Are Routine Colonoscopies After age 50 Another Money Grab?

[jlroussin]

Medicine seems to have become another commercialized entity. My husband just went through a colonoscopy, and the prep is an ordeal. We both turned 50 a year ago, and recently I turned 51. I suspect that this new idea that everyone should get a colonoscopy after age 50 is motivated more by money than by true medical necessity. I mean, what percentage of people actually get colon cancer? I'm going to opt out of it. I don't want to be just a dumb sheep that does whatever our health system says I should do. I believe that our current health system is mainly motivated by greed.

Other opinions?

[bae]

. I mean, what percentage of people actually get colon cancer?

About 5%.... And the survival rate is pretty high if you catch it early.

Good luck.

[pinkytoe]

I am in the minority when I say I think it is somewhat of a flim flam. But I am a total conventional medicine skeptic. We each have to do what we feel is right - I choose not to get them.

[creaker]

About 5%.... And the survival rate is pretty high if you catch it early.

Good luck.

A lot higher (the number that actually get it) if you have any family history of it.

[jlroussin]

In my case, there is no family history of cancer, and my colon works just fine. I'm in very good health. I think it is overkill for someone like me.

[bae]

The initial stages don't interfere with colon function particularly. Early detection can be a lifesaver.

[CathyA]

Its really hard to know......except in retrospect!
I'm not going to have them as often as I'm "supposed" to, but I occasionally do a hemocult test, which is somewhat of an early-mid warning test.
Seems like everything is overdone in this country. yes, its a money thing, but I also think its part of our inability to lose anyone.........ever. So to save a few, they say everyone should have everything all the time.

[freein05]

I agree with bae. If caught in the early stages the survival rate is very high. The cost to treat it are far higher than the cost of having your colon removed plus think how your life would be without a colon.

I had a colonoscopy this year my first one and I am 66. They found a couple of benign pulps during the colonoscopy they snip them off so if they were malignant the cancer cells would have already been removed. Because of my age and the findings I will probably not have to have another on.

I did not think the prep was that bad. I was expecting it to be a lot worse because of the horror stories I read about the prep.

[rosarugosa]

Well as someone who just set the cigarettes aside after 38 years, I've hardly been a fanatic about doing what I'm supposed to do for my physical well-being. That said, I am 54 years old and had my second colonoscopy yesterday. I know a nurse who died of colon cancer at age 52, and given that it's a very slow-growing cancer and that they can actually remove potential problems during the test that could develop into cancer eventually, I see no reason not to avoid this preventable disease. The prep definitely sucks, but I suspect dying of colon cancer sucks even more. I told my DH that I was doing it for him, so that he wouldn't have to go out and find another wife at this stage of the game, and I expect him to return the favor
I have no doubt that it's lucrative for the health care system, but I do believe it's also a case where modern medicine actually has the knowledge and means to save us from something nasty. Just because it's profitable doesn't mean that it doesn't have medical value. Since it's unpleasant, I think that people have an easy time talking themselves out of it. I had a former employee in her sixties who chuckled in glee because her MD didn't tell her to get a colonoscopy, and she developed colon cancer shortly after retiring.
Oh and that thread about how to lose 5 lbs? I told a long hike Sun morning, then shovelled bark mulch for a few hours, then did my colonoscopy prep, and Mon morning I weighed 4 lbs less than I did Sun morning!

[domestic goddess]

It all depends on whether the test finds an early stage cancer. Then it saves your life, and is totally worth it. If it finds that you are just fine, then you are more likely to think it just lined someone else's pocket.
DD has Crohn's disease, and has regular colonoscopies. A couple of years ago they removed a couple of polyps, biopsied them, and found them to be Stage I cancer. Since they had been removed, they were now not a problem. They rechecked her in a couple of months, and found 4 Stage I cancerous polyps. In one month, they found 2 Stage I cancerous polyps. In another month, they found some more. The dr. was talking about removing an 18" segment of her bowel where all these polyps were forming, which would necessitate a temporary colostomy, and then evenutally another surgery for closure of the colostomy, and dd was having colonoscopies every 2 weeks, at which there was always found at least one Stage I cancer, which was totally removed for biopsy. Shortly after the dr. started making noises about the bowel resection, they stopped finding them, and the need for surgery was averted.But every time she has a flare of her Crohn's, I feel like I am walking on eggshells until we get a negative colonoscopy. Although someone is making money off her insurance company, I feel that it is money very well spent. She is lucky, if you can call it that. Because she has Crohn's, and now has this history, she will get a colonoscopy whenever she has a flare, to see if there is anything else going on. Most people won't know until it is too late, and death from colon cancer is not a pleasant death.
Many years ago, my cousin started having some GI complaints, and when they did a colonoscopy, they found cancer. She was in her mid 20's at the time, with two young children, and her father had just been treated (successfully) for bladder cancer. Surgery was performed to remove the tumor, which was found to be an early stage and had not erupted through the wall of the intestine. They removed the turmor, and my cousin was given the choice of having chemo or not. She initially chose chemo, had one treatment, and was so sick she never had another. She is still with us nearly 20 years later. But it was found at such an early stage that it didn't matter if she had chemo or not.
I, on the other hand, have never had any GI problems. I will soon be 60, and have never had a colonoscopy. I don't plan to ever have one. At my last dr. visit, she told me I was a little anemic and I should have a colonoscopy. Well, that is not going to happen, so I have been paying more attention to my diet, since I eat little red meat, and plan to correct my mild anemia that way. DD thinks nothing of the prep or the test, but I think I'll take my chances. I may be sorry later. Any cancer may arise in any person at some time, regardless of your family history, so I don't think testing is really the wrong thing to do. It is less expensive than the treatment for cancer, and less disruptive to your life. Cancer is only curable if found early.