I’m visiting a gastroenterologist tomorrow for stomach issues, and will most likely also be discussing a screening colonoscopy (oh joy) while they’re at it.
I know there are options, including drinking a gallon of nasty stuff (GoLytely et al), drinking a smaller amount of nasty stuff with a lot of water, taking pills with a LOT of water…
So… who’s done this recently and what regimen did you use? If the doc offers options, all else being equal I’d rather use the one that involves the lowest ratio of nasty stuff / pure water (or other liquids - apple juice?). I just figure they’ll try to push the GoLytely (or whatever) as the default.
I know the end result (hah) is that I’ll be excreting pretty much anything I’ve eaten since the 2nd grade… sigh.
I’ve only ever done the two small bottles of nasty stuff (Fleet Phospho-Soda, IIRC). The first time I had to do this, I got pretty bad nausea after each bottle. The second time, no nausea at all. I don’t think they reformulated the stuff… I think I just knew to drink a lot of water afterward. More like constant small sipping than guzzling.
I would assume that eating mild, not acid-y, food in the day or so prior to the prep would make things less uncomfortable also.
My doctor put me on a three day regimen of nothing but clear liguids (but it included hard candy and gumdrops) with the Fleet Phospho-Soda in the evening of the last day and the morning of the procedure. It really wasn’t so bad, and I never had the explosive problems that other people here have reported. Maybe there just wasn’t much of anything left to ‘explode’.
I did a lot of chicken broth because it gave me an alternative to sweet.
I strongly recommend the two small bottles plus lots of water versus the large quantity of yucky liquid. I mixed the little bottles with a very small amount of Sierra Mist. Chugged it and followed with lots of water. Unpleasant but not worth the amount of drama some people seem to give it.
Phooey - look like Fleet Phosphosoda isn’t available any more:
or at least is harder to get (and now has a black-box warning):
Miralax may be an alternative. I guess I’d have to mix up a lot of that, too, but my son took it for many years for encopresis and never complained about it.
Miralax mixed with Gatorade works out quite well. It doesn’t taste great, but it doesn’t taste awful, either.
I usually used orange. They tell you not to use red, but I think that’s crazy. Red gatorade doesn’t really look anything like blood. (And my doctor agreed that they just put that down to be extra cautious and not to worry about it. Of course if your doctor cares don’t drink the red!)
I have to have one every 2 years and I was so happy that the Miralax prep is the preferred choice of my gastroenterologist! It isn’t as “colon-blow” as go-lytely or phospho soda are, but if you’re good about your clear liquid diet, you’ll be good to go. I’ve never been big on chugging anything and the go-lytely was a nightmare for me and I was never as…prepared as I should be. The Miralax is tasteless and textureless.
If you get some low-sugar Gatorage (G2, I think it’s called), then you’re not getting a rush of sugar like you would with apple juice. You do have to drink a lot of the stuff, you know?
I feel sick enough drinking a lot of liquid. I don’t need a ton of sugar making me feel more sick.
Short answer:
That’s the prep they told me to take and I thought it tasted reasonably good for something you are forced to drink to go to the bathroom.
Short guess:
During the prep you are losing a lot of fluids. Gatorade has electrolytes that allow you to replenish these fluids more effectively than water or apple juice could.
Bullion and frozen ice treats (of the correct color) made things tolerable. The less solution you have to drink the better. It doesn’t matter how great it tastes if you have to guzzle a gallon of it.
I’ve had three c-scopes so far. First two times I prepped with GoLitely, which for me was nightmarishly horrible.
Third time around I was offered an alternative- repeated small amounts of very nasty tasting syrup, chased with water. It was easy as could be. I strongly advise against the green gallon of Golitely- it’s unnecessary torture.
Just got back and I “won”… sort of… I need an endoscopy for the upper GI issues, which was the primary reason for going in then; they can do the colonoscopy at the same time. I asked to avoid the GoLytely and instead got “extended Osmo prep” which involves pills washed down with large amounts of Gatorade.
And two full days of liquid diet. Oh joy.
What’s especially fun is the scheduling. We’re returning from vacation on Saturday, the procedure is on Monday… so I’ve got to be on a liquid diet while flying.
The next appointment would have been a week later, when we’ll be driving the kids to camp, so this is actually a better option.
Hey, at least I’ll get drugs.
Funny story from a friend. She had the colonoscopy with a large jug of nasty stuff. Evidently it worked well enough that she didn’t have to finish it. A couple of days later, her husband was trying to get the kids ready for school, the kids were dawdling, and finally he shouted “the last one out the door has to drink Mommy’s lemonade!”.
For that matter, I don’t think “GoLytely” is an appropriate term, either. The one time I did that stuff made me feel worse than a stomach ailment I picked up in the Orient.