Anyone here ever had to deal with intestinal polyps?

[chemenger]

what can you tell me about it?

[Tobin S.]

1. There are two kinds.

The kind that can turn into cancer and the kind that do not. When a doctor does a colonoscopy s/he will remove all of the polyps they see. I think that they recommend everyone over 50 to get a colonoscopy done at regular intervals. I'm 37, but I need to have a colonoscopy done every 3 years now for the rest of my life. When I was having stomach problems they performed a colonoscopy on me more to rule out other causes than the one they thought I had. To my surprise and to the doctor's, 3 pre-cancerous polyps were found in my colon. I was 35.

In other words, don't fuck around with this.

[Haole Girl]

2. Thanks for the reminder

I'm due for one because the doctor thinks I need it & I am so tempted to cancel it. It's the prep I'm worried about... I didn't react very well to the prep the night before my hysterectomy. I'll spare you the details. :-(

[Tobin S.]

3. Yeah, the prep is the worst part of the whole deal, I think.

When I had mine done I had to drink about a gallon of this chemically tasting stuff. I hear they have little bottles of stuff that taste a lot better and has the same effect as the other stuff. I'd ask about it.

[Haole Girl]

4. They first told me to drink 16 oz every 10 mins....

I said, "You don't understand, I have scheduled breaks where I work-- I'm lucky to drink a small bottle of water in an entire day!!" Then they said they'd prescribe me something else.

[hippywife]

5. That's why

you should schedule off the day before, too.

[hippywife]

6. I tell you a secret.

I couldn't get the whole thing down, probably only half of it. (When the nurse in the doc's office gave the the written script for it, she even told me that I didn't need to drink all of it.) When I went in the next morning, I told the nurse at the hospital that I didn't drink it all. She asked if the output was all liquid and I said yes, but it isn't clear. She asked if it was just not clear color-wise and I responded, yes. She told me that was fine, that was all they needed, that it was liquid without particulate matter of any kind in it.

I think they just tell you to drink the whole gallon because they know some people won't drink enough of it if they are told otherwise. If you tell people the whole gallon, they will drink more of it than is really necessary, even if they can't get the whole thing down.

Twice I got to do the pill thing (osmoprep) but it's 32 pills in a short amount of time and you still feel like you're gonna hurl all that water. They stopped prescribing it because people were getting kinks in their bowels using it. Probably not drinking the required amount of water with them.

[hippywife]

7. I had them the first time

I had a colonoscopy. They removed them, tested them, and they were benign. The second and third colonoscopies showed no polyps. It's not unusual for someone to have a few, but it is extremely important that a colonoscopy be done and they be removed for biopsy. If not, they can become cancerous, and I believe this is even true of the ones that are not found to be pre-cancerous in the beginning, if my recall is correct this morning.

Do not fuck around with this.