Even the screening rates in the U.S. would skyrocket. Who doesn't know someone who's put off a colonoscopy? They're really not that bad once you get the hang of them (even the prep), but most people don't do them often enough to get good at them, so they dread them more than is really necessary.
As someone who's had enough of them to have a favorite flavor of prep solution (lemon gavilyte-c, which tastes to me like a very mild lemon meringue), a couple tips:
1. Mix the solution with HOT water 12 hours before you need to drink it, and then refrigerate for the 12 hours. This way it doesn't taste salty.
2. For your "clear liquid" diet, drink bone broth with avocado oil in it, alternating with some coconut water. Get some protein and fat calories in you so you're not starving and not spiking your blood sugar all over the place. If I add 50% to my regular calorie intake, I'm not even really noticeably hungry.
Those aren't highly accurate. I think they just detect blood in the stool, which could come from one of several causes including simple haemorrhoids. If you pop positive on your ColoGuard you're expected to come in for a colonoscopy.
Those tests have a fairly high false positive rates. Hemorrhoids for example can cause a false positive, and are pretty common in people over 50 in the US.
Once you get a positive, even a false positive, health providers tend to try to switch you from an annual poop in a box test to whatever the normal colonoscopy schedule is at your age (e.g., every 10 years unless your previous colonoscopy found something that calls for a shorter interval to the next one).
Will try your tips next time. (omg, the salty is enough to stop me in my tracks!)
I've found reducing solid food a couple of days before the prep helps as does using diaper rash creme before you start the prep, all the way until you get the colonoscopy.
Also, grab some chux or plastic/garbage bags for the drive to the procedure and bring with an extra change of pants.
The saltiness goes away if you leave it long enough! I don't know why it takes so long to resolve, but it's really not bad at all this way.
Still not something I'd order off a menu at a restaurant even if it didn't have the intended effects, but it wasn't remotely unpleasant taste-wise this way.
I've used the Sutab pills and they were great. They are like a large multivitamin. The number of them is a little annoying (12 taken over about 30 minutes the night before, and another 12 over 30 minutes the next morning).
Theranos definitely made us cautious but not every new tech needs to be Theranos 2.0. Microfluidics is legit and widely used, sometimes skepticism just means asking the right questions not shutting every door.
I think Elizabeth Holmes was excited about the right stuff, but she wasn't well enough studied in the science to take it beyond the wouldn't-it-be-neat, sci-fi writing phase, and relied on "fake it till you make it" to compensate for the fact that her reach far exceeded her grasp.
How would any company get around the fact that blood is not homogeneous and if you take only a small amount you aren’t getting a representative sample of the person’s blood so you have a random shot of detecting whatever markers you are looking for?
In the full text, they did not appear to study the false positive and false negative rates. Their references to "sensitivity" were referring to the fact that they could detect even very small concentrations of the biomarker.
This is reasonable for this kind of study. I would expect a false negative / false positive rates in a study on the commercial device.
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As someone who's had enough of them to have a favorite flavor of prep solution (lemon gavilyte-c, which tastes to me like a very mild lemon meringue), a couple tips:
1. Mix the solution with HOT water 12 hours before you need to drink it, and then refrigerate for the 12 hours. This way it doesn't taste salty.
2. For your "clear liquid" diet, drink bone broth with avocado oil in it, alternating with some coconut water. Get some protein and fat calories in you so you're not starving and not spiking your blood sugar all over the place. If I add 50% to my regular calorie intake, I'm not even really noticeably hungry.
Everyone I know just poops in a box and mails it to a lab nowadays.
Once you get a positive, even a false positive, health providers tend to try to switch you from an annual poop in a box test to whatever the normal colonoscopy schedule is at your age (e.g., every 10 years unless your previous colonoscopy found something that calls for a shorter interval to the next one).
I've found reducing solid food a couple of days before the prep helps as does using diaper rash creme before you start the prep, all the way until you get the colonoscopy.
Also, grab some chux or plastic/garbage bags for the drive to the procedure and bring with an extra change of pants.
Still not something I'd order off a menu at a restaurant even if it didn't have the intended effects, but it wasn't remotely unpleasant taste-wise this way.
It is definitely worth it if you are past 45.
I find the carbonation masks most of the odd mouth-feel of the solution.
And, it's the only occasion on which I let myself indulge in that stuff :)
I have tried the Miralax/Dulcolax route for prep, though, and it made my heart rate get all weird. I felt like I was going to pass out.
Now I request Gavilyte-C by name lol
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2023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38055711 Are colonoscopies worth it?
2022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33147680 Effect of Colonoscopy Screening on Risks of Colorectal Cancer and Related Death
That’s 1 million people every year who don’t need to die because colonoscopies are extremely effective at catching early cancer.
Get your butts probed. Don’t know what else I could say really.
This is reasonable for this kind of study. I would expect a false negative / false positive rates in a study on the commercial device.
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