Bowel cancer screening.

Been doing it for ten years. Silly not to. Has definitely saved lives.

Got mine about a year ago when I hit 60, sent it off, letter came back pretty quickly, all clear.

Yep, I did one two years ago with same outcome. New kit been in the drawer for a month, going to start it tomorrow.

The kit comes every two years from the age of 60.  Just for those who got one last year and haven't this year

No different from any other form of cancer screening. Doesn't save any lives at all.

There's a small reduction in the number of deaths due to bowel cancer, but no difference whatsoever in overall mortality: you just die of something else instead. The reduction in bowel cancer deaths is exactly cancelled out by deaths due to otherwise unnecessary invasive procedures to follow up false positives, e.g. bowel perforation and infection due to colonoscopy.

There's also the issue of false negatives. The screening clears you, so you then ignore actual symptoms, such as long-term constipation or diarrhoea, or possible evidence of blood in the faeces.

And on top of that there's the general negative effect on overall well-being that comes from unnecessarily starting the miserable cycles of medical tests, anxious waits for ambiguous results, hospital appointments, etc.: what this article in the British Medical Journal calls "unnecessary psychological morbidity" (and that's from an advocate of screening).

http://www.bmj.com/bmj/section-pdf/187371?path=/bmj/343/7830/Head_to_Head.full.pdf

It's worth a read, relatively brief and easy to understand, and presents the cases for and against, side-by-side.

crystalhunt    01 Oct 17 13:11 
Been doing it for ten years. Silly not to. Has definitely saved lives.



Me too. Agreed

' .......There's a small reduction in the number of deaths due to bowel cancer, but no difference whatsoever in overall mortality: you just die of something else instead........'


Obviously !!! No one is immortal !!!

I just couldn't do it. Weak stomach and all that. Had the camera down top and bottom again and at the moment ok.

Bigmo - just pretend you're doing a bit of Artexing

@ Facts: "no decrease in overall mortality" means that studies have failed to detect any difference in overall length of life between people screened for cancer and the rest of the population. Each group lives to the same average age.

If that's the case screaming I might as well use the test kit to wipe my ar5e on!

I don't need any encouragement not to go to the Doctor.  If it ain't broke. Several times over the years I've thought I should go and get something checked out but not done, so far so good.  The one time many years ago I did I ended up in hospital with tubes being shoved down me throat, all for a false alarm.

I'll take my chances.

I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2007, there was 3 of us who knew each other and we all went to see the same consultant ever fortnight, sadly I am the only who survived the others died in 2009 and 2010.

The worst part of it is the chemo some mornings it was horrific, my other half was also diagnosed with pre cancerous cells in 2000 and survived, she didn't have chemo but did have radiotherapy which left her with red raw blisters and in agony, thankfully the treatments are improved all the time, I remember being so embarrassed because my mates daughter was the nurse when I had the camera were the sun don't shine, good luck to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with this disease but don't give up and try to think positive.

I would rather be embarrassed and do the test and get diagnosed asap so the treatment is less than to leave it and have to have horrendous side effects from the extreme treatment needed or worse still leave it till its to late.

regards Ronnie

Great post Ronnie , good luck to you mate. I think they are offering the test to 55yr olds in some areas. Many people under 60 are dying or living with a Stoma because the cancer is diagnosed too late.

Both my father and paternal grandfather died of it so I always send back my test in case there is a genetic pre-disposition. So far so good.

Also have a blood test each year to obtain PSA count ( Prostate)

Yup, had a couple.  It's 50 here in Scotland.  First I've heard it isn't the same UK wide.

TheBaron, I used to think that way till I was diagnosed with cancer five years ago.  Radical facial surgery (which left half my face permanently paralysed) within a month, half my teeth pulled out followed by seven weeks of radiotherapy.  If I had bothered going to the Doc to get things checked out earlier, I could well have avoided it.

IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM - EVEN ONLY REMOTELY - GET IT CHECKED OUT ASAP!  FORGET ABOUT BEING EMBARRASSED - DOCS & NURSES DEAL WITH THIS STUFF DAILY!

Well done Ronnie and best wishes to you.

Very eloquent post, Screaming, you said it all. I got one of these packs thru the post a few years ago, couldn't believe what I they were asking me to do tbh. Put it straight down the chute. Spoke to some friends about it and turns out that they had both complied and thought me a fool. Your post tells me I did the right thing. Thank you

^ A ' head in sand' attitude about your health, is not a good choice to make. hth.

As trilby22 says, if you have a problem, get it checked out as soon as possible. If you have close relatives who suffered cancer, or if you're overweight, boozing, smoking or sitting on your backside all day, screen yourself for it.

But if you're feeling well, walk the dog twice a day and eat plenty of fruit and veg, you're actually more likely to be harmed than saved by bowel cancer screening, owing to unnecessary surgery caused by most positives being false ones. Most tumours are benign, but there's no way of telling which. Not to mention the misery and anxiety that come with becoming a "patient".

