There are a lot of good things about turning 50. You're more self-aware and more confident. You no longer sweat the small stuff. And if you took care of yourself in the decades prior to hitting the half-century mark, you're probably in pretty good shape. On the 50-really-stinks side of things: It's time to schedule a colonoscopy. That involves letting a doctor insert a flexible tube up your bum to check for polyps that could lead to colorectal cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death.
As a health reporter, I've written about the lifesaving benefits of colonoscopy for ages. Yet I put off my own procedure for 2 years. I told myself I didn't have the time (even as I told others to make the time). The truth was I dreaded the necessary bowel cleansing, aka "the prep." (Are your insides out of whack? Then try The Good Gut Diet.)
After being read a modified riot act by my primary care doctor (I was compliant with everything else except this screen), I finally made the appointment. Then I canceled it. Then I made it again. And I eventually went through with it. (Here are tips to get over your colonoscopy fears.)
Guess what? There are things far worse than the bowel cleansing. Think an infestation of termites, identity theft, or, of course, colon cancer—which, if you have a colonoscopy, could be discovered and treated early.
If you're shying away from having the screening, it's probably because you feel like you don't know what you're signing up for. I'm here to enlighten you.
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