I might introduce you to my brother in law, in his early 60s, who never had a colonoscopy, why should he? Had he done so, I might be able to introduce you to him, that is.

By all means, follow any health practices you wish. I set my practices some years ago. Before my mother was diagnosed with colorectal. She never had a colonoscopy, either.

And that good advice is from the bottom of his......heart.

Your post does not say whether or not your relatives ever had fecal blood tests (FBTs) performed.

Your implication is that 2 ppl died from colon cancer and it was because they did not get colonoscopies.
Research suggests that the scientific evidence does not support that theory.
If there was evidece, the American Medical Assn (AMA) would be plastering that evidence all over the media.

What if the same 2 people had a fecal blood test (FBT) every year or every other year? It would be only a tiny fraction of the cost of a colonoscopy.

FBTs are already covered 100% by Medicaid. Plus thousands of peoples lives might be saved because the reduced overall insurance costs would make FBTs 100% covered by Medicaid and other insurance plans.

The lady who started this thread says she has to pay a $300 co-pay and that is just her "co-pay". What's the total cost, $600, or in some cases, $1000.

In addition to my colonoscopy, I have had many FBTs. No cancer was found via any testing.


I have the worst Obamacare insurance you can get. Yet, I never had to pay a dime for those FBTs.
The insurance company paid out less than $20 for each.

The following findings were published Jan. 25, 2017 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/ ... n-cancer#1:

"FBTs detect about 85% of cancer the first year a person gets colo-rec cancer. .... the effectiveness of the fecal blood test varied between 73 percent and 78 percent in years two through four. That means the test remained capable of picking up new tumors as they grew to a detectible size, the researchers said."

I can understand why doctors push colonoscopies------bec they make a lot of $ from them. But the physicians recommend colonoscopy screenings once every 10 years, bec of the high cost, presumably.

I'll continue with the $20 minimal cost (100% covered by my high cost/low coverage insurance) of FBTs.

I've had regular FBTs. And, since age 50, regular colonoscopies. Which yield regular polyps to be removed. Three this year.

Follow your own program. And try to imagine how little I care what track you take on assessing the continuing state of your intestines.

GKC:

Mayhaps your response contains a tad of malice??
Do U think my postings (or yours) will change the medical protocols of
many, if any of the viewers??

I care about your intestinal health whether you care about mine or not.
Good luck with your colonoscopy. In your situation (family history) its obviously
needed.

I wasn't posting my knowledge of the
intestinal con-game as a private medical recommendation for you.

I was posting it for the 300 million ppl +patients in the USA that DO NOT
have a family history of intestinal cancer.

Get it?

Also, for the same group of ppl in the USA who blow billions on needless exams.

Do what you want, of course. No insult was intended.

Let me quote from Consumer's Report (I suggest that the consumer mag is
not biased against consumer health):

"Many common medical tests and treatments are unnecessary
Learn when to say ‘Whoa!’ to your doctor
Consumer Reports magazine: June 2012

Doctors often order tests and recommend drugs or procedures when they shouldn’t—sometimes even when they know they shouldn’t. In fact, nearly half of primary-care physicians say their own patients get too much medical care, according to a survey published in 2011 by researchers at Dartmouth College. And the Congressional Budget Office says that up to 30 percent of the health care in the U.S. is unnecessary.

All that unneeded care can be hazardous to your health—and your wallet. For example, X-rays and CT scans expose you to potentially cancer-causing radiation, and can lead to follow-up tests and treatment with additional risks. And the costs can be substantial. A 2011 study found that the price tag for 12 commonly overused tests, such as annual electrocardiograms (EKGs) for heart disease and imaging tests for lower-back pain, was about $6.8 billion.

