Integrative Health Blog

Colon Cancer Testing

Posted by on Wed, Mar 24, 2021


March Is Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Get Tested.

An article about colon cancer testing may seem irrelevant at a time when everyone is discussing coronavirus, but let’s not forget that there are equally important health risks lurking in the shadows. 

Assessing patients for colon cancer is part of my functional medicine comprehensive gastrointestinal evaluation that all of my patients over 45 years old receive, especially those with a strong family history of colon cancer and those who have endured long-term severe symptoms of gastrointestinal/ GI dysfunction, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease and chronic constipation.  To do this I use the Cologuard Stool Test. Once in a while the Cologuard test comes back positive, and it is very gratifying to pick up colon cancer at an early stage when it has the greatest chance to be treated.  Of course, I also proceed to investigate my patient’s biochemistry to find the underlying causes of colon cancer so that it does not recur, which usually includes a search for genetic vulnerabilities and an in-depth stool test to find abnormalities in my patient’s microbiome.

Cologuard:  At-home Colon Cancer Screening Test

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Tags: cancer prevention, gastrointestinal issues

Which Room in Your Home Has the Biggest Cancer-Fighting Potential?

Posted by on Mon, Feb 13, 2017

Is it your bedroom, where you can get restful sleep regularly? 

Maybe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer had classified shift-work “that involves circadian disruption" (disruption of the 24 hour biological clock) as probably cancer causing to humans (Straif, 2007), but a large study published in 2016 did not find a statistically significant relationship between shift work and cancer (Travis, 2016). So avoid shift work if you can, perhaps the jury is still out on this one.

Is it your garden?

Although not a room in your home, you can garden organically and avoid pesticide exposure, or use lawn maintenance services that avoid chemical pesticides. Why? Certain pesticides are known to increase breast cancer (triazine pesticides), lung cancer (carbamate and phenoxyherbicides) and brain and blood cancers in children (indoor insecticides) (Sanborn, 2004).

Is it your bathroom, where you use multiple personal products made with dozens of chemicals, every day?

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Tags: cancer, cancer prevention