Had a sigmoidoscopy at hospital yesterday. Procedure is simular to a colonoscopy. It’s a stange thing to see up your own backside! Basically I was expecting to have the full colonoscopy but not able to with out valid reason before I’m 50 (I’m 41) My mum did die of bowel cancer though. I’ve 3 older brothers that have had colonoscopy checks before 50 but the rules have changed.
During the procedure 3 ‘teeney weeny’ (Doctors description) polyps were removed. They were all maybe 5mm in size or less & caught early hopefully. I’ve got to wait for test results on the polyps are there are 2 common types, one ok & one potentially cancerous if left to grow.
A polyp is a growth on the inside wall of the large intestine and can be raised or flat. Metaplastic polyps are the most common and almost never become cancerous. They don’t normally grow bigger than 5mm so I’m hoping this is the type of polyp that has been removed for testing. The other type is adenomatous polyps. These are the potential nasty ones that can become cancerous. They also grow to a larger size.
Polyps normally have no symptoms until they grow to about 2cm in size, causing possible restrictions in the lage intestine.
Basically the best way to treat / reduce polyps is diet. I need to quit smoking (no suprise there), not drink too much and get more excercise. I’ve got a few worries at present so not the best time to attact the smoking. Diet I can do & now the summers almost here what better time to start running again!
Usefull sources of colon / polyps info:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov
Don’t panic if you have colon polyps, I’m not. The trick is to catch them early before they can become cancerous, which I hope I’m doing. They are normally removed during the same procedure as when they are found, either sigmoidoscopy in my case or colonoscopy. There wasn’t any pain when they were removed, just a slight discomfort for a second as if you had a bit of trapped wind. For the sigmoidoscopy no seative is needed as its less invasive but it only covers the lower / last part of the large intestine. The full colonoscopy does require a sedative though.
Fun after note. Air is used to expand the intestine for the procedure so you can sit on a toilet afterwards & have a good fart!
Update 26th June’09.
For the biopsy results on the three polyps removed read my colon polyps & cancer post.
2 responses to Sigmoidoscopy & polyps
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