Colonoscopy vs Cologuard

[BCR]

I am like you in that I hate the idea of being put under.

My concern about this was what had me putting off my first colonoscopy until I was just about 49, despite a family history of colon cancer which killed my grandmother and caused adenoma polyps in my father (which also might have killed him, if not for colonoscopies).

Sure enough, I had some bad looking adenomas in my colon in my 2021 colonoscopy, and I felt stupid for not having done it sooner. Fortunately they were caught in time.

Colon cancer is very hereditary. If you have no known direct family history (parents or grandparents) with colon cancer or colon polyps, you are much less likely to get colon cancer.

This is why they feel Cologuard is fine for those without an elevated risk, but bad for people like me who have a high risk.

I assume you do not have an elevated risk.

The good news is that Cologuard does not have a terrible false negative rate (8%). It DOES have a bad false positive rate -- 13%, last I checked! This means 13% of healthy people get Cologuard results indicating they might have colon cancer! Then you have to twist in the wind until you can schedule an receive a colonoscopy to verify. That would be awful.

The false negative rate of 8% is far higher than that of a colonoscopy, which is why it's not recommended for someone like me.

So if you're willing to tolerate the 13% false positive rate, as well as don't have a family history of colon cancer/polyps, you are probably fine doing Cologuard. It's not ideal, but you're not taking a huge risk.

In fact, colonoscopy is not risk-free. The biggest risk is NOT from the propofol, which is very safe. The risk tends to be from damaging the colon during the procedure, which can sometimes lead to death. For people like me, the risk is justified, as there's a much higher chance I will die of colon cancer than die from the colonoscopy. For someone like you, the risk is probably still justified (because lack of family history doesn't guarantee no colon cancer), but it's not as clear cut.

My mom has no family history of colon cancer. After several completely clear colonoscopies, they actually instructed her that the risk of the procedure was actually higher than the chance polyps would show up, and she was told to stop getting them, and do Cologuard instead.

No family history of Colon cancer. And I should have added that my Primary Care doctor said some new protocol for healthy people with no family history is to wait until 60. Just don't want to be put under without necessity. That being said, I will be put under in May when I have surgery on my shoulder, but I can't put off surgery any longer (it's been 2 1/2 years dealing with Frozen Shoulder, Torn Labrum.) Interesting enough, Shoulder doc says my Frozen Shoulder was caused by getting my Moderna booster shot. There are studies that are showing this data to be real, and he has numerous clients like me who claim their issues started when they got the shot. But he says it could also be caused by the Flu and RSV vaccines).

Going under for a colonoscopy and going under for your shoulder are vastly different things. Twilight sedation isn’t nearly as dangerous as general anesthesia.

I don’t like the false negative rate. 9% is huge. You’ll probably be fine anyway with your family history and lifestyle. I’m sure you eat well and no one who runs like you is pound overweight.

I have the same exact shoulder issues as you. I’ve been dealing with it for over a decade. I’m the guy in the gym multiple times a week doing sets of dumbell presses on the floor as it’s so much easier on shoulder. It still hurts, but bearable. Anything pushing hurts like hell.

I had it as far back as when I lived in Pittsburgh. I went to the Steelers team surgeon, waited months, and they diagnosed me with an AC joint issue. Did surgery, recovered quickly, and the surgery did absolutely nothing. Not even a little bit of relief.

Went to new group, they put me through range of motion exam, said I think you have a torn labrum. Did film, sure enough.

I ask every few years about the recovery and they have always said 9-12 months to get back in gym.

I’ve went every route. My whole gym routine is built around things that hurt less. Use bands to loosen up for half hour before gym. I sleep with pillow wedged so I won’t roll onto right shoulder when I’m sleeping because when I slept on it, the next day was bad.

I had this super hot masseuse I went to for like 5 visits. Just gorgeous. She’d spend an hour with me on my stomach working on it. Helped just a little. One day she suggests this kind of burly 50 year old guy. Of course it can’t be the hot chick.

He goes in on my upper right chest for most of the hour. The next day I felt like I had did 10 sets of incline press. But the frozen shoulder aspect was essentially cured. I’ve been going to him every few weeks for probably 8 years now. Zero walking around discomfort.

But the labrum pain in the gym still hurts and I’m back to wasting a year. I didn’t want to waste a year at 45. Every year it becomes harder to waste most of a year, but I’m going to have to. Have added swimming and pretty much exhausted all the smart things to do to work around it, and it has been getting worse.

What did your surgeon say about recovery? Not to be active, but to throw a football or lift heavy things?