![\"Colonoscopy](\"http:\/\/www.schechtermd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Colonoscopy-Prevention-testing-David-Schechter-300x225.jpg\")
If you’re a patient of my practice or are considering being one, you will know that I never force a patient to do anything they do not want to do. \u00a0However I will advocate strongly for tests and procedures that I believe can be of benefit to\u00a0you such as a colonoscopy.<\/p>\n
I feel that colonoscopy is one of those tests. \u00a0Everyone should get one at age 50 (higher risk patients earlier; African-American patients at 45 per guidelines). \u00a0Get another in 5-10 years after your first, sooner if any polyps are found. \u00a0Keep getting them until at least age 75. \u00a0I feel that no one needs to die of colon cancer. \u00a0Just get this test and keep the polyps from growing and changing into the cancers of tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Is it horrible? \u00a0The preparation drink the day before is not pleasant. \u00a0It doesn’t taste great and it makes you go to the bathroom many times to clean yourself out. \u00a0It’s not a fun evening before, I will admit. \u00a0The procedure itself– this is where everyone is apprehensive. \u00a0But nowadays, most patients are given an intravenous (IV), put lightly to sleep with an anesthetic, and awaken in the recovery area well-rested. \u00a0You miss one day of work and you mark one area of the body off the ‘worry’ list. \u00a0That is really important.<\/p>\n
So get a colonoscopy. \u00a0I can refer you to gastroenterology (GI) doctors who do the procedure in their office, in a surgical center, at Cedars Sinai Hospital, or elsewhere. \u00a0You double check that they are providers for your health insurance, that the facility is as well, and the anesthesiologist who makes the procedure so easy. \u00a0Then you meet the doctor for a visit and schedule the test.<\/p>\n
I feel really strongly about the test and I’ve had it done myself, so I know of what I speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you’re a patient of my practice or are considering being one, you will know that I never force a patient to do anything they do not want to do. \u00a0However I will advocate strongly for tests and procedures that I believe can be of benefit to\u00a0you such as a colonoscopy. I feel that colonoscopy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.schechtermd.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}