COLONOSCOPY DANGERS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Colonoscopy is a medical procedure in which an instrument that looks like a long tube is inserted in the rectum. The doctor can then look inside the instrument and view the walls of the colon as it is inserted further and further inside the large intestine. He or she can also take samples of any tissue that does not look healthy.

The test is done to detect colon cancer. This is the second most common type of cancer among adults in America today, and common in many nations around the world. It is recommended in the USA for everyone over age 50, once every 10 years.

However …

Did you know that 1 of every 350 colonoscopies causes severe health problems, and 1 of every 1000 colonoscopies causes death? This translates into 15,000 deaths from colonoscopy procedures each year in the USA alone. These statistics should make anyone pause before getting this procedure.

HARMFUL EFFECTS OF COLONOSCOPIES

These are:

1. Infection from improperly sterilized colonoscopy tubes. Some say that up to 80% of the colonoscopy tubes are not properly sterilized.

2. Perforation of the colon.

3. Harm from the anesthesia.

4. Intestinal problems from flushing out the colon for the procedure.

5. False positive and false negative results. A false positive occurs when the doctor says you have colon cancer, but you really do not. This causes unnecessary stress, expense and harm from the use of toxic chemotherapy drugs, surgery and/or radiation that is not really needed.

A false negative means that the test missed a cancer. This is certainly possible, especially if the cancer is small and thus hard to see.

ALTERNATIVES TO COLONOSCOPIES

1. Fecal blood. You can test yourself for blood in the stool with a simple home test or at the doctor’s office. This is not considered quite as good to detect cancer, but it is simple and non-invasive.

2. Sigmoidoscopy. You can have a simpler and much safer test called a sigmoidoscopy. This procedure is somewhat similar to a colonoscopy but it only checks the last foot or so of the colon. This is where many cancers are.

3. Nutritional balancing. The best alternative is to follow a complete nutritional balancing program, including the use of coffee enemas. So far, I have never observed a case of colon cancer develop in a person who does this.

If you decide on this alternative, I do not think you need the other tests, based on our research. However, the other alternatives are fairly safe if you want to have them. Personally, I would avoid colonoscopies. However, I never tell clients to avoid medical procedures if they prefer to get them.

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

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