5) talk to your doctor about your gut health (a diagnostic scope to work up symptoms is *different* than screening), know your family history (who’s the youngest relative affected by colon cancer & at what age?), and choose the approach that’s right for you

Wishing you the best!
m

4) all in all there is no substitute for embodied experience — I can now better counsel my own patients on what colonoscopy entails; keep in mind, though, that many modern stool tests aren’t “just” looking for blood but precancerous DNA too (albeit not with perfect sensitivity)

3) there is obviously a much larger debate around where to set the appropriate time of first screening, e.g. 50 or 45 for average risk?

At age 45 I had five polyps removed (which will now be examined by pathology to determine if they had any malignant potential but *probably* better out than in)

2) similarly sedation makes the whole procedure more comfortable but a “propofol nap” requires additional recovery time afterward — I was certainly in no state to drive myself home, for instance, nor could I work today as I usually would