Diagnostic Tests

[RobertW900]

One of the most important tests I've come across is a Fecal Occult Blood test. It determines if you have blood in your stool which you can't see. A lot of people under value this test, because they don't want to waste their time or money on it. Here's what I discovered when I was doing some research on colon cancer:

There are virtually no symptoms for colon cancer until it is advanced to the point where it is dangerous and deadly for the patient. The earliest symptom one can diagnose is blood in your stool. As your stool passes through your colon, it will pick up blood from the agitated polyps. Colon cancer is NOT the only reason for blood in your stool, but it is a strong indicator that something is wrong with you. If treated early, colon cancer can be eliminated with little risk and treatments have a very high success rate. If caught late, the risks are far greater and complications can be very serious.

The first time I heard about a FOB test was when my dad threw his take home test from the doctor in the garbage. The next time I heard about it was when my doctor told me I needed a colonoscopy because I casually mentioned I had, in the past, had blood when I wiped which I attributed to pop corn. Whether I was right or wrong, it turned out I had several polyps which the doctor was able to remove, and which were thankfully benign.

Since then, I've been using FOB tests which I buy online to monitor the health of my colon. While I'm scheduled for exams now every couple years, I no longer have insurance and can't afford to pay for a colonoscopy. To give myself peace of mind, I take the FOB tests that I get from colonhealthcheck.com. There is a great article about them on about.com and they have a lot of great information on their web site.

The last thing I want to stress is that colon cancer, and most other cancers, can be treated much more easily if they're caught early. It isn't worth it putting off going to the doctor because you don't want to hear bad news or you're frightened or you're sure nothing is wrong. I took a chance never having my rectal bleeding looked at and I got lucky that it wasn't serious. I'm never going to press my luck again.