Identify the Signs and Symptoms for better Colorectal Cancer Awareness
Along with encouraging you to get colorectal cancer screenings regularly, we also advise that you become familiar with colorectal cancer signs and symptoms. While the indications may not be obvious at first, knowing these signs and symptoms could help identify the cancer earlier than usual.
Typical signs and symptoms of colon and rectal cancer could include the following:
- A change in your bowel movements or bowel habits
- Bloody stools
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Abdominal pains, aches, or cramps that persist
- Unintentional weight loss
- Incomplete bowel movements
How to Prevent Colon Cancer
Colon cancer is a preventable disease. Many lifestyle choices can help you reduce your risk. We’ll discuss how to prevent colon cancer with some of these strategies below.
Regular Exercise
Maintaining a healthy weight with regular exercise can improve your gut health. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle can contribute to the development of colon cancer. Daily physical activity can reduce your risk.
Plant-Based Foods
Eating a diet based on plant-based foods can reduce your risk of developing colon polyps. It can also decrease inflammation in the digestive tract. Minimizing red meats and processed meats can also improve gut health by reducing inflammation.
Screening Colonoscopy
A colonoscopy is a life-saving procedure that examines the inside of the colon and rectum. This procedure can prevent colon cancer development by detecting and removing pre-cancerous polyps before they turn into cancer.
If colon polyps become cancerous, a colonoscopy can catch cancer early. Regular preventive screening is vital to reduce your risk of colon cancer. Talk to your doctor about when you should start colon cancer screening.
Weekend Colonoscopy
Most adults over 45 need a colon cancer screening, an initial colonoscopy procedure, and follow-up screenings about every five or six years after that. Though the procedure is relatively quick and painless, the preparation may require a day or so, which is difficult for many working adults to fit around their already busy schedules.
That’s why we chose to perform colonoscopy on weekends, as well. Because no one who needs a colonoscopy should be prevented from having the procedure due to a doctor’s typical weekday schedule.
As you may already know, colonoscopy is both a diagnostic procedure and a corrective treatment. If we find polyps or tumors, we can remove them using the same endoscopic technology. Colonoscopy saves thousands of lives every year. Don’t put off yours another day, even if it happens to be a Saturday or Sunday.
Discover the convenience and benefits of weekend colonoscopy at East End Gastroenterology & Hepatology. Call 631-591-3000. Or use our convenient Request an Appointment form. Our colon cancer patients come to us from Patchogue, East End, Manorville, Mastic, Riverhead, and adjacent locations.