Oooops! There's that word.

There it is one of the more questionable benefits of advancing age, c o l o n o s c o p y. Of all the unattractive prospects, this is on the A list. Or, maybe, your medical provider, recognizing you are not going to do the colonoscopy, or are not a candidate, offers a miniature camera for you to swallow. All good, but somebody's going to go fishing for the camera you just expelled. In the alternative, maybe your medical provider, or immense insurer, sends along a DIY fecal test sampling kit, to send to a lab. (My insurer sent me a letter saying they sent the kit, but never received it back. They wanted it. The answer was obvious. I sent them a letter stating, "If you people don't send me your shit, I cannot send you mine." That's just me.

  Another thing that is just me is the purchase and consumption of bottles upon bottles of laxatives, and the trial by gut pain, which lasts until, at least, the morning after. Fear and loathing of hospitals runs this a close second for me. Anything short of death by MRSA or any gram negative infection is an uglier spectre than trial by gut-emptying torture for a night. Listen some things are at least as bad as death-by-nausea; these are two. Fear and Loathing in Conventional Medicine aside, there is plenty to consider, in terms of risks and benefits of colonoscopy. The miniature camera approach, obviously, does not permit the surgical elimination of polyps, if they are discovered in the colon. The fecal test is none too reliable; there is a chance of a false positive, a scary prospect. I can't quite imagine waiting to learn whether I have colon cancer, while going about my daily life.

   So colonoscopy is still the "gold standard," one that comes with risk. Here is an article by Dr. Mercola regarding the risk of infection. It is clear, when instruments are neither discarded, following each single use, nor effectively disinfected (effectively being the keyword,) infection can and will occur. Of course this is separate from the risk of just being in the hospital setting. Please know and understand I am not, nor would I ever discourage people from getting tests their physicians recommend. However it is up to each of us, as a patient, to be savvy and informed. Here is a link to Dr. Mercola's article: 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/12/06/endoscope-sterilization.aspx

     If you don't pick up on the "fear" of hospitals part, maybe that is good, or, just maybe you will become a clean freak during your hospital stay, and ask every person who enters your hospital room (or the room of a loved one) to wash his/her hands. However, if your doctor has ordered a colonoscopy, be prepared to ask what solution is used to clean the sigmoidoscope or colonoscope (not disposable devices.) Peracetic acid is the key; the solution used in 80% of cases is Cidex (glutaraldehyde;) it does not properly sterilize the instruments, allowing for the transfer of infectious microbes. Yep. You read me correctly ... all but 20% of providers/institutions use Cidex, THE SOLUTION WHICH IS LESS DESIRABLE. 

    Okay, then, and I trust you will not agonize over whether or not you returned the fecal sample to your provider's lab. Maybe you spared yourself some needless angst. Geez I wish this stuff, together with a battery of ineffective or likely false-positive tests, would get better. -Too much to ask?

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Coffe, Tea or ... Oh, no!

Are you a coffee drinker? Is it a guilty pleasure for you? It needn't be, although elders and friends of my acquaintance, who abstain from all caffeinated beverages seem just as lively as the rest of us. Then there are tea devotees, who enjoy the benefits of tea in glorious variety. Personally I've traveled most of my life, and I am fond of coffees and teas from all over the globe. Of all the truly restorative routines I know, the Japanese tea ceremony tops the charts; it isn't entirely the tea, itself, although the tea is delicious and invigorating. 

      Though I don't hook up a coffee i.v. in the morning to keep the flow of inspiration pumping, the morning mug brightens me no end. I expect, someday, to have my ashes scattered over a coffee or cacao plantation (organic, of course!) Why, you ask, am I on about coffee? Simply there is new research on a number of fronts. I'll concede there are layers of nutritional research, so new is a relative term. (This week's new is next week's new, new, and so forth.) 

    I was cheered to read a "New York Times" article by Aaron E. Carroll, published in May 2015. The article provides an analysis of a number of research studies regarding the risks and benefits of coffee consumption. The article is comprehensive regarding cardiovascular health risks, and goes on to reveal the results of large-scale cancer studies (involving various cancers.) Carroll concludes the news is better than "mixed;" the benefits outweigh the risks, many of which are either mythical or wildly inaccurate.

    As with everything moderation, particularly in case of one's daily caffeine "load," seems to me to be an excellent idea. Caffeine is tricky; some people become a bit brighter, maybe a bit more ambitious, after a caffeinated pick-me-up. It can certainly be abused, and can lead to anything from a mild case of the jitters to addiction. I know myself ... know I cannot consume coffee or tea, followed by other caffeinated beverages; it is once a day or not at all. Coffee and tea up my desire for "a little something" sweet, a tendency I keep at bay.    A double shot of espresso, a rare treat, will take me from loquacious fun to total brain dump. (My head always fills with ideas and words much more rapidly and in much greater quantity than I can express in conversation. Not so, if I have sufficiently strong coffee, in which case, stand back!)
   Here's a segway to a difficult subject. Like the rush toward alternative spirituality of the late Twentieth Century, the rush toward alternative cures swept the hip culture (and, eventually, the mainstream) of the U.S. I guess it was the mid- to late 1970s, when many of my friends were touting the benefits of coffee enemas. The idea began taking hold in the 1930s, in the treatment of cancer by a Dr. Max Gersten. In any event I drew the line; the idea struck me as potentially dangerous, particularly in the hands of the growing multitude of quack healers. Sure enough studies have proven again and again that, yes, coffee contains beneficial substances; however drinking a cup of coffee is much more efficacious for absorption than colonic irrigation. The real issue is the danger of septicemia, a bad word, a potentially deadly outcome (Margolin KA, Green MR. Polymicrobial enteric septicemia from coffee enemas. West J Med 1984; 140: 460.)  In short, if there were the remotest possibility of dying from septicemia, why on earth risk it? Which brings me to another subject.
   In the process of thinking about this post and researching it, I have run across new (new, new?) information concerning colon cancer and colonoscopy. I'll tackle this equally squeamy subject in my next post. Meanwhile, enjoy that hot, steaming mug of coffee ... by mouth. It has proven nutritional benefits, won't cause you cardiovascular disease or cancer. Best of all it won't stunt your growth, cher, I guarantea!