Letter: Can you have a colonoscopy without sedation?

So what about me? Why did I choose to get sedation? Surely I could have toughed-out the pain of the procedure, right? I truthfully think I would have been fine without sedation. However there is one thing that I've learned from being a physician who does procedures for a living: Sometimes there are unintended bad consequences of going against the standard of care.

Sleep is a drug, and most of us need more of it!

Why do we get tired at the end of the day and then spend roughly one-third of each day unconscious? Here are some basics about sleep in general. Also, does lack of sleep cause dementia? What GI problems come from sleep deprivation? What can we do about all of this?

Letter: What to do when the colonoscopy prep doesn’t work?

But what if it's too late? If you're reading this while in the midst of a potentially failed bowel prep don't despair! There are many ways to salvage a bowel prep and still have a safe, high-quality colonoscopy the next day. It all depends on what time you take action; If you wait until 2 hours before the procedure is scheduled than nothing can be done, but if you're already having issues the night before you can totally recover from this and be fine. This is what I usually recommend...

“Doctor, are you SURE?”

Hubris is a killer. Fight it with humility! In medicine, we often don't know why things happen as they do, and it can be hard to say "I don't know" when faced with certain questions.  Some patients view uncertainty very unfavorably and want total confidence by their doctor all the time. How do you feel when your doctor says "I don't know"?

How exactly does alcohol cause liver problems?

Alcohol is basically poison that people ingest willingly for pleasure, but just how much alcohol does it take to poison your liver? First we need to understand what alcohol does to the liver once ingested.

When all the tests are normal

"The doctors all said my test results were normal. Are they missing something?" Don’t discount this common cause of gastrointestinal distress without some careful introspection first.