Gut Check: The Lifesaving Power of Colorectal Screening

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths but up to 90% of cases could be prevented through proper screening and early intervention.

• Colonoscopies are the gold standard for screening, allowing doctors to detect and remove precancerous polyps before they become dangerous
• Screening age has been lowered from 50 to 45 years for everyone, even without symptoms or family history
• Polyps are initially benign growths but can develop into cancer if left untreated
• Alternative screening options include Cologuard (stool DNA test), CT colonography, and FIT tests
• The preparation process is the most challenging part of a colonoscopy, not the procedure itself
• Gut health impacts overall wellness including immune function, nutrient processing, and more
• Cancer thrives in areas with rapidly growing cells, making the constantly-working gut vulnerable

If you need assistance accessing Cologuard or FIT tests, visit us at hamiltontelehealth.com, where we can guide you through your screening options.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Tattoos and Telehealth Intro
• 1:09 Importance of Colorectal Cancer Prevention
• 2:50 Colonoscopies: The Gold Standard Screening
• 5:16 Alternative Screening Options
• 10:10 Gut Health's Crucial Role
• 11:55 Episode Closing and Resources

Transcript

Nicole: 0:21

I go intro.

Kelli: 0:22

Yep, sure, good morning guys. Welcome back to another episode of tattoos and telehealth. I am Kelli White and this is my friend and great colleague, nicole Baldwin, and we have some information today just about screenings and things that you can do regarding upkeep and maintenance stuff that you should be doing on your own. So I am a big proponent of patients taking ownership of their health, meaning I want you to do the things on your end that you're supposed to be doing, we'll do the things on our end that we're supposed to be doing and together we'll tackle this beast that's called healthcare right.

Kelli: 0:56

And one of the things that is near and dear to me especially is rectal and colon cancer, and you know there are a lot of things that we can do on our own to make sure that that's not something that we have to face once it's too late, and oftentimes that's something that happens, it's found when it's too late. So I'm going to let Nicole take off and give us some information about that, but first our lawyers make us say that this podcast does not indicate medical advice. This also does not indicate that we have a patient provider relationship. This is just two girls that happen to love tattoos, that happen to love medicine and we enjoy talking to our patients about all the things. And, by the way, nicole, I think it's time for a new tattoo.

Nicole: 1:42

You know what it is. It is. It is this one's about three or four years old, this one's about, probably about three. So this one must be like more, like five. It's time, it's been a minute, it's been a minute.

Kelli: 1:58

It's time my arm is completely healed, which you know. That just means it's time to unheal some flesh.

Nicole: 2:03

I love it. I love it.

Kelli: 2:05

We'll got to do it. And then our listeners can, you know, see our new tats? It'd be great. I love it, I love it, I love it. All right, so talk to us about colorectal health screenings. What's available? I know there's some less invasive options out there for patients. I also know that the screening ages changed recently, like it went from 50 to 45, I think.

Nicole: 2:27

It did, it did.

Nicole: 2:28

So, I just want to start with this. Sources estimate that 75 to 90% of cancer colon cancer cases could be prevented. 90% of cancer, colon cancer cases could be prevented. So let's just sit on that for a minute. Cancer is typically pain less until it's huge, until it's huge Right, and so when it starts to press on nerves and affect other organs, then it becomes painful. It can become painful, but a lot of cases cancer itself is not painful and so we don't know that. We even have it a lot of times until it's too late, and that's why cancer is already stage two, stage three, stage four before we find it right Because it grows quietly.

Nicole: 3:08

But up to 90% of colon cancers can be prevented with screenings, and colonoscopies are the gold standard and there are non-invasive other options. But what a colonoscopy does is it allows uh, gastrointestinal doctors to examine the inner lining of your colon and the rectum and it's, you know, used a very thin tube with a camera at the end and they can take a look for precancerous polyps, inflammation or bleeding. They can. They can find cancer, diverticulosis. You know diverticulitis if it's, if it's flared up. But when you have a polyp During that colonoscopy your GI doctor will typically takes them out.

Nicole: 3:51

And polyps in themselves at the early stages are very benign. It's like a mole, right, it's just, it's very benign, but it can turn into cancer and so during the colonoscopy they can actually be taken out and it's cauterized. So there's no bleeding and there's no nerve endings on the inside of the colon. So you don't feel it, right, you don't. You don't, you don't feel it, and that's why we don't feel the polyps, we don't feel them growing, right, it's because we don't have nerve endings on the inside of our lining. So it doesn't whether they took a polyp out, took 10 out, took none out, you would be none the wiser, right? But when they go in there and they find polyps if you have some they take them out, and so they never have the chance to grow into cancer Like it's, you know, gone.

Nicole: 4:49

Now are polyps precancerous lesions, or are they benign or what? What are polyps? So? Polyps are little, think of, like little skin tags. So polyps are little, um balls of of fat, of lining, and they, they they initially are not most of the time, not um, cancerous, they're benign. But as they grow, the cells change and cancer is abnormal cell growth, and so it's when those cells start to be abnormal, as they, as they get older, as the polyps grow, that it turns into cancer. So them themselves are not.

