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Colonoscopy

12 years ago

I am a healthy 56 year old lady but my mother died of colon cancer in 2005. She was a heavy smoker and I am sure that had something to do with it.

My problem is I have no health insurance at this time and cannot afford any but I desperately need to get a colonoscopy test done ASAP. I worry all the time about having colon cancer and it causes me great anxiety. What would you do under these circumstances?

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Comments (3)

sunnyca_gw
12 years ago
My GF told DR. no way she was having that thing put up her(afraid it might tear her colon) he said no problem, we can do a sonogram of it. You clean yourself out at home & it is easy & painless. I have an idea it is also cheaper so that is another alternative that I didn't know existed until she had it done about 6 mos ago.
d0ug
12 years ago
You can get a fit test from the drug store and ask the drug est how to use it. I bought some for my family and it cost about $5
This will tell you if you have blood in your stool this will give you an idea if there is a problem like cancer or ulcer. Take to the person in the drug store and then you will know if you should go for ultrasound. I understand some peoples fear. Andy Rooney of 60 minutes was killed by that and he had no health problems the doctor convinced him to have the test.
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Glad all went well! I have never had one. They attempted to once about 10 years ago but stopped because of a too sharp of a turn. Since I was ready for the procedure, they sent me for an x-ray . they didn't find any polyps but I wonder what they would have done if they had. I forget the name of the procedure but it was how they did it before they started doing the colonoscopies. I remember drinking some kind of white drink. Yuck!
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patriciae -- Thanks for the info on Cologuard. (Seems schoolhouse's RN also thought it was testing for blood.) schoolhouse -- Ah, so there is a history that would warrant the tests. Thanks for the 'back story'. Elmer -- You know that Medicine is a business. You know it is not cost effective for insurance companies to do more than spot check billed procedures and pay out as long as the coding is appropriate. katrina_ellen -- I'm glad you are well, but you were well without the colonoscopy. Your post tells me you were scared into having it, not whether it was warranted. That factor is part of my questioning. I'm a bit suspicious about whether colonoscopy is 'the new mammography'. For years women were told that all of us *needed* regular mammography. Turns out only *some* women benefited, and real damage was done to others due to unwarranted interventions. New guidelines have stopped much of this, apparently without any increase in breast cancer mortality -- and with a decrease in anxiety, pain, and costs. My interest is also personal. In 2016 I had a physically life-changing colon resection -- for a (benign) 'carpet polyp'. I developed a post-surgical 'bleed' and spent more days in hospital. Every MD remotely connected to my case (and his partners) stopped by my room. They had nothing to offer, but all submitted bills for the 'visits' I finally self-discharged, having refused transfusions.
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ruthie51
12 years ago
Regarding health insurance, my sister is retired and not yet old enough for Medicare so she went to Obama's healthcare.gov and signed up for health insurance there. Because of her income, she qualifies for a government subsidy which means the government pays for half her premium, otherwise, it would not have been affordable for her. It's worth a look see. Also, the suggestion to buy an occult blood test kit is a good one as it can tell you if there is hidden blood in your stool. There are different types, some that will give you the results at home (which I used and it's very good and has enough kits for three or four tests) and some that you would have to send stool samples to a lab (which is included in the cost of a kit).

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