They want my friend to have a colonscopy done because it runs in her family, but wouldn't she notice something was wrong bowel habits or pain or blood showing when she goes to the bath room.
Hi there
It's sound like the doctors are just taking precautions with your friend, as you do say it runs in her family.
If she is not showing any signs of colorectal cancer, then it is unlikely that she has it. Im sure the colonoscopy is just being done an appropriate precaution to rule out any possibilities that they have come up with.
In the unlikely case of it turning out to be colorectal cancer, it has most likely been caught in its early stages, the reason why I state this is because you mentioned that she has no symptoms. So this would mean that treatment would be very successful for her.
But I a feeling that all will turn out to be normal.
Best Wish's
The majority of cancers have no unique symptoms until they are advanced . .that is one reason cancer is so deadly . . and the reason is simple. Cancer is your own cells, your own DNA that for an unknown reason mutates and loses the ability to stop growing. A cancer cell will grow indefinitely unless treatment stops it. Since cancer cells are your own DNA the body does not recognize the danger . . the immune system treats a cancer cell just like it treats a normal cell . . the body will feed and nourish and protect the cancer cell the same way it does any other cell in the body. A tumor can co-exist quite nicely inside the body for an undetermined amount of time just by bending around organs or structures. It isn't until tumors either grow big enough or begin to interfere with normal body functions that they are noticed. The reason for the colonoscopy is because small colon malignancies can reside quite easily and unnoticed inside the colon for quite some time . . it stands to reason that it is far easier to treat a small tumor than it is a larger one that has spread. So the doctor will exam the inside of the colon and remove anything suspicious while it is still small.
In other words, if your friend has the hereditary type of cancer than it may just be too small to be causing any issues at all . . the doctor is just being cautious. It's a relatively easy procedure and your friend should do it for several reasons . . one – to make sure she does not have anything cancerous right now and two – to establish a well baseline so her doctor can compare this colonoscopy to any future colonoscopies she may have – again checking for early signs of cancer.
Sometimes symptoms take months to appear. if it was me personally I would be glad the dr. is actually taking precaution. Colon cancer symptoms are tricky and like I said do not appear right away. if it can be caught early that's awesome and if everything comes back normal then that's just peace of mind. I would recommend your friend get it done, just to be on the safe side. Cancer is taking too many lives now adays, because it's getting caught too late.
Recurrent persistent occult in stool microscopy is most warning sign with anemia in a person with family history must have regular colonoscopy to rule out cancer colon.
Due to family history she is high risk group,need not have any symptoms.
Many colon cancers don't give any symptoms for a long time. by doing colonoscopies in people at significant risk of developing colon cancer the doctors can remove adenomatous polyps before they become cancer (or detect cancers while they are very small and easily curable).