# Fleet's Phosphosoda (TMI) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160 "2007-01-30T20:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/21 "2007-01-31T07:24:25Z")
This was my daughter’s Thanksgiving dinner the year before last. She was in hospital being prepped for a colonoscopy the next day to determine whether she had Chron’s or ulcerative colitis (turned out to be the latter). It didn’t help that three different doctors had missed the diagnosis during the previous month, so by that time she couldn’t keep anything down under the best of circumstances. It took several hours to get the requisite amount into her system, and I found out just how inventive her vocabulary had become. (As it happened, neither steroids nor immunosuppressives did the job, so she had to have another colonoscopy — the day after her 16th birthday. This time, though, they used a nasal tube; made a world of difference.) ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/22 "2007-01-31T13:41:36Z")
When I had my first colonoscopy at age 16 in 1986, I had to drink a GALLON of Go-lytely (sp?). It tasted like saltwater. I never even liked to drink 8 ounces of water at a time, much less a whole gallon of saltwater! After 20 years of having Ulcerative Colitis, I now have to do this _every year_. I skipped last year because I was pregnant. Thank you, Susie! [QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] Whatever you do, don’t put it in Gatorade. [insert Mr. Yuk emoticon] [/QUOTE] No shit! That was retched! ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/23 "2007-01-31T13:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=Nutty Bunny] When I had my first colonoscopy at age 16 in 1986, I had to drink a GALLON of Go-lytely (sp?). It tasted like saltwater. I never even liked to drink 8 ounces of water at a time, much less a whole gallon of saltwater! After 20 years of having Ulcerative Colitis, \*\*I now have to do this _every year_. \*\* I skipped last year because I was pregnant. Thank you, Susie! [/QUOTE] I wasn’t clear. I have to have a colonscopy every year, not drink Go-lytely as a prep. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/24 "2007-01-31T15:04:49Z")
As another person who suffers from UC, I need to stress a couple things about the phospho-soda. 1) Get it as cold as you can, this really helps with the taste. 2) Dissolve it in the strongest tasting stuff you can find that still conforms to the doc’s instructions. Oh, and if your insurance covers it, REMICADE is a wonderful treatment for UC if nothing else is working. every 8 weeks you get an IV infusion, and that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/25 "2007-01-31T15:11:29Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] As **liscurl** noted, Golytely is lots worse. Not _quite_ as nasty tasting as phosphosoda, but you have to drink a frickin’ gallon of it!! [/QUOTE] It sure works though, making you clean as a whistle. I tried to fart and suddenly every dog in the neighborhood came running. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/26 "2007-01-31T15:22:04Z")
Another vote for chugging chilled phosphosoda as fast as possible, chased by something really, really sweet to wash away as much of the taste as possible. By the time I’d finished my prep, not only was I completely cleared out, but I’d developed a loathing of beef and chicken broth. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/27 "2007-01-31T15:32:59Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] I tried to fart and suddenly every dog in the neighborhood came running. [/QUOTE] I can do that anyway, if I clench tight enough. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/28 "2007-01-31T15:35:42Z")
This is a little late now, but don’t mix that stuff with something you like to drink on a regular basis. It’s been about six years, and I still can not stand the thought of Sprite/7-Up/Mountain Dew. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/29 "2007-01-31T16:07:47Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] It sure works though, making you clean as a whistle. I tried to fart and suddenly every dog in the neighborhood came running. [/QUOTE] Why is it I can now hear DeForrest Kelly shouting, “Lock-and-Load, Jim…!” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GawnFishin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9bcb4/32.png) [@GawnFishin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GawnFishin)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/30 "2007-01-31T18:49:53Z")
**black rabbit** , if you have the need I’d like to pass onto you something which I won but fortunately have not needed. If **Rysdad** is in agreement I’d be more than willing to allow you to recieve this [generous prize.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7968926&postcount=27) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/31 "2007-01-31T23:30:12Z")
[QUOTE=crazyjoe] Oh, and if your insurance covers it, REMICADE is a wonderful treatment for UC if nothing else is working. every 8 weeks you get an IV infusion, and that’s it. [/QUOTE] Great drug, when it works. But it doesn’t work for everybody. I’ve had a few patients with such severe inflammatory bowel disease that they finally had total colectomies, and ended up grateful to have had them. Even the ones that needed colostomies. Nasty disease, all too often. Fortunately there’s more therapies to try, to get it quieted down, then there used to be. My youngest has had to have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many courses of go-lytely in her lifetime. She’d love to need that stuff only once a year. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/32 "2007-01-31T23:54:46Z")