The problem has become so serious that such groups as the American College of Physicians, the ABIM Foundation, the National Physicians Alliance, and a coalition of medical societies in a project called Choosing Wisely have compiled lists of tests and treatment doctors themselves say are done too often. Below are our top five examples culled from those lists. (For more information, read Choosing Wisely: How to avoid unnecessary tests and treatments.)" [end of quotation]


Despite admissions by Big Med organizatinos,
pl will continue to go into the doc's office and do whatever the doc tells them.
To wit:
The doc may say: get a super expensive PET scan, an MRI scan, a endoscopy, Xrays,
and on, and on, and on and on.

I have a doctorate. I don't know what your background is.

My brother is a physician & thus a beneficiary of Big Med.
I have no jealous motive to deny him the life of luxury enjoyed by
most USA physicians.

I assure you that I take no perverse pleasure in seeing ppl die from cancer. Nor
do I take pleasure in seeing ppl getting ripped off by big Medicine.

What would be my motive for preferring that ppl use a less expensive, equally, and
perhaps, more, effective method of diagnosing cancer???

Could it be that, as a Christian, I am motivated by the greater good of society?
Could it be that I don't desire that USA society continue to get be ripped off?

The USA has the most expensive health care system in the world but the health
of USA society is far below that of many countries. And how about the poor and
indigent in the USA who cannot afford the super expensive tests?

The colonoscopy went well, with accustomed findings. I hope for continued negatives. With the one three years from now, and thence forward.

I have a MA. Though I had some plans for the terminal degree. A career intervened.

Your positions are noted. I note we agree that crafting one's own path, using a variety of tools, as the situation seems to suggest, is appropriate. Guard your gut your way.

From a "GKC" post of March, 2017, on the avemariaradio.net blog:

"I'm currently smoking Mild Burley, which it is. Light and not oppressive, which is how I tend to buy tobacco."


comment:
If I had a family history of cancer (which I do),
I would not smoke tobacco (which I no longer do).

A reasonable position.

I have had the ill fortune of actually seeing GKC smoke. He, at best, understates his performance. With pipe in hand -- one with a cracking big bowl -- he jams in a couple three ounces of nolsome weed and lights it up using one of those blow-torch type lighters. If you have ever seen a white phosphorus shell explode you have a small hint of the billowing cloud of noxious pea soup that mushrooms from his apparatus.

It is not the threat of cancer to himself, to which I have no objection, but I object to the risk to neighbors, their children and pets. And not just to humans. I haven't heard of a song bird on his block for a decade, though a few carrion crows appear from time to time.

Don't waste your time admonishing GKC about smoking. He continues and has spread his habit to others.

Malice? GKC. You have no idea. Malice is the name before his middle name.


He probably does. He thinks most of his posts are read and attended to by others. He probably prints out responses to his posts for posterity.


I wouldn't wait for him to.


Please don't get him started on his academic "achievements". He has his original Sunday School report cards framed on his wall

I, too, empathize with the poor. I don't so much for the indignant.

I wonder if the Seventh Day Scientists have the right philosophy. No medical care until extremis.

And I thank you for the Cornell & Diehl Black Frigate. My neighbors can look out for themselves.

And it is that attitude that has made you a pariah anywhere near the Congaree.

MW: My, my, my;
My brother is a surgeon; he tells stories of patients in post-surgery for smoking caused
lung cancer; they have
nothing left but a little hole in their neck to breath from;
he sees them putting up their cigarettes to the smoke hole when they are well enuf
to be wheeled in their wheelchairs out to a "smoking area" outside the hospital;

of course, smoking causes cancer anywhere in the body; not just the lungs;
the carcinogens enter the blood stream and can spread cancer to any part of
the body;

My two smoker friends died of cancer in their fifties (one got it in the kidneys; the other
got the cancer in the brain; both said their physicians told them it was their smoking that caused it)

but then, I guess that's what free Obama health care insurance is for, eh???

Wouldn't know. I get my coverage a different way. Comes from my work history.

oops, I just noticed the last post was by brother GKC;

[running for shelter]

The same to you, buddy!
Talking in tongues. That's an Anglican for you.

I know your secret, you know.

¿Pero sabes la contraseña?