From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Taking xanax,valium before a colonoscopy
Message-ID: <DFTy9.1391$tW4.165386@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 18:48:03 GMT

Keith F. Lynch wrote in message ...
>Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com> wrote:
>> Yep.  That or midazolam (already discussed) is common as pre-op med
>> these days.  The only question for some people is whether or not
>> they need something else taken at home, to get them through the
>> door, so to speak.  Some do.
>
>Is it allowed to have a colonoscopy with no medication at all?

I suppose. It hurts moderately, though.


>At what age (if any) should an apparently healthy man have a
>colonoscopy?


Somewhere around 40. But even people without risk factors have died of
colo-rectal cancer younger. So 35 if you have everything else taken care of.

Of course, it makes no sense to spend money at age 35 or even 40 on
colonoscopy if you drink heavily, if you're a woman who smokes and takes the
pill, or if you drive little cars fast, tailgate people in your pickup, or
do other many thing which are more of a health risk.  Men should pay
attention to their arteries in middle age, before they start worry about
cancer screening. Work hardest on modifying the risk factors for what's
likely to kill you at whatever age you are. At 35 for most people, that's
drinking, your car, gravity sports, or some bad combination of those.

SBH

--
I welcome email from any being clever enough to fix my address. It's open
book.  A prize to the first spambot that passes my Turing test.

From: "Howard McCollister" <nospam@nospam.net>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Sedation During Anesthesia, acompaniament after local surgery
Date: 15 May 2003 00:29:25 -0500
Message-ID: <3ec3233f$0$1295$45beb828@newscene.com>

<sleazy@scummyISP.com> wrote in message
news:r7q5cvc7lob4rqf7rd609hf2oqcivdfikh@4ax.com...
> "Howard McCollister" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote:
>
> >Other than a little topical xylocaine jelly for the anus, there's no
> >local anesthesia for colonoscopy. The visceral pain of the colon wall
> >stretching from the scope being advanced and distending from the air
> >(not CO2) going in cannot be blocked by local anesthetic.
>
> Aha! So that's the reason for all the dancing around. Or is it? Don't
> females having babies have a spinal block which deadens the whole
> area? And there you have to worry about the effect on the fetus. No
> such complication for the contents of the colon. At some point along
> the spinal column you must be able to stop all feeling below the rib
> cage. Alternatively if that's not possible, general anesthesia seems
> to be the only option.
>

Neither spinal nor epidural anesthesia have any appreciable effect on the
fetus.

Intravenous conscious sedation works fine for colonoscopy. There is simply
no possible way to justify regional or general anesthesia for colonoscopy on
any kind of routine basis.

HMc

From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Virtual Colonoscopy
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 21:08:14 -0700
Message-ID: <bgv7qa$p70$1@slb6.atl.mindspring.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote in message
news:bgv0b8$95l$1@panix1.panix.com...
> Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com> wrote:
> > There are plenty of alternatives to valium. For example Versed or a
> > narcotic and low dose propofol.
>
> Is it possible to have a colonoscopy with no drugs at all?
> --


Sure. Pain level is mild to moderate, not nearly at the
level of surgery. Not even up there with childbirth or even
tooth extraction.