[QUOTE=GawnFishin’] **black rabbit** , if you have the need I’d like to pass onto you something which I won but fortunately have not needed. If **Rysdad** is in agreement I’d be more than willing to allow you to recieve this [generous prize.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7968926&postcount=27) [/QUOTE] 🙂 As we say in Fluoroscopic Radiology… Line 'em up, Plug 'em up, Fill 'em up, Shoot 'em! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/33 "2007-02-01T00:02:28Z")
I tried to add this using the Edit function, but I must be typing too slowly today… An additional note… Our staff radiologists don’t allow our patients to use GoLytlely as an enema prep. It’s OK for a CT-scan prep in order for the colon to be empty, but they don’t like it for an enema prep because it leaves the colon too “slimy” for the barium to adhere well. I dunno…each Radiologist has his or her own preferences, I guess. Heh. Isn’t a slimy colon a nice mental image? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/34 "2007-02-01T00:07:19Z")
When I had my run through with navy radiology [i swear, they used every piece of diagnostic equipment they owned just to give the radiology techs practice] I was given some ‘liquiprep kit’ that was a small 8 oz bottle of lemon lime crud [i did it as a single shooter to get it down fast] and 4 small red pills, that i was told to do at teh same time. I crapped my brains out all freaking week. I did it sunday, had radiology monday and was scheduled for surgery for friday. Thursday came around and I was told to come in at noon so they could type and cross match me for the vampires, and to have some little discussion between the anesthetologist and myself. Despite continuing to drink my normal gallon of water a day I was so dehydrated they couldnt tap any blood out of me until on the 14th stick [between my freaking toes - that hurt like a motherfucker.] I was crapping STILL from the damned prep kit. Every hour on the hour, day and night. I was so damned cranky by thursday I changed my mind and told Doc Green that I wanted to be ubder totally instead of awake and kibbitzing like when I had my tubal ligation. I just wanted to get more than an hour of sleep in a row. Never again will I do the 4 damned pills … just the drink works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/35 "2007-02-01T00:24:07Z")
[QUOTE=aruvqan] Never again will I do the 4 damned pills … just the drink works for me. [/QUOTE] Our prep includes the powder to mix and drink, the four pills, _and_, to top it all off, a suppository. Next, we’ll add 20 minutes on the business end of a Shop Vac. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/36 "2007-02-01T00:32:02Z")
Why can’t thet clean you out from the other end using an ennima? Wouldn’t that be less unpleasent? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/37 "2007-02-01T00:50:49Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Why can’t thet clean you out from the other end using an ennima? Wouldn’t that be less unpleasent? [/QUOTE] Unfortunately, that doesn’t clean out the entire colon, nor does it do it that well. You need to be “squeeky clean” because, when they fill you up with barium, any remaining ‘material’ might look like what the docs call a “filling defect”—in other words, a mass (or tumor), or a number of other things. Further, any ‘leftovers’ may obscure something that might be important to find. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/38 "2007-02-01T01:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Great drug, when it works. But it doesn’t work for everybody. I’ve had a few patients with such severe inflammatory bowel disease that they finally had total colectomies, and ended up grateful to have had them. Even the ones that needed colostomies. Nasty disease, all too often. Fortunately there’s more therapies to try, to get it quieted down, then there used to be. My youngest has had to have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many courses of go-lytely in her lifetime. She’d love to need that stuff only once a year. [/QUOTE] That’s what happened to my daughter. The first round or Remicade seemed to work (it’s a strange experience to burst into tears when the phone rings and you hear “Dad! Guess what! I had a piece of toast!”), but the uc came back worse than before. Fortunately, she’s young enough that a j-pouch was an option, so she was a “bag lady” for less than a year. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/39 "2007-02-01T16:34:26Z")
Indeed I am very thankful that the Remicade is working, because I have topped out on the other medications. My purpose is to postpone surgery as long as is possible, as I would like to keep my body as it was originally designed for as long as possible. It is very nice to be normal again. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160/40 "2007-02-02T01:14:03Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] As **liscurl** noted, Golytely is lots worse. Not _quite_ as nasty tasting as phosphosoda, but you have to drink a frickin’ gallon of it!! [/QUOTE] Oh yeah. Been there, done that. Twice, so far. (My mom died of colon cancer, so I get checked.) I also have to worry about reflux when my stomach gets really full. Double yuck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fleets-phosphosoda-tmi/390160.md?page=3)