The Colon Club

Hi all,

I am a 33 year old female with a family history of colon cancer and wanted input from other’s about at what age colon cancer screening should begin. I’ve always known that my paternal grandmother had colon cancer when she was 52 (she passed in 2003 from breast cancer at 78). My dad passed away 6 months later and while I have never been close with my dad’s side of the family, I lost touch after he passed. I recently reconnected with my dad’s sister and asked her about a family history of any health issues.

My grandmother had 8 brothers and 5 of them passed away in their 50’s to colon cancer. My aunt said she began getting colonoscopies every 5 years at the age of 40. After finding out this information, I did make an appointment with a GI who recommended i begin colonoscopies at the age of 40. I am fine with that but when I hear of others getting diagnosed at an earlier age, it makes me wonder if i should push back on this recommendation. I’ve always been very aware of my health and knowing that my grandmother had this, I’ve been poop checking for years. I’m very regular and poop always looks pretty good with the occasional loose stool. Never seen any blood. I do have internal and external hemorrhoids that began during pregnancy and never went away. I get those checked every year by a colo rectal surgeon (who also recommends screening to begin at 40).

I appreciate any opinions.

In Denmark, where I come from they have a pretty good system (I think).

Family members over 50 when diagnosed = colonoscopy ten yers before that age.

Family member under 50 when diagnosed = colonoscopy at 25.

My friend and her brother is going through genetic testing now at 27 ( recommend at 25) because everyone on her mothers side had colon cancer.

Even though my colon cancer is not hereditary, my kids are recommended to start screening at age 40. I was 54 at my first diagnosis.

Did your dad have colorectal cancer? How old was he when he did? Do you have siblings?

You are definitely at an increased risk so waiting until 50 is out of the question. My opinion, as long as you have NO symptoms and you are poop watching you should be okay until 40 but don'y put off ANY symptoms. It's good that you stay on top of that. If you have a parent, first cousin, or sibling who was diagnosed under 50 don't wait.

WDC14 wrote:I appreciate any opinions.

Then you've come to the right place as there is a lotta' knowledge and experience here !

JMO :
With your family history I would consider pushing for more a more aggressive screening, maybe starting a c-scope earlier than even 40.
Talk with your docs about other screenings like FOBT (fecal occult blood test) and FIT (fecal immunochemical test) which both only require stool samples.
A comparison is discussed in the following links :
The effectiveness of FOBT vs. FIT: A meta-analysis on colorectal cancer screening test
A guide to FOBT and FIT tests

Finally, while c-scopes may not be a lotta fun ..... take your family history into your doc and be proactive and maybe push for one ... ????

again JMO

Best wishes and welcome to the forum

CRguy

I have a similar family history. A sibling got scoped at age 35; half a dozen polyps were found and removed. There were no more for ~20 yrs.

Here is a list of current USPTF-recommended methods of screening:

https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/RecommendationStatementFinal/colorectal-cancer-screening2#tab

The one that I would be inclined to try first is the FIT-DNA test, but that's just my personal preference. It's expensive and maybe not covered by insurance, but it would surely detect a malignant polyp or tumor if you had one. If the test turns out to be positive, then a follow-up colonoscopy is automatically indicated.

My family history was extensive: Great Grandfather, Grandfather, Mum then myself have all had bowel cancer. Otherside of the family has perfect health

Mum was 57, I was 30 and my grandfather was 40. I had no symptoms so obviously with hindsight we would have adopted a survelliance program because bowel cancer is a bad actor cancer. A colonscopy is nothing compared to treatment, if it doesn't impact then I would push for it.

nobuttgirl wrote:Did your dad have colorectal cancer? How old was he when he did? Do you have siblings?

You are definitely at an increased risk so waiting until 50 is out of the question. My opinion, as long as you have NO symptoms and you are poop watching you should be okay until 40 but don'y put off ANY symptoms. It's good that you stay on top of that. If you have a parent, first cousin, or sibling who was diagnosed under 50 don't wait.

Thank you for the feedback! My dad did not have colorectal cancer. He passed away at 40 after struggling with addiction. When i spoke to his sister, her scans have always come back clear. Her children are starting colonoscopies this year and they are 36 and 38.

Thank you all! This seems to always be in the back of my mind and i wanted to ensure that my doctor was looking at ME and MY history and making that recommendation. 40 seems to be about right but i may push for screening in the next year or two.

Mine is hereditary (diagnosed at 42) so the protocol for my kids would be genetic testing around 18-25, then they would also start colonoscopies at 25 or so.

The gene that likely was the primary driver for mine is one of the Lynch genes that is not associated with obvious suite of other cancers - there really was no family history, which certainly caught me off guard. Dad is in mid 70's, carries the same gene (had testing done after my diagnosis), and has had a few polyps but nothing else... If I would have known I carried this, I would have started colonoscopies much earlier and likely it would have been caught.