave you a colinoscopies for Salmonella. Interesting. Okay, so there's the link to that one. And you can do, I'm going to mention one other test too. It's a fecal DNA test. This one can be helpful too, and maybe do both of them if you're trying to decide if it's time for a colonoscopy or if days off and resources into that experience. So here's another one. This is an article from the Mayo Clinic and it just talks about the DNA test and how that could be helpful, why you would want to do it, and then it gives you more information there.

Talk to your doctor if you are at a place where it's time to have these kinds of conversations. Ask them if this is something that they feel would be an appropriate pre-step maybe to determining if a colonoscopy is necessary. So you can have that conversation. In the meantime, if in more of the preventative state, which when I had my first one done, I was 30. It was either 30 or 31 years old when I had my first one done when they found those tumors throughout my colon. So taking your gut health seriously, it's never too late to do that.

And it is never to early to that either because obviously if I have done some of these preventative measures sooner, then I wouldn't have been in the position I was in and could have prevented some of those every six months colonoscopy experiences and the risks involved and just the pain of having to go through it.

Additional Resources and Reset to Thrive Promo 6:58

I mean, it was not fun. It's not a fun experience, let me tell you. So I just wanted to give you those resources. If you're interested in more comprehensive stool tests, then you can reach out and message me, and I can get you that information as well. But oh, they didn't know what was wrong. That's why they did it. Okay. Yeah. And it was probably 25 years old, especially an experience like that can be traumatizing. So I can understand why you may not want to do it again. But maybe some of these other tests would be a good option for you while you're there in that place.

So hopefully you find that helpful. We are starting another round of our Reset to Thrive. So if you guys are looking for some type of spring cleaning cleanse or want to lose a little bit before it's bathing suit season, I don't think I ever really get into bathing suits season here in Maine. But if in other parts of the world, then you know, you may have to consider that. So especially a little earlier than me anyway. Um, so reach out and let me know and we can talk. We can schedule a free call on my website.

Uh, if you have other health goals, we could always speak about those and see, uh, what would be a good way to tackle some of those.