WASHINGTON — It’s recommended that everyone older than 50 get screened for colon cancer, and a local doctor has tips for the prep process, which some can find more unpleasant than the actual procedure.
For starters, follow those instructions closely.
“Start on schedule, follow the instructions and be prepared to drink a little bit more [of the bowel-clearing solution typically prescribed] if your prep is not, shall we say, ‘clear’ when you get to the end of the instructions,” said Dr. David Shocket, chief of gastroenterology at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
The most common mistakes people make, Shocket said, is eating the day before the procedure, not sticking to a clear liquid diet and drinking less than prescribed. And without the proper preparation measures, doctors might not be able to see subtle lesions or flat polyps that might be lurking behind folds in the colon.
“The worst thing in the world would be for your doctor to say: ‘Boy, your prep is lousy. You need to come back,'” Shocket said.
“You want to drink as much as it takes so it’s coming out clear yellow from below,” he added. “It should be clear yellow with no residue.”
Some tips recommended by Shocket to help make drinking the solution more palatable.
- Drink it chilled
- Drink it through a straw
- Flavor it with something, such as Crystal Light
- Suck on a hard candy
“Clear liquids are fine, so ingesting hard candy is absolutely acceptable,” Shocket said.
Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third-most-common cancer diagnosed in the United States, according to MedStar. More than 135,000 cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2017.
With early detection, colon cancer is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer.
