So, ever been through colonoscopy prep?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It’s changed somewhat in the eight years between my previous one and this evening’s reaming out.

Eight years ago I had to choke down two little bottles of the single most nauseatingly vile stuff I have ever encountered. This time I’ve had to mix an entire bottle of a powdered laxative into 96 ounces of Gatorade (anything but red), which is far more

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palatable than the other stuff. Of course, I now associate Gatorade with colonoscopy prep, but fortunately it’s not a drink I was a fan of before, so developing a distasteful association is no

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big deal. So here I am, quaffing my way through two 32-ounce jugs of the stuff, one eight-ounce glassful every 15 minutes, with the happy prospect of getting up at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning in

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order to gulp my way, at the same 15-minute intervals, through the last jugful. Then I get to wait till almost noon for the deed itself to be done. Which is probably the least unpleasant part of the whole process, since they knock you out for it and you don’t remember a thing. I recall from last time, I was chatting with the nurse as she got me positioned, then I was asking her “So when does it start?” and she laughed and

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said, “It’s already done.” So if you can get through the prep, the procedure itself is a breeze.

Of course, I am not allowed to have any solid food today, and for several days preceding Prep Day it’s recommended one avoid anything but low-residue foods. While the instruction sheet doesn’t say this, it’s a damned good idea NOT to try to load up with sustenance the day before no-food day because you WILL have to clear all that out, and the more

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that’s in your system, the more that has to be flushed from your piping. I’ve been on a low-residue diet for weeks now because of my gastric problems and have had to do liquid fast days now and then, so it wasn’t all that difficult to simply dial my

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intake back a bit farther. Yesterday, in fact, was a ratcheting-down day of egg whites in broth, yogurt, and jello, all in small quantities, so today’s colonic cleansing isn’t too dreadful. Too bad I didn’t

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know these things for my first colonoscopy! That prep was miserable for more than just the disgusting

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vile nasty stuff I had to drink – and no, mixing it into apple juice, as one well-meaning friend suggested, didn’t help one bit! So all in all, this isn’t so bad.

At least it’s better than

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a sharp stick in the eye. :wink:

2

I just did mine December 18th. I heard so many horror stories, but it was pretty much a breeze. I used Miralax which is tasteless, texture didn’t bother me. It was just a lot of fluid to get down. I only ‘pooped’ (it was liquid every time) about 5 times in 8 hours and didn’t have any strong urges to go at all. What I eat doesn’t produce much waste, so I think that helped.

Not eating for 24 hours, on the other hand, was awful - I was getting a colonoscopy and an endoscopy at the same time, so nothing but clear fluids. I felt like absolute hell from that - shaking, dizzy, unable to think, muscle aches, head ache. Ugh. I just do not do well without food for longer than a few hours, which makes sense as I am super-thin and seem to burn whatever I do eat instantly.

3

When folks ask me about the colonoscopy prep feature I tell them that for the first hour nothing much happens.

Then for the next oh, say, 90 minutes you go through many watery bowel movements.

Then for the next three hours you pee out of your ass. You get quite used to it, actually.

And yes, the actual procedure is no problem at all.

4

Yes, EddyTeddyFreddy, I have been through colonoscopy prep. I was given a choice of several different brands of industrial strength laxatives. There was no Gatorade involved. It wasn’t fun, but it was a little bit better than the prep for the gallbladder x-ray, back in '83. I think that was worse because I had gallstones and they many everything just a little less fun. Also, they had told me that if they couldn’t get a good image, I’d have to chug a half pint of cream and then they’d try again. But I digress.

The colonoscopy was no big deal even though I was awake. They give you good drugs and if you don’t fall asleep, you don’t really care what’s going on around you. Or inside you. It feels odd, but doesn’t hurt.

They video-taped it. They had a screen set up so that I could watch. Other bits of me may be falling apart, but the inside of my colon is as smooth and pink as a baby’s bum. I didn’t get a copy of the video, but they did give me a polaroid of the end of the colon, where the appendix is attached.

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Ha! The thread immediately below this one right now is titled: * Yet another “am i being an ass?” thread *

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So I take it you had to shit 9 times in the course of making that post? You’re a more persevering man than I :slight_smile:

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And the one above is about hemorrhoids. :smiley:

8

I love how the stuff I had to drink was called “Golytely” “Go Lightly”.

What a trick on words.

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I’ve seen what Go Lytely does to people. It’s like stenciling “wet firecracker” on the side of an atom bomb.

The other scary thing I’ve seen in relation to Go Lytely was that, during my mother’s final illness, they made her choke down 2 gallons of the stuff. With exactly zero effect. :eek: That’s kind of when we figured out mom wasn’t going to get better…

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:smiley: And just think – I’m not even a man!

That is exactly correct. Although the initial floods have abated somewhat to occasional freshets.

Gosh, Yllaria, I wonder whether they’ll offer me a video tour. Didja frame the Polaroid?

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If you totally purge your digestive system of every last particle of foreign matter, how do those beneficial bacteria get re-established when you again commence eating?

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Yogurt and probiotics.

13

What are low-residue foods and what kind of diet produces little waste? Enquiring minds and all that.

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I haven’t done it but having heard enough about it I have to wonder what sort of masochist came up with the name “Go Lytely.”

15

I’m not sure why doctors choose different methods for prep, but some doctors still have patients drink the two bottles of magnesium citrate. That’s what I’ve got to do for two days at the end of this month, plus dulcolax. At least the anesthesia is fun!

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I asked my doctor about the two little bottles. He said he doesn’t use that any more; that some people have adverse reactions to that stuff.

Low residue diet

Ditto

ETA: Saving grace of a low residue diet – you can have bacon! Bacon burgers! :smiley:

17

I think that the stuff I had to drink for a liver scan tasted worse that the oral laxative they give you for colon prep. Barely. But the colon prep stuff is nasty, no two ways about it, and I always tell my husband that he will have to make an appointment to use the facilities if I have to take it. And that appointment is going to be in a window of about 3 minutes.

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I’ve had it too. It’s well described here. Anyone have an absolutly mindless tosser do the endo? I did, it was painfull. Sure I was drugged but only to forget what happened.
Oddly enough I have more problems now than I had going in.

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heh I have reacted so badly to the bowel cleanse twice that my doctor agreed, I will NEVER go through it again. I will go on a liquid diet and enemize the hell out of myself … though when I had my hysterectomy Dr Azodi tiptoed through my intestines while he was [virtually] in there so I am good for a couple years, I love a clean bill of colon health.

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Besides the sources mentioned above, possibly from your appendix.