From that British Medical Journal article I linked to earlier:


The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme
was implemented on the basis of four large
randomised trials.
Meta-analysis showed a
reduction in disease specific mortality of 15%
in the screening group compared with controls
(odds ratio 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.78
to 0.92).
The odds ratio for all cause mortality,
however, was 1.0 (0.99 to 1.02). Thus, in more
than 300000 people included in the four
trials, there was no difference in survival;
nor was there anything to indicate that a larger
trial would be worthwhile.
Given that the absolute reduction in disease
specific mortality was only 0.1% over 10
years, it would require an enormous trial
to detect a difference in all cause mortality
between the screening group and controls.
But is this really necessary? Taking the above
criticisms of disease specific mortality into
account and considering the robust nature of
all cause mortality in this example, surely we
should accept that screening for colorectal
cancer has no effect on overall survival?

sfb

I take it you don't do the test.

Not the one in question here. I'm only(!) 56.

But living in Taunton I got a letter last year demanding that I travel to Bridgwater for a rectal endoscopy to screen for bowel cancer. Everyone over 55 gets sent this letter down here, and there's a lot of indignation in the screening community that half of us don't reply.

It involves taking an enema to purge your bowels, then somehow making your way to Bridgwater hospital with your arse purging away. In my case that would be a three-mile bike ride, a train journey and a mile-and-a-half walk at the other end.

Once there, you hang around in a surgical gown until being invited to kneel down and accept an 18-inch long flexible camera and knife to be shoved up your arse, without anaesthetic.

If polyps are found, they're cut out during the process. Even the accompanying leaflet admits that the vast majority of polyps are totally harmless. Of those that in the future might become tumours only 1 in 15 are malignant, and only 1 in 20 of those are fatal.

There is, the leaflet also admits, no actual benefit from this unless any polyps are followed up later with a full-on colonoscopy, which has definite and quantifiable dangers from bowel perforation.

Cases of bowel perforation from the initial screening with the endoscope are, the leaflet reassures you, only very rare, but do require staying in hospital for an operation.

The leaflet goes on to reassure you brightly that 4 out of 5 patients don't find the procedure painful, and only 3 in a 100 find it extremely painful.

I read that as 20% of patients find it painful or extremely painful.

I quite honestly could see nothing but downsides in this for me, from start to finish. If I'm going put myself out to prevent bowel cancer, I'd rather do so by carrying on walking and cycling everywhere, eating my greens and avoiding ciggies and booze.

But if I didn't, I suppose I'd choose to have a camera stuck up my arse instead.

Sounds like a good day out to me.

For all the good it'll do you you may as well stick it up your arse.

Lost mother to this Horrible disease. Cant imagine a worse way to go.

Being surrounded by good people is also helpful because WITH FRIENDS LIKE THAT, YOU DON'T NEED ENEMAS!

Smeared my first two "windows" this morning. Two more days to do.. It's a bit like being an apprentice plasterer.

This is the preventive ' screening ' I undertake every two years.

I would not undertake the procedure that sfb indicates !

I know what they'll say about me, "If only he'd gone for the screening they'd have caught it in time".....and he could have live long enough to get Dementia.

Sent mine back last month,got news of all results nomral last week,gd luck GOT.

What I find Strange is that Alcohol is not a Factor Re: Bladder Cancer ,But is for Bowel Cancer ..

Cheers tt.

Facts, I'm not making this up!

In 2014, flexible sigmoidoscopy screening (Bowelscope) commenced in Somerset, part of the first wave of roll-out of this national programme. Individuals aged 55 are offered a flexible sigmoidoscopy. Patients with bowel polyps (approximately 5-10%) then undergo colonoscopy. The programme is being gradually extended throughout the county with all regions included by 2017.

https://www.somersetgastro.co.uk/patient-information/bowel-cancer-screening/

They will not be satisfied until the entire population of England is able to celebrate turning 55 by having a taxpayer-funded camera shoved up their backside.

re sfb 1436 today: Whatever the worth of this programme, I underwent the procedure a few months back. They assuredly did not stick a knife up my arse.

It's not compulsory - why do you think they are doing it. I know of two people who died aged 58 and 59 from bowel cancer. It they had been tested at 55 they might be still alive and enjoying their retirement.

I have the camera thing every 2 or 3 years. 5 times so far, family history of Bowel cancer, I recommend no anaesthetic, most people still do have some btw, but it doesn't really hurt much and the recovery means finish, go home!
They found polyps last time, so now I have to have it even more often. As was mentioned the purging (hours and hours of emptying and starvation) is the worst bit.

Another downside is the amount of run-up they seem to take with the tube.

It was a little loop thing which came out of the tube and closed around the polyp and pulled it off, I don't remember a knife either.

I had a camera up the jacksy a couple of years ago. Had to go to Chichester as my local hospital Worthing had a lot of illness. First I had to wait as the person performing the procedure was running late as they were coming from.............Worthing when I was done my partner drove me back home. All the time all I wanted to do was f@rt but was afraid to in case I gambled and lost especially in her new car ! It's the first time in my life I've had trapped wind..........painful or what

well it was'nt ur car so shd av let Mother Nature do her bit really

Studyform

I have had polyps removed twice now. Had to be admitted a week later after one procedure when the scab came off causing bleeding. Healed up quickly and they let me out when my blood count stabilized. After a clear scope they want to see me in 3yrs. Like yourself I found the procedure slightly uncomfortable but easy to cope with.

