Well - I have to say that by the time you’ve been on a liquid diet for 24 hours, and that stuff starts rushing through you… you won’t really be stinking up the bathroom. Things are just too… dilute. Plus, even before the liquid diet, you aren’t allowed to eat all the good smell-inducing foods (no beans… no cabbage…). Bummer. Shame you can’t use this occasion to peel the wallpaper without lifting a finger ;).
Actually a candle might have been nice, my last go-round - between it being January, and the side effect of the stuff itself, I had a pretty nasty case of the chills. The candle would have added some warmth!
The prep is the worst part, but I feel like that statement is misleading. When I was told this, two colonoscopies ago, I thought, ‘‘Oh, hey. If the hardest part is sitting on a toilet for a few hours, I’m good to go.’’
But honestly the prep is one of the most unpleasant parts of any medical procedure I’ve ever had. The very thought of drinking that stuff makes me heave. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it than other people, but both times, swallowing that stuff was just miserable.
I was recently diagnosed with - wait for it - Microscopic Collagenous Colitis (utter, fucking awful damn disease), after years of plain old IBS. :rolleyes:
My biggest recommend - after Lynn Bodoni’s **very excellent suggestions **- is that whatever your prep is, cut it with ice-cold white grape juice.
Way more tasty and a lot easier to get down - never mind the fact that the grape juice can induce diarrhea in and of itself.
Yes, you’ll need a personal chauffeur for after, because after the good drugs, you won’t be coherent enough to know your own name. Roll with it. So what? Don’t sweat the details. Let *them *take care of you.
Oh, and ask for the good drugs! Seriously. That’s what I asked of my gastro doc because I was so DAMN MISERABLE with pain at the time, and the man delivered on as asked.
To date, it was the most comfortable and least stressful of the many 'oscopies I’ve suffered through. The Divemaster was less pleased about having to stick around THE WHOLE TIME just to drive me home - but at the time I was more concerned about myself!
DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS AND DEMAND ANSWERS!
Which seem to “be done with” the fastest? The 6 hours start-to-finish this last time got real, real old: OsmoPrep with 1 day liquid diet; the first time, I had 2-day liquid diet and I think it took less time.
I’m looking at joining your “frequent flier” club myself though for different reasons, I’m apparently fairly good at developing large precancerous polyps.
I may put myself on the 2-day liquids-only version (ugh) this next time just to hopefully get it over with faster.
I didn’t so much have a problem with the taste of the prep as I did with the amount they wanted me to consume. It was at least a gallon. My stomach was so fucking bloated that there was no way I could finish it.
Heh. So tru, Mama. I’ve mostly been prescribed the Go-Lightly in recent years, along with a pill form of laxative, the name of which escapes me at the moment. All of the above hastens the desired result so it ends sooner and you’re not at the mercy of the porcelain goddess all damned night.
The white grape juice was a sudden inspiration of mine which i continue to use to this day. It masks that awful salt-potassium taste, which I think is key to getting the mixture down so it does what’s intended without triggering the desire to throw up everything you’ve ever tasted - let alone eaten.
With my first experience, that was part of the plan: day 1 (Saturday) liquids, plus 2 Dulcolax about 6 PM (more like 9 by the time I took it… we had flown in from Las Vegas that day). Day 2 (Sunday), liquids again, then the prep - I think I started it an hour or so later than called for but it was still over, start-to-finish, in at most 5 hours. Since it was OsmoPrep, I had to “only” drink 40 ounces of Gatorade (any flavor you like as long as it tastes bad - not even orange or blue permitted). Shortly before I started drinking it, the Dulcolax hit with a vengeance - the first “not quite” moment of the experience!
Next morning, 24 more ounces of Gatorade with salty horse pills.
Laggard, I truly think the “gallon” preps are cruel and ridiculous. Do you really drink the whole gallon in one “sitting” or is that split among the night before and the morniing of? I think Typo Knig’s rep was NuLytely which was 2 liters in the evening + 2 liters in the morning. There’s also a HalfLytely version (half the volume, combined with a bowlful of Dulcolax tablets) which seems a decent alternative.
