Please check this out.

[Neferti]

I had a colonoscopy earlier this year, after a "positive" result from a routine bowel test. My GP referred me to a Gastroenterologist. I thought I was special and was a little worried about it, fearing the worst. However, when I mentioned it to various people, EVERYBODY and their dog has had this procedure. Common as mud, apparently. Especially if you are 50+, or have a family history of bowel cancer. It is also a FREE procedure. The Government is funding bowel cancer research as, I think, it is the third main cause of death.

Plus, because of scar tissue from a burst appendix plus peritonitis, etc way back, they couldn't complete the colonoscopy (they needed the "pediatric" instrument which wasn't available) so I had to have a colonography a couple of weeks later .... so I went through drinking that revolting "prep" stuff, twice in a month! Yuk!

With the colonoscopy I was heavily medicated, didn't feel a thing. The colonography was different ... no medication and they pump gas into you ... that was really "fun". Not!

With the colonoscopy, they removed one 4mm sessile polyp (tested, not cancerous). The colonography showed another 4mm sessile polyp that has not been removed .... Gastroenterologist wants to see me again in 2 years.

[lisa jones]

Hey Nef.....my doctor wants to see me again in 12 months.

I am dreading it.

Wonder why it can't be 2 yrs....sigh.

The thing is....I have a real fear of medical procedures AND I can't take pain.

Eg I have had 3 caesars and they were all under GA. I couldn't face the pain of giving birth naturally. Even the freaking catheter had to be inserted AFTER the GA was administered. All my babies came out fine and they were beautiful because they escaped the stress of the birth canal so I thought that made up for my inability to go through natural childbirth.

There's one more thing....I've actually lied to my husband about having had a pap smear. I haven't had one in years. I've tried to but I end up screaming. The so called "discomfort" is too painful for me to take. I end up telling the doctor to forget about it.

I so wish there was a way around this bloody pap smear procedure.

It's not easy being a woman. And my mum isn't around anymore for me to chat with.

I'm the eldest and the "tough" one in the family. For me, that means I need to put on a brave face, hide my fears......and quietly throw those bloody pap smear reminder letters in the bin whenever they turn up.

[lisa jones]

Hmmmmm wish Mantra and Cods would log on and post in here.

I'm getting the lonelies

[Outlaw Yogi]

Polyps do not make you sick and feverish.

Right and wrong. I've had polyps removed twice now. They do make you feel sick in the guts and hard to eat.
They don't cause fever.

There are absolutely no symptoms.

Wrong.
The 2 main symptoms are nausea and bleeding from the anus.

I was crook in the guts and bled on and off from the anus for 9 years.
One quak suggested stomach ulcers - wrong.
Another suggested lactose intolerance .. abstaining from milk made no difference - wrong.
Sick off being fobbed off with incompetent guesses I pushed the issue in 2011 and underwent colonoscopy in 2012.
2 polyps removed.

Earlier this year the bowel cancer screening program sent me a letter and test kit.
I did the tests and they replied I had blood in my faeces - which I couldn't see this time, although I had occasional gut aches.
Recently a polyp was removed, and apparently a "non thromboid haemorrhoid" was found - don't know exactly what that entails.

Now Lisa, in some of your prior posts regarding your illness (supposedly flu virus) you've mentioned fever and "body aches".
If it's just a flu, you can kill it with ginger. But body aches suggests a mosquito borne virus.
I know Sydney isn't tropical or even sub-tropical but warm enough this time of year for mass mozzy breeding, plus Dengue Fever and Ross River Virus are on the march South - or rather flight South via mozzies.

5 or 6 years ago there were half a dozen cases of Malaria in Hervey Bay.
I worked on a farm between Bundy and Gin Gin til 2010. In 2011 all but 2 people on that farm contracted Dengue Fever, and 1 who didn't got Ross River Virus. Months later I asked one who'd had Dengue Fever what it did to him, besides the obvious weight loss.
He replied "It made me ache all over".

Earlier this year (summer) I went back to visit the foreman (who'd bailed to Melbourne when everyone else got sick) and we drank beer on his veranda. A week later I was near immobilised. I was incredibly weak/lethargic and my joints ached (alot). Especially my neck.
To get out of bed I had to lift my head with my arms/hands. I barely got out bed for 2 days, and only to eat or piss/shit when I did.
The following 2 days were near agony as I forced myself to collect firewood and cook food.

So I took Ibuprofen (Nurofen/Brufen) to ease the muscle aches, ginger to deal with the virus, and Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts) to replenish the Adrenal gland (malfunctioning Adrenal gland causes lethargy/weakness). The symptoms reduced but I still felt weak and slow for 2 weeks, so went to the quak's to be tested for Dengue Fever.

I told him about the farm with the mozzy borne viruses and he sent me off to pathology.
Upon return he said I didn't have Dengue Fever. When I asked "And Ross Rver Virus?" I got no reply.
Viewing the pathology report had negative to Dengue Fever and a plethora of acronyms, and absent from those acronyms was RRV.

So I don't know for sure if I had Ross River Virus or not, but I do know the Ibuprofen and Epsom Salts made it easier to get mobile again.

[Black Orchid]

Polyps do not make you sick and feverish.

Right and wrong. I've had polyps removed twice now. They do make you feel sick in the guts and hard to eat.
They don't cause fever.

There are absolutely no symptoms.

Wrong.
The 2 main symptoms are nausea and bleeding from the anus.

I was crook in the guts and bled on and off from the anus for 9 years.
One quak suggested stomach ulcers - wrong.
Another suggested lactose intolerance .. abstaining from milk made no difference - wrong.
Sick off being fobbed off with incompetent guesses I pushed the issue in 2011 and underwent colonoscopy in 2012.
2 polyps removed.

Earlier this year the bowel cancer screening program sent me a letter and test kit.
I did the tests and they replied I had blood in my faeces - which I couldn't see this time, although I had occasional gut aches.
Recently a polyp was removed, and apparently a "non thromboid haemorrhoid" was found - don't know exactly what that entails.

They can make you feel sick if they are huge and you don't usually see blood in the faeces with the naked eye. They do NOT cause fevers and chills. I have to have the procedure every 5-6 months and have had 8 removed so far. The biggest and most worrisome being 30mm which my specialist described as huge. 3mm - 4mm is pretty average.

All I can say is ... thank God for the screening tests.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Polyps do not make you sick and feverish.

Right and wrong. I've had polyps removed twice now. They do make you feel sick in the guts and hard to eat.
They don't cause fever.

There are absolutely no symptoms.

Wrong.
The 2 main symptoms are nausea and bleeding from the anus.

I was crook in the guts and bled on and off from the anus for 9 years.
One quak suggested stomach ulcers - wrong.
Another suggested lactose intolerance .. abstaining from milk made no difference - wrong.
Sick off being fobbed off with incompetent guesses I pushed the issue in 2011 and underwent colonoscopy in 2012.
2 polyps removed.

They can make you feel sick if they are huge and you don't usually see blood in the faeces with the naked eye

Well I spoze 9 years is long enough for them to grow huge ... wasn't just blood though. Often there was a red jelly with it too.

They do NOT cause fevers and chills.

Yeah, well I said/wrote that.

I have to have the procedure every 5-6 months and have had 8 removed so far. The biggest and most worrisome being 30mm which my specialist described as huge. 3mm - 4mm is pretty average.

I don't know anything about the sizes, or even the proportions of those taken from me.

All I can say is ... thank God for the screening tests.

Yeah, God, Fed Govt, Whoever no matter, I'm glad it's gone. But I spoze they'll be back soon enough.
Hope this 'non thromboid hemorrhoid' thing's not a drama.