u/triathlonspider

In 2025 there was a preliminary study presented at ASCO 2025 and subsequently published in Cancer Epidemiology that reported a relatively high prevalence of colorectal adenomas, including advanced adenomas, among a small cohort of extreme endurance runners. While the study is clearly hypothesis-generating and not sufficient to establish causality, I found the findings extremely intriguing. Funnily enough, I used to compete in road races on a national level for my country and generally thought I had a healthy diet and lifestyle, but ended up with a tuberous adenoma when I did my colonoscopy at 21 as well. There’s no family history of colorectal cancer on my end.

Anecdotally, have you observed a similar pattern among endurance athletes undergoing colorectal cancer screening? What are your thoughts on the proposed mechanisms such as repeated splanchnic hypoperfusion, alterations in the gut microbiome and chronic inflammation?

Last year I coincidentally found out through some scans that only half of my uterus has developed (a condition called unicornuate uterus). Most people find out about this when they’re trying to conceive/have recurrent miscarriages, but it was completely coincidental for me. This doesn’t mean having kids is completely impossible, it’s more that it is high risk and will come with a bunch of complications/risks of miscarriage. I was in a relationship at the time with someone I thought I was gonna marry. All along I knew he was someone who really wanted kids and a big family with 3-4 kids. I would like to have kids as well but am fine with having none too if my partner doesn’t want to/if infertility is part of the picture.

When I first learnt the news regarding the scan, I was really afraid to tell him because I was scared he was going to break up with me over this. I still told him and asked what he’d do if I turn out to be unable to have kids and would he stay with me. His answer at the time was he wasn’t sure, because he loved me but he really really wanted to have kids on his own. I was still in med school at the time and felt like this was just a ticking time bomb where I’m waiting to find out whether I really am infertile due to this and whether he was gonna leave, which creates quite a bit of anxiety. I was very depressed when I found out about this. Anyway we broke up sometime this year and I’m starting to think about dating again. It’s a weird situation to be in because most people find out about unicornuate uterus while married and trying to conceive, but here I am single and looking for new partners.

Do I tell a new partner about these fertility issues? And when would be a good time?

Say for example you’re dating someone new and he explicitly tells you he has dismissive avoidant attachment. And his biggest pet peeve in a relationship is if the partner doesn’t have self respect and agrees with everything he says. What would you do at this point? Would you think twice about entering into a relationship? It’s not easy to know how someone actually acts attachment wise that early when you meet. Interested to know what people with different attachment styles will do here.

What if you meet someone new and they explicitly tell you they’re dismissive avoidant? Are you gonna think twice regarding entering a relationship with them? According to my experience, when I asked about what somebody’s biggest relationship red flags are, they tend to answer something like they don’t want someone who always agrees with them and doesn’t have self respect.