Anyone had an abnormal Cologard and got referred for colonoscopy?

This last time, I felt particularly bloated after the prep and it lasted for over 48 hours. I did not go to the bathroom till past 72 hours after the colonoscopy. This last aspect could be due to my having a LAR.

No first hand knowledge here but I hope people read your experience...it is so common...the stress of the positive results of Cologuard is just not worth it. Just get the Colonoscopy and know what is what and if there are polyps they are painlessly removed.

Hi, @dbchip. This may sound like a downer, but I'm trusting it will be a message of hope. Basically the worst I could have imagined occurred after my abnormal result from the Cologard DNA stool test, but now everything is all right.

My primary care doctor referred me for a colonoscopy. I was concerned at that point, but my doctor seemed to think it was likely something benign that was no big deal. My husband also is really big on not spending energy and time worrying about theoreticals, so I did not spend a lot of time worrying precolonoscopy. I did my colonoscopy pretty promptly after the stool DNA test.

I got my colonoscopy results back on a Friday afternoon, so it was not surprising that no one interpreted them for me over the weekend. I do not fully understand pathology or radiology results. These medical professionals just speak their own language. So I was reading a lot of jargon in my patient portal, one sentence of which made it look like I could have cancer. My husband did not fully understand it, either, and thought maybe it was saying I had some kind of marker for cancer. It was a little bit scary.

Well, I learned that Monday I did have cancer, a neuroendocrine tumor found alongside a couple of polyps. That was super surprising to me, especially as this cancer is rare. My doctors launched a series of different types of imaging and testing to find out if there was any residual tumor. My tumor was found in late July 2023, and I spent a lot of time going to the doctor that fall.

Long story short, the doctors learned that the colonoscopy had gotten all trace of cancer out of my body. I had a bit of residual trauma, I'd say, from the whole experience and the scanxiety people talk about (in one scan, I had tears flowing down my cheeks on both sides the whole time). But in a couple months that was all kind of a distant memory, and I've been perfectly normal since.

dbchip, have you had the colonoscopy? If so, what did they find?

Yes I had my colonoscopy a few months back. They found two small Sessile serrated adenoma polyps. I need to return in 3 years for another. The Cologuard just caused anxiety. I will never use it again.

Don't understand stress of Cologuard. To me it is reassurance. I need colonoscopy every 5 yrs due to polyps. My dr does cologuard in between. I had a positive - showed polyp. Had colonoscopy to remove- precancer. If I hadn't had it done, by next colonoscopy would have been cancer.

Cons:
Not as accurate.
Can't determine what you have.

I have colonoscopy every 3 years, same as Cologuard. They developed the Cologuard to get people to screen since so many don't.

Yes, but no harm getting one in between colonoscopy. Mine was accurate. My G.I. doctor told me one of three possibilities with test- can show cancer, polyps or nothing is wrong.

I am on 3-year recall also, have history of polyps. Better to bite the bullet and get the colonoscopy which is the gold standard.

Cologuard is better than nothing. Many reports on here about the test's stress inducing impact when ++ result is found. Many times false ++. If it is working for you great but for many people better just to get the colonoscopy.

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!