If you had a few episodes of rectal bleeding, would you think a colonoscopy is purely a waste of time?
Especially if it’s a bright red color? Wouldn’t you think it’s only hemmoroids and nothing more?
My wife does.. But she told me she felt kind of sore for a couple of days in her rectal area after bleeding though.
She’s thinking of cancelling her colonoscopy because she does not see any more blood.
Colonoscopy is essential. Do not cancel this. My wife had rectal bleeding. After second episode, specialist gastro-enterologist diagnosed colon cancer after colonoscopy. Immediate surgical removal of cancerous tumor undertaken. All histology test proved negative for spread of cancer into surrounding tisue. This problem will not go away. it must be properly diagnosed and treated. Chances are that it is something minor, but this can only be confirmed by proper examination- ie colonoscopy. Good luck to your wife.
Whether your doctor is going to recommend a colonoscopy (larger part of the bowel) or sigmoidscopy (last part of the bowel) is probably going to depend on a number of factors.
Important are your age (<40 or above?), family history (any cases of cancer, and in particular bowel cancer?), your diet (a lot of red meat?), exercise, etc. Furthermore, the amount of blood with your stool, whether it occurs with diarrhea or constipation, whether you have any visible signs of hemorrhoids, and whether the blood is mixed with your stool are also important.
With colonscopies and sigmoidscopies there is always a small risk of the tube to cause a bleeding, and therefore if there are many indications that the bleeding is more likely to be caused by hemorrhoids than by cancer or a pre-stage of cancer, the doctor might argue against the procedure.
I totally agree with Trevor.
Not all cancers of the digestive tract bleed. If they do, it’s because the cancer has reached the stage where it has eaten through the wall of the structure where it lies (colon, small intestine, esophagus, stomach). By the time that happens, it’s already Stage III and may or may not have spread to other structures– far too late for a cure.
Colonoscopy can, and does, find precancerous growths, known as "polyps", which can be removed during the procedure. "Hyperplasia" can also be pre-cancerous and is also found during colonoscopy.
I’d encourage your wife to stop diagnosing herself and follow the recommendations of her physician. 15 minutes of colonoscopy can prevent all sorts of things from taking hold. The procedure is no big deal; most patients (>95%) opt for sedation and don’t remember a thing.