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Anyone have a positive Cologuard test?
Colorectal Cancer | Last Active: Mar 25 8:45am | Replies (299)Comment receiving replies
I had my first Colonoscopy at 51 (average no family risk factors). I was good and I was told to come back in 10 years for another. Fast forward I was due for one this year and opted for Cologuard screening instead. It came back abnormal and now I need to follow up with a Colonoscopy. I was on the fence in the first place and should have done Colonoscopy. Now my anxiety is up and I am not trying to go down the rabbit hole about this. I feel fine and have no GI symptoms to speak of. I have read a lot about false positives (my PCP told me 13%) and I have suffer in the past from hemorrhoids/fissures. Anyone else have this experience that they can share? I just wished now I would have gone with my first instinct and just gotten colonoscopy.
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For anyone who is interested, I thought it might be useful to post a link to this study, which looks at patient attitudes and experiences that positively and negatively influenced whether they completed the mt-sDNA test kit (Cologard) and expected to do so in the future:
- Attitudes and Experiential Factors Associated with Completion of mt-sDNA Test Kit for Colorectal Cancer Screening https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23743735231213765
This was published in the Journal of Patient Experience in 2023. It does involve some Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences (the maker of Cologard) authors. It touches on the patient anxiety that @dbchip mentions, but it is not entirely focused on the emotional side of its use (i.e., some of it looks at comfort, embarrassment, ease of use and following instructions, etc.)
Okay did Cologuard, the results were positive. I went for a colonoscopy and it was normal.
How annoying…
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An acquaintance had cologuard because he didn't want the colonoscopy. It came back positive. He had the colonoscopy, had a polyp removed, and he's good to go with screening every 5 years. Plus I had read that some doctors say don't use cologuard if you have hemorrhoids, because of the presence of blood triggers the positive response. Seems like you either have nothing, or you have something that probably can be easily handled with a colonoscopy. Don't stress yourself unless you learn otherwise. BTW, the first time I was referred to the hospital for follow up breast imaging due to a suspect mammogram, I worked myself up into a tizzy. Turned out nothing wrong, a lot of false positives there too. Good luck!