# So, ever been through colonoscopy prep? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854 "2010-01-14T00:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**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 18, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/81 "2010-01-18T23:24:39Z")
:eek: As far as I’m concerned, you do! ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/82 "2010-01-19T14:11:16Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > What are low-residue foods and what kind of diet produces little waste? Enquiring minds and all that. I only eat fats (butter/heavy cream/coconut oil/lard), eggs, meat, some tubers, and green vegetables. It doesn’t produce much waste. Maybe because I hardly take in any fiber (have never had constipation issues, then or now). Also because protein and fat(which are about 85% of my daily calories) are digested very efficiently. ‘Junk food’ really does have a lot of junk in it that passes through your system. When I used to eat grains I pooped at least once a day - now it’s more like twice a week. Medically, a ‘low-residue diet’ is what I eat, but also includes lots of simple carbs (rice/flour), which give me high-volume stool. So.. I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/83 "2010-01-23T16:01:39Z")
I ate lightly (not loaded up–remember, everything going in has to be out before the procedure) starting 2 days before the procedure. I don’t remember exactly what I ate because it was a while ago but I know, for instance, that I didn’t have meat because I knew that meat takes longer to digest and pass through. I had an easy time with the prior day’s cleaning out procedures which I attribute to the the way I ate before. I also woke up during the procedure. Didn’t open my eyes, heard someone groaning and realized it was me because I had some pain (not really any worse than menstrual cramps). My doc said that it was almost over and I knonked out again immediately. I had an IV for the anesthesia or whatever they gave me to knock me out so they must have given me a little more. I woke up in recovery. The whole thing–from getting on the table to waking up in recovery–was probably only 1/2 hour. ---
**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 23, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/84 "2010-01-23T16:26:26Z")
Turns out the polyp I had removed was benign. Phew! I have a day and a half to go, then the post-polyp-removal Flagyll and Cipro regimen is over and I can hope for things to return to normal. Will be seeing the doctor in mid-February and will need to do it all over again in five years. Not fun, but could’ve been worse. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/85 "2010-01-24T10:05:04Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > I don’t want to scare anyone, but I woke up during mine. I had a few moments of very memorable pain…until they upped the sedation. > > Thank goodness I don’t have to have them regularly, at least not for many years. Same here. I’ve done two. The first was with GoLytely, and I’m completely convinced that stuff may be regularly used to torture political prisoners. It is a truly awful experience. I remember reading on the packaging that _over half_ of patients experience vomiting as a side effect. :eek: The directions say, ‘‘If you vomit, wait a few minutes and then start drinking again.’’ Ugh. I don’t even like to think about it. The second time, I used HalfLytely, which was supposed to be better since the volume of liquid was reduced, but it sucked equally as bad. Both times I did not finish the whole thing, but both times I still had an adequate prep. The procedure itself is not too bad – the first one I was partially sedated and remember dream-like bouts of pain and yelling out until they upped my sedation. The second one they put me out completely and I woke up laughing hysterically. I think I giggled nonstop for the first 15 minutes coming up from anesthesia. But they had done several biopsies (between 8 and 10 I’m guessing) and I was in a lot of pain for the next two days. I just hope to Og by the time I’m 50 and need these things regularly they come up with a better system. ---
**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:** [January 24, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/86 "2010-01-24T12:28:18Z")
Dumb question … why not just use diabetic candy instead of the nasty arsed prep crap … once a couple years ago someone dosed a bunch of us with a chocolate ganache frosting made from diabetic chocolate with rather distressing results for the rest of the afternoon… and i have inadvertantly eaten 1 too many diabetic hard candies trying to cope with this dry mouth issue and spent an afternoon reading in the smallest reading room waiting to stop crapping … Why not just hand the 2 or 3 serving small bags of diabetic candies in your choice of flavors and a bottle of fleet enema… it would probably work a hell of a lot better than golitely… ---
**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 24, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/87 "2010-01-24T15:28:19Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I just hope to Og by the time I’m 50 and need these things regularly they come up with a better system. Next time you need one, why not ask your doctor if you can do the Dulcolax pills and Gatorade/Miralax cleanout I had? It’s certainly effective and not at all hard to get down. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/88 "2010-01-24T16:09:17Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Next time you need one, why not ask your doctor if you can do the Dulcolax pills and Gatorade/Miralax cleanout I had? It’s certainly effective and not at all hard to get down. I sincerely hope that at 26 years old I do not have any more colonoscopies in my near future… but I do appreciate the tip! ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/89 "2010-01-24T16:49:18Z")
I took the preparation a hour ago, four visits to the toilet so far, I think I’m reaching the peeing-out-your-ass stage now. I got something called Phosphoral, two little bottles of lemonflavored saltwater. Thanks a lot for the laugh, I had to laugh very carefully, no accidents so far. The Picolax thread almost did it, though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/90 "2010-01-24T18:57:07Z")
As far as those who are reporting pain foes- are you talking just a colonoscopy, or a polyp removal? I don’t see why a colonoscopy would be painful. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/91 "2010-01-24T20:51:55Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > As far as those who are reporting pain foes- are you talking just a colonoscopy, or a polyp removal? I don’t see why a colonoscopy would be painful. The CO2 they pump into you to inflate your colon (so the scope can snake in without tearing up the sides), when it first goes in, stretches your gut and causes what doctors call “discomfort” and normal people call “pain”. It’s not unlike the intestinal cramping from, say, food poisoning. It goes away quickly, though; there shouldn’t be pain after the procedure, unless they had to biopsy or cut out polyps. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/92 "2010-01-25T03:07:45Z")
> [@ryobserver](#): > > The CO2 they pump into you to inflate your colon (so the scope can snake in without tearing up the sides), when it first goes in, stretches your gut and causes what doctors call “discomfort” and normal people call “pain”. It’s not unlike the intestinal cramping from, say, food poisoning. It goes away quickly, though; there shouldn’t be pain after the procedure, unless they had to biopsy or cut out polyps. I felt no pain. Mind you, it wasn’t comfortable at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854/93 "2010-01-26T15:01:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I felt no pain. Mind you, it wasn’t comfortable at all. I felt some pain but got something for it which left me almost comfortable. The result of the colonoscopy was less pleasant. A tumour in the upper right part of the colon. I’m scheduled for a CT-scan Thursday and either chemotherapy or an operation in a week or two, depending on what the scan show. Free of course, hooray for socialism. On the lighter side the farts afterwards WAS impressive. I took the bus home and tried to wait farting until the bus accelerated :D. (I was warned not to try driving, not even a bicycle, after getting the painkiller.) The polyp removal should be painless according to the doctor. I can’t vouch for it personally. They wanted to save the few polyps they found until after the operation to avoid complications. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ever-been-through-colonoscopy-prep/524854.md?page=4)