Nicole: 5:20

But, like Kelli mentioned everyone, it was the standard for everyone if you're 50, you start getting colonoscopies every every 10 years, and that was recently reduced to 45, even with no symptoms and no family history. And so if you have a family history, um, or conditions like irritable bowel disease, you may even need to start earlier. So is so how often do I have to do it? Every 10 years is standard. However, most GI doctors, if they find a polyp, they'd like you to come in every five years, and that's because you are. If you, if you have polyps, then that automatically means hey, you might have another one, right? And so they want to go in as soon as possible and take them out, and so it is important for you to make sure that if you have some type of history family history, polyp history, because you've had them before um, that you go back every, every every five years. So it's just it's proactive medicine, right? So during the procedure the precancerous polyps can be removed, stopping cancer before it starts Very, very proactive. So it's very much similar to like mammograms. You go and, as women, we go and we see if there's anything small that can be seen and if so, we take it out before it gets into the chest wall, before it grows bigger, right. So screenings are super important. It's for prevention. I would much rather find a little polyp and take it out and be done than have really put it off until it's grown out of control. The GI doctor goes in, you go in for a screening and now cancer is all over the place, and so it is super, super important and I just want to stress the importance of these screenings.

Nicole: 7:12

You're sedated, you won't remember a thing. It's you know. Complications are very rare for a colonoscopy and the benefits overall far outweigh the risk for most people. So if you won't do a colonoscopy because of whatever reason, maybe you're even not a candidate for anesthesia. There is stool dna, like coligard. Um, there's a ct colonography that can be done. There's a fecal um, it's called a fit test. Um, it's a fecal immunochemical test that you can do and these are all you know. Stool, the, the fit in the col, the color guard are DNA. They'll look for polyps and look for things, but there is a higher error margin than actually going in and looking right. It's kind of like you can get a snapshot of something on an x-ray but there's nothing like going inside and taking a look right. There's things that can be missed, and so those are options that you know.

Nicole: 8:08

If either you can't do a colonoscopy, for whatever reason, or you're like I ain't doing that, um, that's okay. But colorectal cancer is common it's the second leading cause of cancer deaths but very treatable when caught early. So screening is super, super, just it's a superhero move for your health, for your colon, for your rectum. So, um, it is super important. So if you're 45 or you have a family history, make sure that you schedule your colonoscopy. Um, it really is not a big deal.

Nicole: 8:42

The biggest deal is the prep right. The biggest deal is getting your colon clean. It's you know. Now it's much easier. You can take pills instead of. You know, every GI person has their, had, their own preference, whether you drink the liquid or you take the pills, or whatever the case may be.

Nicole: 8:56

That's the roughest part really, um, is cleaning out that colon, and the importance of cleaning it out is so we can get a good image, because nobody wants to go through all of this, go to the procedure and then the GI doctor look in and it's all muddied up, if you know what I mean. So, if they, if they're going to, if you're going to go, if you're going to do it, make sure you're cleaned out good so they can see what they need to see. Um, cause if you're full of poop, you're not gonna be able to see very much. So, um, we just wanted to make sure we touched on that today. There's a lot, a lot. There's an increase in cancers. There's this is just, it's so preventable, it's so, so preventable and treatable if caught in the earlier stages, even before cancer. So that's really what we wanted to touch on today and just to let you know to go get it done. It could truly save your life.

Kelli: 9:47

And if you don't do it for yourself, do it for your family and those that love you Well and the other thing you know to keep in mind is you guys hear me all the time harp on gut health, gut health, gut health. There's a reason why colon cancer is so prevalent, guys your gut is working all the time. It never gets a break. It does not get a break. Its job is not just to break down and process food and let you defecate it out. That's not all it does. It literally is the secondary powerhouse next to your brain, like it is doing big things, like it's controlling your immune does. It literally is the secondary powerhouse next to your brain, like it is doing big things, like it's controlling your immune system. It's taking care of your electrolytes and your minerals and your protein and your nutrients, like it literally is the power. That's why there's so many guts in there, like there's a lot to do. So it's constantly working and if it's not happy, you are not happy and we're going to. You know we're going to talk later about how your gut health can affect your weight, how it can affect your sleep, how it can affect everything.

Kelli: 10:42

So you know, like Nicole said, colon cancer is preventable, guys. It is curable when caught early. But it is so prevalent because it is working all the time. And guys, cancer loves to be in an area where things are constantly turning over, because that's what cancer is. It is a rapidly abnormally growing cell and so if it can live in an area where there are rapidly growing cells, it can jump in, do the same and hide.

Kelli: 11:09

So that's why it's so incredibly important for you guys to do this and, like Nicole said, there are some less invasive ways that you can take a quick look. Just know that if those tests are abnormal, we're going to recommend you to go get that colonoscopy. So let us know. If you need any help getting your hands on the Cologuard or the FIT test, we can guide you in the right direction. Help you get those ordered, let us know. But we definitely want you all to know what the guidelines are. Like Nicole said, 45 now, definitely if you have a family history, it could be sooner for you. So take care of your health, guys. Take care of your guts, yep.

Nicole: 11:43

All right, guys, that's all we have for you today, Just a quick snippet that could save your life. So you can find us at hamiltontelehealthcom if you need anything from us, and we'll be, we'll be happy to happy to chat with you, happy to see you. But today is just about little things you can do to save your life.

Kelli: 12:02

Perfect, all right. All right, guys, y'all take care. Bye.