100 Colonoscopies

I'm 57 and had my second colonoscopy. (5 1/2 years in between). This time was much better than the last time. The prep was an 8 ounce bottle of Miralax powder in apple juice. All I could taste was apple juice! It's come a long way from the gallon of "pool water"! The first time I had 3 suspected polyps. I was benign and 2 were precancerous. All were between 3 and 5mm in size. This time I had 2 3mm polyps and one was precancerous. I'm supposed to again return in 5 years.

I've changed my diet drastically in the last 5 years. I went from eating 25 gms of fiber and had removed salt, sugar, red meat and refined grains for the most part. I was also eating more fruits and veggies on a regular basis. In October 2011 I stumbled upon Joel Furhman and his Eat To Live approach. I severely limited my saturated fats, and increased my veggie, fruit, beans, and whole grains up to 50 - 80gms of fiber a day. Soon after I gave up all dairy. Starting in January this year I've worked towards 90% vegan diet and over the last few years have all but eliminated olive or other oils from my diet on a regular basis. I'll never order a meat, fish, chcken, egg dish again. I do like the taste, but my digestion has changed so that it feels like bricks in my stomach if I eat it any more in large amounts.

I've done so much research on diet related to health that I'm convinced I will continue to see positive changes in my health with my whole plant based diet. I'm not going back for 6 or 7 years to get a colonoscopy. I am not a typical patient who eats the typical American diet. Therefore according to all of the medical research I will be less likely to get the typical American diseases. A really good video I found on this is by Dr. Gilbert Welch called "Over Diagnosed". I think I am being overdiagnosed at this point. 3mm is pretty dang small. And in view of my dietary approach I sincerely doubt that these would ever grow to be a concern. My diet may even shrink them away.

Do your own research. Even if you do want to continue eating an animal product diet, please do consider the value of adding plenty of fiber (35mg is considered the minimum requirement), fruits, veggies, beans, and nuts in your diet to support your health.

In any case it is a good thing to have a colonoscopy and work towards prevention rather than treatment. The entire procedure has changed drastically over the years. The prep is nothing and the IV drugs during were more than adequate. My doctor even gave me the option of having an anesthetist in the room just in case, which I declined. She explained that passing that first turn in the colon is the most painful and there are no nerve endings in the colon when the polyps are snipped. I watched her do it on the monitor the first year, but missed all of the action this time around.

Continue to research health issues for your own good.

After I posted today in this forum, this was delivered to my email from Dr. Neal Barnard and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: http://www.pcrm.org/pdfs/dropthedog/Red and processed meat fact sheet.pdf
It is a very good read reporting on the effects of eating red meat and processed meat. It is very enlightening with the referenced footnotes. It is a medical study, not a journalized version for a popular magazine.

I had mine last May and am good for 10 more years. I agree it’s a valuable test.

Never had one because we just don't do that here.