I can remember doing the gallon thing mondo years ago, but at least for me, that’s been phased out over time. GAWD but that was awful…
Today’s lesser dose with the Dulcolax pill is far less debillitating and achieves the desired result sooner without making you feel like you have to die to feel better.
oh, and I’m serious about the drugs, boys and girls.
i was in major discomfort and plain flat-out asked that i be seriously put out for the procedure. the colitis was so bad that i was afraid i might stay conscious under twilight conditions and suffer a lot of pain - and that would have been majorly ugly.
my gastro man delivered, bless his heart, and it was completely a non-event colonoscopy for me.
I’ve told this story in other colonoscopy threads, but: a friend of mine had to have one. I think she had the gallon-o-glurge. Didn’t need to finish it. Forgot to remove it from the fridge and nuke it from orbit.
A couple of days later, the kids were being slack about getting out the door in time in the morning. Dad said “Last one out has to drink the rest of Mommy’s lemonade”.
As a future colonoscopy person…I see a lot of discussion about different prep solutions. Do the doctors normally let you pick? Other than personal comfort, is there a difference?
I have a family history of colon cancer. I’m almost looking forward to my first colonoscopy. My GP won’t order it for another fix or six years, or until I tell him I noticed blood in my stool.
Doctors often have a favorite, or prescribe the same one out of habit. I don’t know, maybe they’re trying to be efficient and only print out one “how-to” packet for their office. But many doctors will hear you out if you want to make a case for an alternate prep. It’s worth a try, if your doctor is an old-school Gallon of Goo doc but you mention you’d like to try the pills-and-Gatorade prep. He may say no, but he may say yes.
The roughest patch was today after 8AM not being able to drink any liquids unti after the procedure which happened at 3PM. The procedure itself was very quick maybe 15 minutes, and the drugs were very goooooood. The doctor was a fan of Radiohead which he plaid during the procedure and was about the same age as myself. It was pretty neat watching it all happen on the screen. I saw a polyp, I said “oh there’s a polyp” the nurse step infront of my view at that point to stop me from seeing him slice it off I take it. When I spotted another one, I said it’s ok you don’t have to stop me from seeing this I won’t freak out. They both laughed.
So two small polyps removed and sent off to pathology to see what’s up with them. I think he said something to the effect of even if they are cancerous they’ve been removed so you’re ok. Or something like that, I was still kind of in a daze and he was going through the results quickly with me. I have to go back in 5 years for another colonoscopy. After it was all done I agree with others here the most difficult part was the prep, for myself it wasn’t necessarilly with the pico salax because it had an orange flavor and didn’t taste that bad, nor were the visits to the washrooms that bad. But, for myself it was fasting for 24+ hours and then not being able to drink any liquids after a certain point on the day of the procedure.
My lesson from this I’ll never be hesitant to tell my doctor about any “ass” problems I maybe having ever again, it may of saved my life. Especially since he said, “you’re too young for polyps”
I’m always annoyed at “no liquids after midnight” (or in this case, after the morning prep) no matter HOW late your procedure is - there’s a pretty huge difference between 10 AM and 3 PM!! (when I had my gallbladder surgery scheduled, they offered me a slot at 3 PM - I said no, I’ll take one a few weeks later, but earlier in the day). My husband had surgery once that wound up not starting until 4 PM. Yep - 16 hours. I guess they figure people are too stupid to follow “nothing for x hours before the procedure”.
Glad all went well - I guess you weren’t sedated or something? And yes, it’s all done, for now, unless one of the polyps shows up as a precancerous sort in which case they’d have you repeat it a bit sooner.
See, I was terrified of the prep. I am a complete bitch when my blood sugar is low so not eating for that long could have some nasty implications. I made sure I drank enough clear but sugar filled drinks to keep me from committing homicide but that was the hardest part.
Honestly, the prep is no worse than the problem I was being inspected for (actually, it was less painful). I guess I have just gotten used to being on the pot for several hours each night?
