I had my first colonoscopy at age 38. I’m due again next year.
Seriously I think people are a bunch of pussies. The night before you drink a gallon of laxative which causes you to sit on the toilet and piss out your ass. Unless you are accustomed to shitting Tiffany cufflinks this is probably something you’ve endured without laxative in the past. Personally my inner 12-year-old found the idea hilarious.
The next day you go with an empty stomach and colon to the hospital where you get undressed and wait for the procedure. Due to lack of breakfast and lunch I fell asleep. You will get a minor anesthetic and the doctor will insert a probe (which you won’t feel) into your anus and look for abnormalities in the colon wall.
The doctor will watch the procedure (obviously) on a monitor. I asked to watch too and it was positioned so I could see the whole thing. I remember the entire procedure. Parts of it felt strange (getting a filling from the dentist feels strange too) but nothing was painful. Once we were done my wife drove me home.
I’ve heard that people fart a lot after the procedure, but I fart a lot anyway so my wife didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Personally, I don’t remember a thing after leaving the hospital until the next morning. Anesthesia is weird.
Long story short: it is a simple painless procedure that can save your life and years of misery at the hands of colon cancer. Put on your big boy pants and then take them off and get scoped.
Been drinking it for three hours now, and man, did it ever kick in. Shitting rivers. I think I can finish the drink withing the next half-hour, an hour ahead of schedule. All good so far.
Finished drinking it half an hour ago. Really wasn’t all that bad. The shitting is settling down, and we’ll leave for the hospital soon. Will let you know what they’ve found.
What exactly is the gunk you are drinking? I used Pico Salax, a citric acid based thing, and that was mixed into a regular glass of water. There were 2 doses and I did puke up most of the first one.
The brand name is Niflec. No problems with it. It completely dissolved in the water and had a slight salty taste.
I had a small bowel follow through, which is some type of x-ray based procedure. For that I did have to drink four pints of white chalky stuff. I think it’s a contrast medium, and is some sort of barium solution. It tasted like some sort of sugar free imitation milkshake. The prep nurse said some people have a hard time getting it down, but it was in solo cups, so it seemed appropriate to just chug it.
The procedure was painless, but walking in circles around radiology for two hours waiting for my insides to get properly coated was boring.
Having white shits for two days was just weird.
And it’s over. The doctor removed some polyps and other tissue to send off for a biopsy, but he didn’t think they looked dangerous. The results on that will be back in two weeks. But everything else looked good, so he figures I’ve developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which he said is often triggered by a parasitic infection. A parasite is what I was originally diagnosed with at another hospital. Seems that doctor may have called it right after all, and even though we got rid of the parasite, it triggered IBS. Not sure how long this will last, but I have some new medicine, and I feel pretty good this morning (Monday morning).
I woke up before the procedure was through, but that wasn’t bad, just a little uncomfortable. Worst was last night, when I had a lot of discomfort at home, but they had warned me that was possible, and it’s gone now.
Glad I got this done. I’m mid-50s, and while I know I should have had this done years ago, I just kept putting it off. Maybe that wasn’t so bad though, because it seems I’d be having this one anyway even if I did have one at 50, but I don’t recommend anyone putting it off.
As I mentioned in one of the other threads, I woke up five minutes before the end of my latest colonoscopy, but while I was aware of what was happening, it wasn’t that uncomfortable at all. Watched it on the monitors. No horrible gassiness after, no memory lapses, no anything… except it’s two weeks out now and “things” are not back to normal yet. Not actual runs, but have to go at least seven times a day, and with not much warning. Right now I’m blaming it on a crappy diet and schedule the past 14 days, but it is getting ridiculous.