I put it off for too long, and finally sucked it up and had it done. One polyp removed, which didn’t seem to concern my doctor too much. It wasn’t bad at all.
Any questions?
What flavor Gatorade? 
I had one a few years ago. The colonoscopy was not a problem, but the night before was another story . . . :eek:
Aw. One less candidate for a barium enema.
Darn the luck! 
Glad to hear that you had minimal polyps.
[Martha Stewart]…and that’s a good thing. [/MS]
Did you fart all day afterward? snicker My sister in law did.
Strawberry/Orange Gatorade A.M.
For about 2 hours. And by the way, it’s NOT “farting” it’s “expelling air.”
The best part for me was the set of color photos of my intestine they gave me.
Thinking about using them as next year’s Christmas cards.
I thought the photos were very nice. My wife was less than charmed, however.
Maybe I can pass them off as “Kunilou explores a cave.”
My doctor has been wanting me to have one done, because I have two uncles with colon cancer. But so far those depths remain unplumbed. And hopefully will for many, many years to come.
StG
Really, go. I gather you only need to do them once in a long time and it could save your life. Some family histories are nastier than others. And, honestly, one test is much, much, much less horrible than having cancer would be.
How much of it do you actually remember? My mother had one few months ago and she said she was so doped up on versed she doesn’t remember it all.
Quiddity - I’m terribly modest. Considering that there’s a link between breast cancer and colon cancer and my mother, aunt and a sister have had breast cancer and two of my mother’s brothers have had colon cancer, it was very hard for me to go in for a mammogram. Colonoscopy is 100 times worse. It’s so vulnerable a position to have to be in, so humiliating. I just can’t bring my self to go there.
StG
You have to. Really, the horrible things that you’ll have to undergo if you do end up with cancer will make a colonoscopy look like a Sunday picnic. I saw other threads about this on the Dope. They made me much less worried about going for one when the time comes.
You’ve got a very awful-sounding family history so please, please go. Get drunk, get them to give you tranquilizers, whatever it takes. Maybe one of the docs will come along. I mean, those guys look at that stuff all the time - it’s no different from you looking at the same old file folders every day at work - routine and definitely nothing to be embarrassed about.
Hey, I’ve had two Colonoscopies*.
Oh, and I’m 24.
There is a family history of Colon Cancer.
They give you some NICE drugs. But, yeah, the pre-op isnt that great. The flushing agent REALLY REALLY REALLY does it’s job.
- On the day of the second one, the Atlanta Courthouse Shooter went and did his thing.
Although it was all over the news, and live TV etc, I had no clue about it. It’s almost as if I took a vacation or something
I’ve had one of them, and two sigmoidoscopies, the latest of which had a video. I suspect someday soon they’ll give you a DVD.
I’d wonder if one is on YouTube, but I’m afraid to look.
As for the Gatorade. When I was in Japan a while back, all the machines had a drink called Pokari Sweat. I never got it, but was interested, so when a colleague went this year he brought me back a bottle. It is basically GatorAde, but after drinking two bottles for my procedure, I can hardly stand the stuff any more.
Had one. Piece of cake. The prep was worse than the procedure. I don’t see how you can really be embarassed when you’re already wearing one of those see through gowns.
chalk up another one with a family history of colon cancer. i’ve lost track of how many colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies i’ve had in the last 20 years. to date, only one benign polyp has been removed. i stress that none of the above was painful in any way, and i was actually awake in a couple of instances to watch my doc work. nothing says a good time like watching your innards on video! 
all kidding aside, stgermain please please please don’t put it off.
they have very nice drugs you can take in advance and then you won’t CARE what they’re doing. you have the right to ask for the really good stuff, hon, and if your health care provider has half a brain cell in their head, they’ll bend over backwards to help you any way they can. i cannot stress enough how important it is to have a colonoscopy. in fact, i’m due here again in another year or so.
prepping for it is nothing like it used to be. about ten years ago you had to drink a gallon of this awful-tasting stuff. today, you get a pill or two and a small bottle of colonic. i mix it with white grape juice. tastes just fine, works very well and is not nearly so exhausting a process as it once was.
It is such a non-issue. They don’t do anything embarrassing until you’re out, and there is no memory of humiliation whatsoever. I anticipated it being an insurmountably horrible experience, but it was an absolute breeze.
I’ve also had a colonoscopy several years ago, and taking (as our family calls it) “the bomb” the night before the procedure is the only bad part of having one. My Mom has a very small intestinal tract and so she has to have her doctor use a pediatric scope when she has hers done, but when I have mine and when my Dad has had his, we get the normal equipment and really don’t have but minimal discomfort.
You can either do things with your colon that I don’t want to imagine, or the doctor took the long tour
The worse thing about my gastroscopy was knowing that the colonoscopies went first :eek:
Si
I didn’t even have the sensation of having been reamed when I woke up. It was just an awesome nap with a mini-buzz right before I nodded off.