I would encourage everyone to do the screening test.

I have had the Pipe down study couple year back  Found that ok  ,I need to go for the Pipe up  listening to yourself and crystal it doesn,t sound too bad

I don't want the anaesthetic as would prefer to drive myself there and Back ?

I've done two, and possibly overdue for another one, but have moved last April.

Still, I guess they will find me again!

Had the Pipe up this afternoon ,went with the gas and air , Bit uncomfortable

I have had a few probs lately Passed a Lot of Blood dodgy Blood results Etc 


Generally not feeling well ..

Result was ALL CLEAR

Blood apparently one of the Farmers inside kicking off

Stunned that was all they found

I self diagnosed myself back in 2015 - didn't drink any more than me mates etc but deffo ate too many bacon sarnies - ticked all the boxes for signs/symptoms so went and got checked out by doc - finger up the bum routine didn't find owt but the resulting colonoscopy which I did wiv gas and a lot of effing and jeffing  basically saved my life - I had my op nov 2015 around same time as a well known footy commentator for Middlesborough was diagnosed- and I was fitted wiv an ileostomy bag which was removed earlier this year - had terrible problems wiv my bowel ever since and sometimes wish I still had the bag on but I'm gradually getting there and just had my 1st colonoscopy since on Friday gone this time under the anaesthetic and glad to say everything was all clear and original op was a clear success .

Moral of the story though is that if your body is giving you the obvious clues then don't bury your head in the sands cos time is of the essence and the poor footy commentator who was diagnosed around same time I had my op only lasted a further 3 mths and was gone in feb 2016

At least the arris is designed to accept a camera, I had one shoved up my c0ck once

lol had a swab taken for std back in the day when a teenager  at addenbrookes saddo and that was bad enough - cudnt imagine having a camera up there - wud deffo hav to be sedated for that little number - funnily enough when I asked for sedation the other day I thought I was gona be knocked out but wasn't the case - conscious thruout  but never felt a thing and watched whole procedure on screen

smirnoff2therescue

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you.

54 soon to be 55 ask me anything you like either on here or in private - its a brutal disease - I got lucky and whilst I hav all clear wiv colonoscopy scope the bowel and its movements still have their own ideas

Thanks - the reason I asked is that if poo test had been available for your age you might not have come so close to a bad outcome. I've had polyps removed recently and they are going to scope me in three years. Meanwhile I'll continue to do the 2 yearly poo test.
I think there was a bit of scaremongering earlier on this thread which might have put people off getting tested so hopefully your story will help others. Nearer to home, my sister in law was diagnosed with colon cancer. She now has a bag for life but thankfully is doing well. She is 59.

crystal I was lucky I literally had an inch or two to spare otherwise I wuda had a permanent bag as well - questioned the girls on Friday when I got my latest scope and they said lack of pain was down to fact I had had the awkward part of bowel removed - i.e the twisty bits - trust me I don't even like a needle when they take my bloods but under sedation latest colonoscopy was a doddle and I watched it all - and originally me mates were putting my symptoms down to cutting mesel when wiping  - yeah right - go check yasel out

still gotta hav me gallbladder out though which ties in wiv ya latter comment

I had the camera four times in 18 mths and found it ok even without sedation. Only problem is taking the liquid stuff to purge your bowels. On one occasion I done everything required and set off for the hospital. When I got to the door I got my letter out and realised that I had the wrong date. I was there Monday should have been Wednesday. They said there was nothing they could do so had to go home. Had my lunch and tea and then had to start the process again. When I finally got scoped they said it was the cleanest bowel they had ever seen

lol nightmare - movieprep had to drink 2 litres of the stuff - disgusting as well .....latest was picolax half a pint both times - much better

2 bottles of Lucozade endless cups of chicken cupasoup and a bag of foxes glacier fruits - slimming world shud take note cos you sh1t for England

My mate asked my advice recently when he had to take it for the 1st time.  I said first off wear a pair of shorts, don't be more than 10 yds from the bog and when you think you've finished you haven't. He thanked me later

my latest advice re picolax was take it 7am and 7pm - didn't wake up till 9am plus so took it 1000am and 8pm - was still visting bog at 4am next day on day of procedure

Off to bed - good luck mate - nice talking to you on **** Chat

Results back. All clear.

Passing Blood Go to the Docs ASAP ,I had Pished blood earlier in the Year Mrs insisted I went docs ,Had the willie camera, BLADDER CANCER There was no repeat of the Bleed over the few weeks before I had surgery .I have been lucky Stage 1 Tumour although ,
Agressive ,Tumour Removed was all clear at the Follow up.. I have to go back in Feb for another camera

Strangely the Day of the Bleed I was going to a Funeral so was with the Mrs and Told her
when later there was no show I was all for Ignoring it ... Thankfully I did not

Well done GOT

Work in progress.  No post collection today in Ireland.  It will be posted tomorrow.
This month an eye bleed (lasered), prostate MRI scan, and bowel cancer sample.  Life is exciting.

Cheers guys. Best of luck to you both.