Colonoscopy And Cancer

[Mexican Trailrunner]

It has been almost a month since diagnosis of Celiac and I am scheduled for a colonoscopy to see what damage has been done. I'm a little nervous. Have you all gotten colonoscopys? Have any of you had polyps or lesions that tested positive for cancer? Anybody know what the percentages are?

Thanks for any info.

Marilyn

[shopgirl]

It has been almost a month since diagnosis of Celiac and I am scheduled for a colonoscopy to see what damage has been done. I'm a little nervous. Have you all gotten colonoscopys? Have any of you had polyps or lesions that tested positive for cancer? Anybody know what the percentages are?

Thanks for any info.

Marilyn

Endoscopy, no colonoscopy. Generally an endoscopy is done to confirm Celiac because they're looking for flattening of the villi in the small intestine. Much less to-do over an endoscopy. My GI doctor said there was no reason for me to have a colonoscopy because I have none of the risk factors for cancer: 27, no bleeding/black stool, no associated pain. She said she didn't like to put people through colonoscopies unnecessarily because they cause so much stress between the prep, procedure, and post-procedure.

As far as percentages, I can't say, but, if the percentages were high, Celiac would probably get a lot more attention. Every time I walk into the gastroenterology office, I'm inundated by colon cancer screening posters. Did your doctor say why he / she preferred for you to have a colonoscopy rather than an endoscopy? I wasn't even aware that a colonoscopy could actually confirm

[Mexican Trailrunner]

Hi shopgirl.

My fault, I forgot to say I tested positive for occult blood in the stool sample. I was glutened at the time.

Also forgot to mention, the colonoscopy is not for diagnosis, it's due to the blood.

In terms of formal diagnosis, I have refused the blood test and the endo due to not wanting to be glutened for the blood test and the high degree of false positives in both tests. My doc and I diagnosed, informally, based on the positive results with a gluten free diet. More testing and diagnosing may come soon.

[Emilushka]

I got both ends scoped. They didn't have the Celiac diagnosis yet and were still trying to figure out what's what.

Celiac disease doesn't increase your chances of colorectal cancer, which is what they were most concerned with when they found the occult blood was positive. So don't worry - your Celiac disease isn't making that any worse!

The worst part of the colonoscopy is drinking the Miralax. Yuck. I got it down by chasing with sips of Sprite. The actual procedure isn't bad because you don't remember. YAY!

[luvs2eat]

When I was diagnosed, my GI doc ordered blood work and scheduled a colonoscopy because I was 49... very close to the age they'd have scheduled an initial screening. The screening had nothing to do w/ damage caused by celiac as that would be seen in the small intestine anyhow.

He was also a GI doc who didn't believe in total sedation. I wasn't upset or nervous at all as I'd seen many "scopes" in my nurse's training. Actually, I was fascinated watching the whole thing and asking questions. I was completely awake and there was such mild discomfort... it just wasn't bad at all. As it turned out, having the colonoscopy had nothing to do w/ my being diagnosed (by bloodwork) w/ celiac disease.

Early detection is the key in colon issues. Please try not to be afraid... the prep is the worst part and that's just not so bad!

[cassP]

i think its a good idea to get one- i did and it put my mind to ease. Undiagnosed Celiac can potentially lead to all kinds of issues- so it cant hurt to get checked.

i was very happy to get mine done- because with all the pain i was having, i just wanted to make sure i didnt have anything else like diverticulitis, or cancer... i only had 1 benign polyp- and they removed it right there. easy. plus, my hemmohroids are really bad- (external AND internal)- so it was good to get the doctor's expert opinion on those.

and now that im gluten free and still in my 30s, i probably wont worry about getting one for years.

i would like to get an endo at some point just to make sure everything's ok there too.

it's a fairly easy procedure- except that i (unlike most people) had painful gas for a good 4 days.

i think it's a good idea to get it. Dr. Oz just got one on tv- as a "routine" and an "example" for others- he had no idea he would have precancerous polyps everywhere- they remove them all right there- it really is a great way to prevent anything serious.

[gf-soph]

I had a colonoscopy about 18 months after going gluten free as I still had gi problems and persistent iron and B12 deficiency. They were looking for Crohn's. Luckily I don't have it, but they did find a precancerous polyp which is very uncommon for my age, 25. I now will need to have a colonoscopy every 3 years, as the polyps take about 5 years to turn cancerous it means that they wont have the chance and I will be protected. I do have a family history of bowel cancer but they wouldn't have started screening me until 40, by then it would have been cancerous. So I was lucky to find it!

I think it's wise to get the procedure done to be sure that the blood is nothing serious. The prep for it is awful but I didn't remember anything about the procedure at all, so I'm not bothered by that. I wouldn't stress too much about finding anything nasty, I have heard that there are a couple of cancers that are slightly higher in untreated celiacs, but I don't think bowel cancer was one of them. There are also a lot of reasons for blood in the stool that are a lot less scary.

One thing that my gastro raised is that the bowel prep removes almost everything from your system. That makes immediately after a great time to repopulate the bowel with friendly bacteria. He had me use VSL#3 which is expensive, but has been evaluated in some medical trials and is high strength. If you can take a good probiotic it might be a kick start to restoring a good gut balance.

[Mexican Trailrunner]

Thanks SO much for your comments.

Marilyn